One fir the future: Galashiels puts down roots for a more sustainable Christmas
The team behind Galashiels’ new living Christmas tree is defending its size amid online criticism – saying it’s a sustainable investment in the town’s future.
The four-and-a-half-metre fir was planted in Bank Street Gardens after Scottish Borders Council withdrew funding for the centrepiece of its festive displays.
The move has prompted a mixed reaction, with some questioning the tree’s size and others welcoming a more environmentally-friendly alternative to cutting one down every year.
One commenter asked: “That can't be the Christmas tree surely??”
Another described it as a “budget tree”, while another said: "Won’t need a cherry picker to put the lights on this year.”
But others have defended the decision, with one describing it as a “sustainable Christmas tree which will be there for years to come getting bigger every year”.
Mags Fenner, project manager for BID for Galashiels, says the group considered three options after the council announced it would no longer gift them a Christmas tree each year.
She said: “One was to not have a Christmas tree at all. One was to continue spending thousands of pounds each year on a cut tree. And the third option was to go for a more sustainable solution, whereby we invested into a tree that can stay here, grow here and become part of the life of Galashiels.
“And that's the sustainable choice that we went with.”
The tree is expected to grow by around half a metre each year, with the aim of becoming a long-term feature of the town.
Mags said: “We hope that in years to come, families are going to look back and remember when it was planted and enjoy watching it grow alongside their children and their grandchildren.
“This tree is not just for Christmas. We see it as a gathering place throughout the year. There are opportunities to bring people together around the tree, for instance, at Easter, at Remembrance and for other community occasions.
"We're going to be publishing a calendar of activities with our own proposals and asking the community to get involved and suggest how we might develop that."
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Scottish Borders Council announced earlier this year that it would save around £13,000 annually by ending its supply of Christmas trees to towns as part of budget savings.
Although the authority will no longer pay for the trees, its parks staff helped with the planting and it will continue to assist with decorations and lights.
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"We are all very proud to be one of the first towns, not just in the Borders, but actually in Scotland, to have planted a Christmas tree in this sustainable way," Mags said.
"We've already had one town reach out to us just the day after the tree was planted to see how we approached our project, and what funding we had to set aside for it, because they want to take forward a similar proposal in their town in Dumfries and Galloway.
"So it's great not just that we've been able to provide this living tree as an asset for Galashiels and for the community, but also that other towns in Scotland are looking to us and asking for our advice as to how to replicate the same for themselves.
A switch-on event is planned on November the 21st.
Mags said the newly planted fir would be left to establish itself before being used for Christmas celebrations.
She said: “People don't need to worry about Christmas this year. We're going to leave the new tree to get itself settled in. And we'll be adopting one of the established trees in our beautiful gardens and decorating that for use as this year's Christmas tree.”
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