A Cambridgeshire town is vying to keep Christmas not only in its residents’ hearts but also in it minds by not removing two prominent Christmas trees from the market square. The trees were erected and lit ahead of the town’s traditional switch on last November but, along with other festive decorations, have yet to be removed.
Cllr Steve Tierney, chairman of Wisbech town centre committee, was reluctant to discuss reasons for the trees remaining up but did offer a view on @X, formerly Twitter.
Responding to a query about the trees still being there he wrote: “Oh no. Contractor doesn’t immediate remove tree. Shock! Horror! Probe! #slownewsweek”
One resident, however, believes the trees should have been long gone from the town centre of Wisbech.
She said: “The contractors have a whole year to plan and I’m sure most towns Christmas trees have been removed.”
The reason for the town having two trees is that three years ago it took delivery from Peterborough City Council of an artificial metal Christmas tree.
The council spent £40,000 on the 10m artificial tree in 2015 but decided by 2019 enough was enough.
The city council put the tree into storage after responding to criticisms of its metal creation.
The council had hoped to sell it but when the sale fell through, the then leader of Wisbech town council stepped in with an offer to take it off their hands for nothing and this was accepted.
However even Wisbech town council, after a year, felt it should sit alongside a traditional tree so since then the metal tree is positioned at one end of the market place and a traditional tree at the other.
Martin Field, a councillor from the neighbouring town of March which sparked international recognition with its famous ‘wonky tree’, said: “Isn’t it bad luck to keep your tree up after Twelfth Night?
“But then again, it is also bad luck to have Stephen Barclay as your MP. Maybe it is time to get rid of both.”
In 2020, when the metal tree was first erected in Wisbech, one market trader remarked: “I personally reckon it’s out of place because the town is not modern enough for that sort of tree.
“That tree is sort of Kings Lynn area because it’s more modern and it’s and it would fit it better.”
