Residents praise 'best Christmas tree in years' in St Helens

As the delivery of Christmas trees and corresponding light switch-on kicks off the festivities each December, the council has faced criticism over the standard of its trees in the past, with last year's Church Square one having to be replaced.

This year, however, there has been reams of positive comments surrounding the Church Square tree, which was lit up at the switch-on event headlined by Earlestown rockers the K's.

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The tree at this year's light switch-on (Image: St Helens Star)
The Christmas trees, which are placed throughout the borough, are supplied by St Helens businessman Richard Rainford, of Rainford’s Christmas Tree Land, who has been working in the industry for almost 50 years.

The process of picking the trees begins in late summer, with some of the biggest ones grown in Scotland, and the business has had lots of positive feedback for its selection of trees this year.

With the trees and decorations now all fitted, the council has said it takes "great pride" in working with a long-standing local business, and hopes the trees can help drive trade in the town centre over the festive period.

The Victoria Square tree prior to its decorating (Image: St Helens Star)
With a photograph of the Church Square Christmas tree attracting a huge response on social media, here is a selection of some of the comments:

Darren Anders, who posted the picture, said: "[The tree] usually gets criticised this time of year but, in my opinion, that's a job well done this year. Well done to whoever put it up and bringing a bit of sparkle to a normally reportedly glum town."

Elaine Palmer wrote: "Credit when its due, best one for years."

Charl Ellison wrote: "Best one in years, looks beautiful."

Carol Hill said: "Best one in a long time."

Val Unsworth said: "A massive improvement from previous years."

Mel Ward said: "Definitely the best one we've had. It looks absolutely grogeous."

David Briers commented: "Looks awesome!"

Ian Pitts said: "Stunning tree."

Yvonne Lynn Delaney said: "It's much nicer this year, the one by me in Haresfinch is much better too this year."

Phil Sephton commented: "The decorations in town are lovely, but you can guarantee that the usual suspects on these sites will criticise them and compare them to the decorations in other towns."