LEISURE: Christmas Tree Festival illuminations at the Minster

LEISURE: Christmas Tree Festival illuminations at the Minster

THE Minster Church in Ilminster has been illuminated with wonderful creations as it celebrates its annual Christmas Tree Festival.

More than 50 decorated and unique trees are displayed in the church from a host of different organisations, groups, businesses, schools and families. LEISURE: Christmas Tree Festival illuminations at the Minster Photo 2

The official opening ceremony on Monday (December 4, 2017) was conducted by the Mayor of Ilminster, Cllr Val Keitch, and the chairman of Ilminster’s Christmas Lights Committee, Clinton Bonner, along with the support of Ilminster vicar, Rev Nigel Done, and local schoolchildren.

Rev Done said: “People have worked really hard to make this happen – we can’t have a Christmas Tree Festival without all the wonderful trees that people have created.

“Many thanks go to all the team who have helped to put the festival together.”

PHOTO - TOP: The official opening of the Christmas Tree Festival at the Minster Church in Ilminster with the Mayor, Cllr Val Keitch; Christmas Lights Committee chairman Clinton Bonner; Rev Nigel Done, of the Minster; Ilminster town crier Andrew Fox and his escort Julie Fox; and local schoolchildren.

PHOTO - RIGHT: Children from the Sunny Ile Pre-School.

Clinton added: “You just have to look around and see all these great Christmas trees – they really are a work of art.”

Also at the official opening of the festival were Ilminster town crier Andrew Fox and his escort Julie Fox plus the organisers of this year’s event Marie and David Jewson.

Children from Greenfylde First School and Sunny Ile Pre-School from Ilminster and nearby Neroche Primary School at Broadway were at the opening to check out their own Christmas trees which have been placed on display.

The festival is open on Monday (December 4, 2017) up until 6pm and then from Tuesday, December 5, 2017, through to Friday, December 8, 2017, from 9.30am to 6pm; and on Saturday, December 9, 2017, from 10am to 4pm.LEISURE: Christmas Tree Festival illuminations at the Minster Photo 3

Admission is free, but donations to nominated local and national charities will benefit from the festival.

Many of the groups with decorated trees on display are also raising money for various charities such as Barnardos, Bristol Children’s Hospital, Alzheimer’s Society, Aching Arms, Breast Cancer, Perennial, Huntingtons, Diabetes UK, Guide Dogs for the Blind, Cardiac Risk in the Young, Horseshoes and Handprints, Crisis at Christmas, Parkinsons, South Somerset MIND, Hearing Dogs for the Deaf, Multiple Sclerosis Society, School in a Bag, RNLI, Rosie Crane Trust, Prostate Cancer UK, Water Aid, and Samara’s Aid Appeal.

PHOTO - RIGHT: Children from Neroche Primary School with their Christmas tree which is supporting School in a Bag.

The groups with trees in the festival are – as guided in the official list - as follows: 1st Ilminster Brownies; 1st Ilminster Cub Group; 1st Ilminster Rainbows; 1st Ilminster Scout Group; Alzheimers Society; Barrington Pre-School.

Ilminster Chamber of Commerce; Cheekie Monkeys; Ilminster Christmas Lights; Cottage Flowers; Crewkerne Relay for Life; Cygnet Pre-School; Ding Gardening Club; Edmunds Family; Ferne Animal Sanctuary; Friends of Vaughan Lee House; Friends of Greenfylde School (FRoGS); Greenfylde First School; Guide Dogs for the Blind; Harold Poole Electrical; Hillary and Bill Durrant; Horseshoes and LEISURE: Christmas Tree Festival illuminations at the Minster Photo 4Handprints; Ilminster Methodist Church; Ilminster Methodist Parent and Toddler Group.

Ilminster Childminders; Ilminster Forum; Ilminster Hair and Beauty; Ilminster Heart Care Group; Ilminster Lions; Ilminster Majorettes; Ilminster Masonic Lodge; Ilminster Quakers Meeting; Ilminster Warehouse Youth Theatre; Mike Adams; Milford and Dormor; Claire Duncan; Neroche First Friends Pre-School.

Neroche Primary School; Prayers and Bears; Probus; Purple Field Productions; RNLI; Rose Cutters Nursery; Rosie Crane Trust; Rotary Club of Ilminster; Sandra Parsons; Simon and Kim Scotting; St Peter’s Primary School.

Sue Ryder; Sunny Ile Pre-School; Swanmead Community School; Sweet Surprise; Ilminster Memory Café; Women’s Institute; Wakely and Sons; Yeovil and Taunton Coldstream Guards Association; Samara’s Aid Appeal.

PHOTO - RIGHT: Children from Greenfylde First School at the Christmas Tree Festival at the Minster Church in Ilminster.

 

 

 

More photos can be found on this link - http://www.ilminsterpress.co.uk/blog/2017/12/04/ilminster-christmas-tree-festival-december-4-2017/ .

LEISURE: Christmas Tree Festival illuminations at the Minster Photo 1

PHOTO - ABOVE: The Mayor of Ilminster, Cllr Val Keitch, with Ilminster town crier Andrew Fox and Christmas Tree Festival organisers Marie and David Jewson at the Minster Church in Ilminster.

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