Burton Overy Christmas Tree Festival
Burton Overy celebrated its twenty third Christmas Tree Festival over the three days 29 November to 1 December. Popular as ever, hundreds of families enjoyed a magical walk along the aisles of St Andrew’s Church. Gazing at the diverse themes of the trees, from traditional to the bizarre. There were 57 entries and visitors voted for their favourite tree.
Best Trees
‘Twelve days of Christmas’ won the best ‘Adult tree’. Followed, scarily, by ‘Tree Rex’, with a nod to the Farmers in third place with ‘Festive Fayre’. Joint third was ‘Over the Rainbow’.
The winning tree by Jayne Buckley was superbly crafted, with ‘Lords a-leaping and Maids a-milking’, a feast of Christmas cheer. ‘Tree Rex’ in contrast was a feast of fear! ‘Festive Fayre’ was an organic feast of vegetables!
In the Children’s section the winner, ‘Cheer up Dude, it’s Christmas’ by Haze and Rio Allen, was inspired by the children’s poem written by the American author, Dr Seuss, and the film ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’. The tree’s title is a line from the film. Second place went to the ‘Cookie Monster’ by Luca and Neve Giles. A more traditional theme took third place ‘The true meaning of Christmas’ by Sophie Wilford on behalf of The Well Kibworth. Sophie printed paper doves for all the KS1 and KS2 children to decorate and return with an item of food, for the local food bank at The Well. ‘Hope and Peace’ on a couple of the doves seemed relevant in these troubled times.
At the end of the Festival there was a short service in the church of ‘Carols amongst the Trees’. Thanks were given to Judy Olson and her team who decorated the church and organised the trees. Sally Muir and another team of villagers organised the stall holders and provided tea and homemade cakes. Festival Committee Chair, Robert Brown, was delighted with another successful year. With profits, in the order of £9000, going to help fund St Andrew’s Church, the Village Hall, and a donation to this year’s charity ‘The Bridge, homeless to hope, Leicester”.
Graham Thompson
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