SIMPLY Tree-mendous!

The Daily Echo is today celebrating after helping to save Christmas in Southampton – with a little help from Santa’s elves across the county.

With just one week to go until the big day itself, a Christmas tree is finally sitting proudly outside Southampton’s historic Bargate monument, adorned with hundreds of sparkling lights that will be officially switched on by panto star Brian Conley on Thursday night.

The huge community operation to secure the 20ft tree has been six days in the planning following a rallying cry from the Daily Echo for help.

And boy did people do their bit and pitch in!

Last month the Daily Echo reported how there were concerns and frustrations that Southampton had lost its festive spirit while towns and cities across the country were decked out in festive lights.

Daily Echo:

Instead Southampton, which didn’t even have a tree, was dubbed a place where Christmas appeared to be an afterthought that even The Grinch would not want to steal.

Cash strapped council bosses have said they could not justify a tree as they made multi-million pound cutbacks to services and jobs.

And unlike other areas such as Winchester, the city does not have a Business Improvement District (BID) which could have secured funding for a tree from firms clubbing together to pay for it.

But as complaints continued to pour in, and the Daily Echo’s letters pages became busy with moans and groans about the lack of Christmas spirit, bosses at the Forestry Commission came forward.

Shocked at the lack of a tree, they offered to provide one for free to Future Southampton – a collective of business leaders who have formed the new organisation to co-ordinate improvements in the city - and the offer was happily snapped up.

The Daily Echo then stepped in to the breach to pull together the mammoth operation alongside Southampton City Council and a host of generous local businesses who gave up their time and efforts for free to make it happen.

The newspaper also donated money along with Trethowans Solicitors, Elliotts builders merchants and individual members of the Hampshire Chamber of Commerce to pay for the tree lights.

In scenes more akin with an episode of DIY SOS, an army of workmen were involved in getting the tree from its home in the New Forest to Southampton on Wednesday.

There was then a carefully planned operation to get it into position.

Trevor Thorne, chairman of Future Southampton, said: “It’s great to see that community spirit is still alive. Without the help of the Forestry Commission and businesses in the city Southampton would not have a Christmas tree this year.

“This is a wonderful start – now let’s hope this is a sign of bigger and better things to come.”

Council leader Simon Letts added: “We’re delighted to see that the business community has come together to work with the council to bring the spirit of Christmas to Southampton.

“We congratulate the Daily Echo and everyone who has contributed, on all the work they have put in to make this happen.”

Royston Smith, leader of the Conservative group, added: “Credit where credit is due – if it was not for the Daily Echo then we would not have the tree. Absolutely huge thanks go to everyone who has pulled out all the stops at such short notice.

“This shows there is a great sense of community in Southampton and this is exactly what Christmas is all about.”

Big Switch on on Thursday

Daily Echo:

HE’S the panto star who is turning out to officially switch on Southampton’s Christmas lights .....oh yes he is!

Funnyman Brian Conley who is currently starring in the Mayflower’s production of Cinderella will be making a visit to the Bargate on Thursday to turn on the lights.

And he wants you to turn out and join him for a bit of festive fun in between his matinee and evening performances.

Brian, who stars as Buttons in the magical show which has received rave reviews, will be asking people to join him in a Christmas countdown before the lights are officially turned on around 5.15pm.

Dont be late or you’ll miss it....oh yes you will!

HOW IT CAME TO BE

IT was certainly no mean feat.

The carefully planned operation to get Southampton’s Christmas tree from the heart of the New Forest to its new home outside the Bargate needed precision planning – and a huge amount of goodwill.

Daily Echo:

And that’s exactly what happened from early Wednesday morning as Andy Hamilton and his team from R&W Traffic Management, adorning Santa hats, arrived at the Forestry Commission’s workshops in Burley.

The tree was then loaded on to the back of a flatbed lorry before it began its road journey into Southampton.

Andy said: “We were asked by Southampton Highways Partnership if we could help pick the tree up and we wanted to do our bit to celebrate Christmas in the city. It’s never too late to put up a Christmas tree and this is testament to everyone here, working together, to ensure it goes up in time.”

Daily Echo:

Waiting to greet it was a team from Scottish Southern Energy (SSE) who gave up their time through the company’s Be the Difference project.

Neil Rosam, Team Manager Lighting Services for SSE Enterprise, said: "SSE is more than happy to play its part in bringing a bit of Christmas magic to Southampton. The tree is quite big so we provided a team and cherry picker to install it, get the lights up and we even sent an electrician to get it all switched on in time.”

With workers on the ground as well as up in the air inside cherry pickers, they were able to lift the tree from the lorry and gently lower it into the base in the ground in front of the Bargate.

Using wooden wedges to secure it, there were then deep breaths as it was untied and allowed to stand unaided.

Daily Echo:

They were joined on the ground by a team of workers from Southampton City Council’s housing operations team who set to work securing a base around the tree using scaffolding poles and by building a secure wooden frame by hand before giving it a lick of red paint.

With the tree in place there was just one thing left to do – adorn it with hundreds of twinkling lights which were carefully strapped to its branches by a team from Solent Power Systems Ltd before darkness fell.

The roll of honour:

Southampton’s Christmas tree would not have been possible without the help and goodwill of many local firms and individuals who donated time and/or money to help the Daily Echo make it a reality.

Thanks go to:

  • Southampton City Council’s events and housing operations teams
  • Future Southampton – chairman Trevor Thorne and members
  • Trethowans Solicitors
  • Hampshire Chamber of Commerce
  • Forestry Commission – Gary North and his team
  • R&W Traffic Management – Andy Hamilton and his Santa hat wearing helpers
  • Scottish Southern Energy and its team from lighting services at SSE Enterprise
  • Solent Power Systems Limited – Andrew Ferguson and his team
  • Elliotts
  • Alden Ltd sheet metal contractors
  • S&K Scaffolding Ltd of Bartley