After an anxious wait, the Fakenham Christmas Tree Festival will go ahead on time after the trees were delivered less than 24 hours before the event was due to start.
Organisers were sweating as the arrival of the trees went down to the wire and they did not get to the venue, at the town’s parish church, until lunchtime on November 24.
The doors open on November 25, with more than 40 charities decorating the trees for the display.
Anne Peppitt, the festival’s administrator said all members, bar one, were present at the church as they prepared for a late-night to get all the trees decorated. One member is also prepared to be there at 7am on opening day to give everyone the best chance of being ready.
“It is manic, we ought to be feeling stressed and panicked, but we are all saying ‘it is what it is’, '' Mrs Peppitt said.
“What on earth could we do about it, at least we have the trees now.
“In a way we have (found the funny side), we are a strong team and have been doing it for a long time. It was out of our hands, it was no one's fault.”
The committee had a number of meetings as they prepared to host the festival for the first time since 2019, and with Covid still at the forefront of their mind’s they discussed a number of measures - except if there were no trees.
“What else can you do? When we first heard the trees might not be here, there was a laugh about it,” she added.
“We thought of everything, where should the hand sanitiser go, will we ask visitors to wear a mask, should we have a one-way system in place.
“The one thing we did not discuss was, what would we do if no trees appeared.
“We all know there is an issue with delivery drivers, it didn’t occur to us that it might affect us.”
The festival runs from November 25 to December 2, 10am to 8pm (12 noon to 8pm on Sun). There will also be a festival service on November 28 at 10.00am. There is also a tombola, market stalls and refreshments on offer.
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