2020 Virtual Christmas Tree Festival

It was with heavy hearts and after much consultation that the CTF team (during a series of ‘Virtual’ meetings) took the decision that our traditional Fakenham Christmas Tree Festival would not be able to go ahead in its usual form this year.

Our over-riding consideration was the safety of all concerned. The team is aware that many, if not most of those who volunteer are, like the team, in the demographic considered to be more at risk, and hundreds of volunteer hours are needed during the eight days of the festival. 

All the charities and church teams involved have been notified and those that have responded have expressed sadness but: “You’ve made the right decision”, “Our feelings exactly”, etc.

However, the organising team is a group of creative optimists and we have been determined that the eight Festival days between November 26th and December 3rd 2020 should offer something to our many supporters.

Of the charities which had already applied to the 2020 CTF more than half of them were happy to be part of the VCTF instead. 

On each of the eight days a new video will be released, each of which will feature a few of the charities taking part. There will be interviews with charity representatives; examples of the many creative tree decorations; film and lots of photos from previous years. We also intend to live-stream the festival service from the Parish Church on November 29th. There will be competitions and the opportunity to make donations online and hopefully around the town. We are also discussing other ideas about how we can involve local businesses and organisations.

We are very disappointed that our usual Christmas Tree Festival has had to be cancelled, and our 20th Festival postponed until next year. However the team is excited about the new possibilities opening up to us as we explore this new venture.