Christmas tree ready

Press, 4 December 1981, Page 2

Christmas tree ready

A choirboy at Christchurch Cathedral, Michael Clapp, aged 13, (left) takes a close look at decorations on the Cathedral Christmas tree, erected yesterday. Christmas isn’t Christmas without a tree complete with coloured lights, and the Cathedral’s 5m tree is again ini place for the festive season. The tree, from the Christchurch City Council’s Bottle Lake reserve, was carried into the nave of the Cathedral yesterday and set upright by the building firm, J. A. Harris. The tinsel and decorations were then draped about the tree by the mothers of Cathedral choirboys. The festoons of coloured lights for the tree were wired by a Christchurch electrician, Mr P. C. Henwood. The tree will be dedicated, with the crib, at a special children’s service on Sunday morning. The Dean of Christchurch, the Very Rev. M. L. Underhill, will take the service. It will be his last Christmas tree dedication service before his retirement. “His Christmas tree dedications have become famous for the gimmicks,” said the Cathedral verger, Mr A. G. Summerell. “We don’t quite know what he will do this time — you have to wait until Sunday morning.” People were invited to put gifts under the tree as usual, said Mr Summerell. The gifts would be distributed by the Save the Children Fund to local children’s homes and a few would be sent to children in Lesotho in Africa.