A record £3088 has been raised by St Decuman’s Church in Watchet at their annual Christmas Tree Festival and organisers say the final amount could be even higher.
People from across the community and beyond came to see the 45 decorated trees. The event began with a traditional Christmas Fayre. A well-attended Christingle Service, at the end of the week, brought the festival to a close.
This year’s theme was a Christmas card and more than 40 local organisations joined in creating a wide array of wonderful ideas based around the theme; Watchet Guides created the slogan ‘Merry Christmask, all the items hanging on their tree were card-made facemasks, Little Saints Toddler Group made reindeer from toilet rolls for their tree, whilst small origami ships featured on the Sea Scouts’ tree and the under 9s from Watchet Waves football team decorated their tree with snowmen.
Over three days, live music was provided by local musicians including the church organist. At the Christmas Fayre, the smell of bacon sizzling and homemade soup teased the taste buds. The stalls did brisk trading and by midday on Saturday the bottle and cake stalls put up their 'sold out' signs.
Organiser Tony Knight commented, “The Festival first took place in 2008 and themes have ranged from pantomime to Christmas, through the eyes of Animals and Christmas Carols. The last Festival in 2019, raised a record £2299 and the aim was to reach this total again this year, despite the restrictions of covid. At the time of writing the amount has reached the staggering figure of £3088 which has delighted the organising team.” He added “Thank you everyone who helped in any way to make this event the most successful yet.”
You can still enjoy the trees which will lit up for all the Christmas services including ‘Carols around the Bonfire’ on Sunday 19 December.