Bridport United Church in East Street celebrates the 10th Anniversary of the Christmas Tree Festival. Please pop in and have a look at all the beautifully decorated trees and perhaps make a donation to the worthy cause of your choice.
Runs from December 4th to 12th Open from 10am
Saturday 8th December
Coffee Morning with stalls for NCH The Children's Charity 10am to Noon
Festival Closes at 3pm
Bridport Choral Society Concert 7.30pm
Sunday 9th December
Morning Worship amongst the Trees 10.30am
Church Open 2 to 5pm
Evening Worship amongst the Trees 6.30pm
Tuesday 11th December
Women''s Institute Carol Service 7.30pm
Wednesday 12th December
Town's Late Night Shopping Event
Coffee and Charity Stalls in Main Hall from 6pm
Carol Singing
FESTIVAL CLOSES – LIGHTS SWITCHED OFF 9pm
Who's done a tree?
1. Amnesty International Bridport Group A light in the darkness
2. Bradpole Pre-School Twinkle, twinkle little star
3. 1st Bridport Brownies Friends
4. Bridport Area Older People's Forum Madonna and Child
5. Bridport and Area Blind Club Christmas Parcels
6. Bridport Bagladies Goody Bags
7. Barnado's Believe in Children
8. Bridport Branch Parkinsons Disease Soc. The Legend of the Poinsettia
9 Bridport Christian Fellowship Hope 2008
10. Bridport Community Hospital Working together towards better health
11. Bridport Ladies Club Butterflies
12. Bridport Lions Club We Serve
13. Bridport Primary School If the Earth were only a few feet in diameter
14. Bridport Riding for the Disabled Happy Horseshoes
15. Bridport Social Education Centre Recycling
16. Bridport Town Council The Spirit of Bridport
17. Bridport- St Vaast La Hougue Twinning Association France
18. Bridport Women's Institute Japanese Temari Festival
19. Brit Valley Rotary Club Sherley’s Rotatree
20. Cancer Research UK Breast Cancer Awareness
21. Chancery House Day Centre Anniversary
22. Churches Together in Bridport & District ‘ Your Kingdom Come’
23 Colmer Women's Institute Colmer Pudding Club
24 Bridport Crime Prevention Panel Crime Prevention
25. Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance Helicopter Rescue
26. Fisherman's Arms, Day Centre Angels from the Realms of Glory
27. Friends of Weldmar Hospicecare Trust Caring for Dorset
28. Golden Cap Centre of the National Trust For Ever for Everyone
29. Good Books Christian Bookshop You’ll never be alone
30. Holy Trinity Church Bradpole Ringing out the Good News
31. Inner Wheel Club of Bridport Born Free from HIV
32. Julia's House Dorset Children's Hospice Care for the Child – There for the Family
33. Lifejacket What a Difference a Date makes
34. Lyme Bay Deanery Mothers' Union The Mothers’ Union Worldwide
35. Motor Neurone Disease Association W.Dorset Life goes on
36. Mountjoy School The 3 ‘Rs’ Reycle, Reuse, Redecorate
37. NCH The Childrens Charity Snowmen
38. Red Cross The Red Cross Cares for All
39. Rotary Club of Bridport Rotary Around the World
40. Royal Air Forces Association Diamond in the Sky
41. Royal British Legion Women's Section Our Colours
42. Royal National Lifeboat Institution Red, White & Blue – Our Colours
43. RSPCA Remember Animals at Christmas
44. Salway Ash Primary School Thank you for our World
45. Save the Children (Bridport & Beaminster Branch) Children around the World
46. St Catherine's Catholic Primary School Jesse Tree
47. St James Park Nursing Home Christmas Care
48. St Mary's Church Bridport Angels from the Realms of Glory
49. St Mary's Church Bell Ringers Bats in the Belfry
50. St Mary's Primary School St Mary’s linked with St Lucia
51. St Swithuns Church All Saints
52. Symondsbury Handbell Ringers Trees for 10th Anniversary
53. The Children's Society Every child deserves a good childhood
54. The Hospice of the Heart Putting the heart into living and dying
55. The League of Friends of Bridport Hospital Supporting your local hospital
56. The Wessex Autistic Society The Build It Appeal
57. Traidcraft Fairtrade Stars
58. WAWA (Peruvian Charity for educational opportunities) Wishes from afar
59. West Dorset Cats Protection Homing cats and kittens
60. West Dorset District Scouts Centenary Tree
61. West Dorset Music Centre Musical Stars of West Dorset
62. West Dorset Women's Refuge A Safe Haven
63. Y.M.C.A. England Triangle of Life – Mind, Body & Soul
64. Bridport United Church Linking hands
Organisations represented:
Cradle Roll, Junior Church, Toddler Club, Stepping Stones
Pre-School, Brownies, Crèche, Young Explorers, Choir, Ladies Friendship Circle, Tuesday Fellowship, Toy Library, Coffee Mornings, Prayer Meeting, House Groups, Pastoral Links, Slightly Younger Group, Flower Arrangers, Flower Distributors, Car Service, Magazine, Missions Support, Church Fellowship,
65. Bridport United Church 10th Anniversary
Supply of Trees
Each year since the festival commenced in 1998 the trees have been supplied by C.W.Groves & Son, Nurserymen and Seedsmen of West Bay Road Bridport. The rooted trees are potted up, delivered to the Church and placed in position on the shelves by their staff ready for decoration. Any trees left over after the festival are collected by Groves and recycled. We are grateful to the firm for their assistance and guidance in helping us to stage these annual festivals.
Christmas trees
Christmas trees have become part of Christmas, although they undoubtedly had pagan origins. They have been used as part of the winter festival for thousands of years. They were used to decorate homes in winter because it made people think of the spring to come. The Romans used Fir Trees to decorate their temples at the festival of Saturnalia but Christianity was very good at taking over symbols of other religions and using them to teach people about God and Jesus.
There are many legends surrounding the origin of Christmas Trees. One legend traces them back to Martin Luther. The story goes that he was out walking in the snow covered forest about 1500 when he noticed a small group of fir trees with their branches covered with snow with the stars showing through their branches. He thought they were so beautiful that he took one home and put it up in his house so he could tell his children about them. He then put some candles on the branches and lit them to symbolize the stars. Later he lit the candles to celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day.
Another story is that St Boniface noticed new young fir trees sprouting from the forest floor from an apparently dead looking area. He saw the new green shoot as a sign of the Christian faith. New life coming from death as in the resurrection of Jesus. The leaves which are green throughout the year, remind us that God is eternally present with us.
Another thought is that Christmas Trees may have their origins in the Paradise Trees that represented the Garden of Eden in the German Mystery plays that took place in the Middle Ages. These plays told Bible stories to people who could not read. So it was only natural to put a figure of the baby Jesus on the top of the trees used at Christmas. This gave a chance to tell the story of the baby born at Bethlehem. This figure then changed to become the angel who told the shepherds about the birth of Jesus. Sometimes it became a star on top of the tree like the one that guided the wise men to where the baby Jesus could be found.
Christmas Trees were brought to this country by Prince Albert, the German husband of Queen Victoria.
