Village Christmas tree decorated to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II

Photo ©tomhecht

‘Tis the season! We are happy that The Levens Village Christmas Tree for 2022 is finished and up for everyone to enjoy outside the Village Shop.

It’s all thanks to the hard work of Michael, Paul and Helen, who put in hours of work over the weekend to get the tree (which arrived from a sustainable source in Scotland) decorated with over 1600 lights and 250 hand-made bows. This feat was achieved just in the nick of time – 5 minutes before the rain!

The colour theme chosen is red, white and blue to commemorate the reign of Queen Elizabeth II (not for the World Cup!), and the team intend to send a picture of the tree with a letter to the King. Any response received will be shared on the temporary notice board on the Green, so be sure to check back.

The new Christmas tree lights purchased in 2021 are being used again looking just as spectacular as ever. As well as looking good, they do good. They’re very economical LEDs - Paul did some sums and found that for the time they will be on this season, they will cost less than £20 in electricity to run.

A big thanks to Dave and Vanessa at the Village Shop for their usual community spirit and generosity for facilitating these lights. They are hosting a donation tub in the shop for the upkeep, and there is a Just Giving page that can be found here, for online donations.

Despite increasing living costs, any appreciation of the hard work, time and effort that went into making the tree happen is greatly felt by the team. Any excess donations after running costs will be split between local groups in Levens, so please give what you are able. The team want to give a special thanks to the whole community who have supported the project, that all can now enjoy.

Thank you! We hope you all enjoy the tree and send best wishes to everyone for a happy, peaceful, restful Christmas.

A message from Helen, Michael, Paul and James

(written by Caroline Marsh)