Don’t miss Bridport Christmas Tree Festival
Merry T-ReXmas: A dinosaur painted gold on the Christmas tree decorated by the National Trust Golden Cap Centre.
IT’S IMPOSSIBLE to capture in words or pictures what a delightful event Bridport Christmas Tree Festival is.
Everything about it is appealing; the irridescence cast around the normally plain surroundings of the Methodist & United Reform Church in East Street; the excited chatter of children saying “Look, that’s the one that I did”; the sheer unexpectedness of some of the decorations; the money the festival raises for good causes; the fact that it’s free to get in; the sparks of life and gratitude and hope embodied all around, as on the Cancer Research UK tree – “I got through it”, “Thank you for giving me my husband back”…
Powerstock School's Christmas tree is called Wish Upon a Star. On the back of this star it says: "I wish we had peace in the world, by Coco."
The festival is now in its 12th year and as I overheard one old woman saying to her friend: “It gets better every year, Joan, doesn’t it?”
Seven of the 65 trees in this year’s event are by organisations that have not taken part before; Symondsbury School, Sunny Days Nursery, Victims Voice, EDP Bridport Drug & Alcohol Advisory Service, St Andrews Pre-School, Rethink, and Kwaggafontein Farm School, South Africa. The Advisory Service tree is startingly original, with decorations handmade from materials such as pipe cleaners, fir cones, feathers and cocktail umbrellas by users of the ALT therapy group.
A Christmas decoration by a therapy group member
Santa Claws by West Dorset Cats Protection
Christmas origami on the tree decorated by Bridport's St Mary's Primary School to raise money for the Weldmar Hospicecare Trust. Teacher Mr Sales is planning to trek more than 100 miles along the Great Wall of China for the Trust next April - hence the origami theme...
As the Rev Kath Baldwin says in the festival programme, all these things are ”a sign of the very healthy community spirit that is found in Bridport and its surrounding area and of the wish of so many people to help other people in good times and bad.”
The 12th Bridport Christmas Tree Festival is open at Bridport United Church in East Street from 10am every day, except Sunday, up to and including Wednesday, December 16. On Sunday it’s open from 2pm until 5pm. Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday it closes at 6pm; Saturday it closes at 4.30pm. (On Saturday evening at 7.30pm there’s a concert by the Bridport Choral Society).
If you spot anything that you think is particularly worthy of comment, please let us know!
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I love the Christmas tree festival too. It’s such a simple way to celebrate community, creativity and Christmas spirit.