Published: December 14, 2008
Colourful Christmas tree festival opens in Burnham-On-Sea

Burnham-On-Sea's inaugural Christmas tree festival opened on Sunday evening (December 14th) when a dozen sparkling trees went on display in a town church.

St Andrew's Church is holding the Christmas Tree Festival alongside its normal life-size crib scene - and on Sunday evening almost 100 people attended a brief service to formally light-up the colourfully decorated trees.

Alex Turco, Chairman of the Burnham Chamber of Commerce, switched on the trees following a short service of three carols.

Several local firms and groups have sponsored the trees, with some unique decorations.

Shickle Shoes has decorated its tree with shoes (pictured below), while the Ritz Cinema tree includes tubes of 35mm film!

The dog training club has dog food items on its tree, while the St Andrew's School tree features home-made decorations created by pupils. Other tree sponsors include Kemp Hall, Positive Wealth Creation and Material Needs.

Reverend Graham Witts, vicar of St Andrew's, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: "It has been a hard year for Burnham, with poor summer weather and now the financial downturn, and I want to put a smile on the faces of people here in our town to cheer everyone up!"

"I hope it can become an annual event and possibly one day become as big as the Glastonbury Christmas tree festival which has over 60 trees."

Entry to the Tree Festival and Crib, pictured below, are free and there is no entry charge but donations will be welcomed for The Children's Society. The church is open daily from 10am-4pm every day in the run-up to Christmas.