Fakenham: Christmas tree festival overcomes delivery delays

The opening of a popular Christmas tree festival in Norfolk was "up to the wire" after delivery of the trees was delayed, organisers said.

Fakenham Parish Church has hosted the event since 2001 but last year it was virtual because of the pandemic.

The trees for the festival were held up due to an HGV transport issue from Denmark and arrived less than 24-hour before opening.

Alison Harding from the church said it was "all hands on deck".

"We didn't know when the trees were going to be actually delivered," she said.

Once the trees were delivered on Wednesday afternoon, the church managed to contact all the charities involved and the displays were finished by 21:30 GMT, with the festival opening at 10:00 the following morning.

Ms Harding said: "It was up to the wire. It's market day, everybody knows the festival starts on market day."

The trees were donated by a local garden centre and the event can raise about £18,000 for charities such as East Anglia Children's Hospices, the Salvation Army and the NSPCC.

Elaine Burbidge, one of the organisers at Fakenham Parish Church, said the festival was important "to the whole town".

She said: "We discovered that particularly last year when we had to do a virtual festival, the feeling that we got from the town about how much they were missing the real thing was encouraging to us.

"We are very relieved because it's important for the church and the fundraising is important for the local charities.

"The tree festival is a big part of their annual fundraising and it's the same for us in the church."

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