CHRISTMAS
TREE
FESTIVAL
Click
for enlargement
St Francis Church
on
Saturday 7th & Sunday
8th December 2002
Report
The weekend of the 7th and 8th of December saw the fourth Christmas Tree Festival at St. Francis Church. The church was filled this year with fifty-one beautifully decorated trees, from local businesses, charities, families and organisations. It was truly a wonderful sight!
Over the weekend, the Festival attracted a similar number of visitors to the festival as last year, around 1,500 adults and children. However, the money raised was a little higher than last year, and reached an amazing £2,800.
A Medley of Trees & People in the Church
As in previous years the proceeds will be distributed between the Church and the 1st Welwyn Garden Scout Group, who were jointly involved in the running of the festival. This year, the proceeds made by the church will go to the St. Francis Development Programme.
Once again, the best dressed tree competition created much activity. The job of counting the votes was the responsibility of David and Jenny Buck and their team of merry counters! Once again, a huge number of votes were cast and three trees were nominated the winners. This year they were the 7th Welwyn Garden City Rainbows with 'Rainbow Tabard', The Chalker Family with a 'Winter Woolly Christmas' and the Lace Makers with the 'Lace Makers Angel Tree'.
All the trees were splendid and we are always amazed at the planning and time that goes into each and every tree. Each year a number of the tree decorators kindly allow us to keep their trees for us to auction. This year, the silent auction raised several hundred pounds and we are very grateful for the generosity shown by the decorators.
A new idea introduced this year to the Festival was Santa's Grotto. We had no idea how this would be received by the children. It was however, a real success, especially for the little children, whose faces just lit up when they saw Father Christmas waving to them through grotto curtain!
Our thanks go to the three Santa's, alias, Aleyn Barr, Bill Turnbull and Geoff Stilwell. Around 200 children visited the wonderful grotto which had been carefully designed and erected
by Jonquil Basch and Sue Young - such imaginations!
Father Christmas & two of his elves
Caroline Herring, ably assisted by a huge number of helpers (including many helpful cubs!) organised the catering for the event. The hall appeared to be full throughout the weekend and the atmosphere just buzzed! The food was again excellent and enjoyed by all.
The QE11 Hospital was again in receipt of the Charity tree. This year it is to be placed in the Children's Accident and Emergency Unit and will be enjoyed by many children visiting during the Christmas period.
The Festival was opened on Saturday at 12 noon by the manager of the Pediatric assessment unit and Cllr Roger Trigg, the deputy chair of the Welwyn/Hatfield Council. The lights and music were turned on by two scouts.
On Sunday, the Festival was visited by the Chair of the Welwyn/Hatfield Council,
Counsellor. Maggie Scarff and her husband. Peter Louis showed Cllr. Scarff the Cellar and spoke about the range of activities happening with young people at St. Francis Church.
Counsellor Maggie Scarf, with husband John;
Peter & Marian Louis; AND our joint Festival Organisers Bill & Sue
The church not only looked wonderful inside this year, but from the outside too. With thanks to Ed Giberti and Andy Baker, and a team of lighting technicians(!) the scheme to light the front of the entire church and grounds locked truly spectacular.
A new idea this year, was the message tree, with thanks to David Buck. Visitors to the Festival were asked to write a message on a small slip of paper and hang it on the tree. Around 240 people placed messages on the tree. Children and adults alike placed messages of love, hope and thanks-including many Christian messages. Such a wonderful idea and one which we hope to repeat.
The entertainment on the Saturday evening was led by Liz Green and Andy Henthorn with the help of the St. Francis Singers and a large number of very talented young people (and adults of course!) This was followed by mince pies and
mulled wine served in the hall. The Sunday evening worship was also a great success and enjoyed by a church full of people.
Entertainment
This year, Anthony Packer and the Charities Committee sold goods made in
Khayelitsha. They raised an amazing £447 for Rachel Mash's work, which
you can read all about on the Khayelitsha
web page. Anthony Packer's train journey all the way to Edinburgh (to obtain the goods to sell) was really worth all the effort!
A big thank you to Vanessa Baker who offered her time to do face painting with the children (and also some adults I would add!) on both days.
A little girl with her tree face painting
Wendy Chalker's wonderful Christmas tree cake raised over £80 in the Guess the Weight of the Cake competition. Thank you Wendy.
As always, the number of volunteers we need to run the festival weekend is phenomenal. Stewarding, welcoming visitors, First
Aiders, raffle ticket sales, serving refreshments/catering, publicity, church preparation and clearing, manning the stalls, entertainers-the list is endless-a big thank you to everyone who helped in any way - the Festival would just not be possible without you.
Winning Trees
Lacemakers Angel Tree (Left) and Rainbow Tabard Tree (Right)
with the ever-popular John Lewis Fizz Tree (Centre)
The Festival this year was a really successful event and much enjoyed by many people. This is a wonderful opportunity to welcome adults and children of all ages to the church at this very special time of year.
A big thank you to everyone on the Festival Committee; Bill Turnbull, Ed Giberti, Aleyn Barr, David and Jenny Buck, Jonquil
Basch, Eileen Potter, Chris Bakewell, Andy Baker, Geoff Stilwell, Caroline Herring and Malcolm Hill - and Peter Louis who remains so calm as the church is turned on its head and yet it's business as normal!
POSTSCRIPT!
I can't resist sharing with you just one thought that occurred to me after this year's stunning festival. They just get better and better don't they?
