Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
City festival takes root
Trees decorated by charities and businesses are on show
A FESTI V E sapling has sprouted into Dundee’s first ever Christmas tree festival.
Located at the Wellgate Shopping Centre, members of the public can pay a visit to the inaugural event on the second floor to see 35 Christmas trees decorated by local businesses and charities.
The i dea came from Arnot Tippet, who saw a similar event while on a trip to North Wales.
The event was organised by Carers of Dundee and DD One, and sponsored by Tayside Forestry.
One organisation that took part was Swiis Foster Care Dundee. Young people and foster carers decorated the tree.
Neil Stewart, senior practitioner for Swiis, said: “We thought it was a great idea to be involved and to support a bit of festive cheer and let people know what we do.”
The Hearing Voices Network (Haven) also decorated a tree. Learning and development officer Tracey Beattie said as part of the decorations people wrote messages about what the charity means to them.
Joseph Fagan, who attends the Haven and also volunteers in their kitchen, said: “It’s like a family, they treat everybody the same. It gets you out of the house and it makes me feel safe and relaxed.”
Service users and staff from Positive Steps also took part.
Gillian Anderson, senior support worker, said: “The experience was good, it gave them something positive to focus on.”
Adam Robinson, farm manager at Tayside Forestry, said: “It’s pretty impressive. It’s quite nice to see the effort that was made.”
Stacey Clark, from the Carers of Dundee network, said: “We are delighted to be the charity partners of Dundee’s first Christmas Tree Festival. Christmas can be a difficult time for carers for many reasons and the festival will help raise awareness of the support available in Dundee
“It’s fantastic just to see the interest, support and enjoyment of people that have been coming in, it’s been great.”
The festival will run until Sunday.