Mayor chooses town centre Christmas tree

THE Christmas tree that will be placed in Henley market place this year has been chosen by Mayor Rory Hunt.

Councillor Hunt picked a 30ft Nordmann fir from Greenfield Farm in Christmas Common, whose owner Andrew Ingram has given a Christmas tree to Henley for the past 10 years. He was helped by town centre manager Paul Carey.

Mr Ingram estimated that the tree was about 25 years old and likely to have been planted in early 2000.

The tree will be installed in the square on Monday, November 25, ahead of the Christmas Festival that Friday, and will be decorated with hundreds of baubles.

Cllr Hunt said it felt “slightly strange” to be picking out a Christmas tree in September but he was happy with his choice.

He said: “The shape and the size are right. It’s not so big that it would look out of place and nor so small that it would be overshadowed by the town hall.

“It’s quite nice and thick and has a slightly broader base than most of the others, giving it a classic Christmas tree shape. We are lucky to have the farm and the Tree Barn so close.” Each year Mr Ingram provides a tree for a number of towns locally, including Wallingford and Thame and this year it wil supply one for Portobello Market in London. He has previously provided a tree for Number 10 Downing Street in 2011, 2013 and 2015.

Mr Ingram said: “I planted my first Christmas tree in 1970 and, in total, I have about 120,000 trees. We sell about 15,000 a year and we plant around 16,000 to 17,000 a year. So there’s a continuous turnover of trees.”

After Cllr Hunt selected the tree Mr Ingram attached a tag to its branches so that it can be easily found again when it comes to chopping it down. The tree will then be transported by a haulage company on the 10-mile journey to the town hall.

Once in place, the bottom 3ft of the tree will not be visible as its trunk will be sunken into a pipe in the ground to stabilise it.

The tree barn will open its Christmas shop from Saturday, November 2 and the sale of Christmas trees will begin on November 23.