Thousands expected to visit popular pre-Christmas festival in Salisbury
The St Thomas' Christmas Tree Festival is marking it's 20th year
One of Salisbury's biggest pre-Christmas events reaches it's 20th anniversary today.
The St Thomas' Christmas Tree Festival gets underway this morning (3/12), with around 100 decorated trees and nativity scenes set up in the church.
The festival is a traditional Christmas season opener in the city and helps raise crucial funds for local causes. This year's nominated charity's are Christians Against Poverty and Morning Star Salisbury.
Last year's event raised over £20,000.
It opens this morning at 10am and runs until 5:30pm on Sunday 8th December and entry is free.
The festival is expecting to have a record number of musicians performing to provide a musical backdrop to the event.
Organiser Chris Ryder told us the festival is growing every year and the trees reflect the city's togetherness.
He said: "The festival's been getting bigger and bigger, we've got 104 trees and nativity scenes being exhibited this year, which is 10 more than last year.
"There's everything from climate change, to pets at home and how much we love our pets.
"There's a community spirit and all the work that goes on in the community, and the schools as well, celebrating the work that they do, so the festival's hugely important from that point of view as a celebration of what community in Salisbury does."
Chris told us the Church never thought the festival would reach 20 years.
He told Greatest Hits Radio: "It proved to be very popular in the first couple of years and as a result of that it's grown exponentially from there. So last year, for example, we had I think almost record numbers of visitors, 11,000 people visited and they came from as far afield as Vancouver in Canada and Victoria in Australia.
"I like to claim that although this is for Salisbury St Thomas's Christmas tree, first of all, we're actually international."
He added that it's vital to use events like the Festival to spread Christmas cheer, as we face greater challenges in daily life.
Chris said: "We all face lots of different challenges the world globally, it's becoming a less stable, more conflict affected place and people face the cost of living crisis and the two things are linked so I think a lot of people find reassurance and confidence from reflecting on what Christmas means for them, whether that's memories of times past or whether it's the promise of peace on earth on the basis of God sending his son Jesus into the world.
"So there are a whole range of issues that I think motivate people to want to be involved, and it is a celebration of everything that goes on in community and the great work that people do throughout the year."