Leamington church to hold Christmas tree festival in December

All Saints’ Parish church in Leamington is hosting its first Christmas tree festival in December.

The event, which will feature 44 trees all decorated differently and sponsored by various businesses and charities, will take place at the church in Priory Terrace from Saturday December 10 to Sunday December 18.

Leamington Town Council has supported ten schools and nurseries in the town to have their own tree.

Libby Esler from ArtLAB has ran a series of workshops with each group to design their own themes and decorations for their tree.

Father Christopher from All Saints’ church, The chair of Warwick District Council Cllr Mini Mangat and BBC Midlands Today presenter Mary Rhodes will be will be judging which of the trees deserves an award for being the most sparkliest, creative and upcycled.

Mary said: ”I’m really looking forward to this as I know people have been busy knitting and crafting, so it’s going to interesting to see their creations.”

Visitors can also vote for their favourite tree.

The Enchanted Tea Room cafe has donated a Tree of Remembrance on which visitors can write the names of absent loved ones on heart decorations.

At the end of the festival, eight decorated trees will be donated to local charity Helping Hands for someone in need of some Christmas sparkle.

The rest of the trees will be distributed around the community.

The trees have been supplied by Mick Smith of Smith’s Garden Centre in Baginton and are potted so that they can be planted and used next year.

The festival has been produced by Charles Craft with support from Carole Sleight and David Clargo of events company Whittle Productions.

Festival sponsor Stephanie Kerr executive director of BID Leamington said: “This festival is one of a number of family Christmas events and activities we are supporting to bring some seasonal joy and attract more visitors into our town to support local businesses.”

The trees will be lit up each day of the festival from 3pm to 7pm.

Entry is free but donations are appreciated with money raised going to the church and The Ups of Downs charity.