Rutland Garden Centre donates new tree to Oakham

Oakham’s Christmas tree has been upgraded, just in time for the town’s Late Night Shopping event.

Hundreds of people called for an improvement to the tree chosen by the Rotary Club of Rutland last week. A Facebook page was set up to call for a better tree, and Oakham Town Council acted quickly to ask its contractor to restring the lights.

But the tree itself has now been replaced with a more impressive model thanks to Chris Hamilton, director of Rutland Garden Centre.

Mayor of Oakham Jayne Woodcock said: “The new tree is a great improvement and the intervention of Chris Hamilton at such short notice with such a determined and cheerful bunch of volunteers on such a cold wet Sunday morning is truly appreciated. Part of this appreciation was demonstrated with hot cups of tea being provided by the staff at Age UK shop, and representing the whole voice of the town council I would like to thank not only the Hamilton volunteers but also the people of Oakham for their positive energy that has helped the Give Oakham The Tree it Deserves campaign achieve a truly community-spirited result.”