Whitegates take part in Christmas Tree Festival

Staff and service users at AEM's Whitegates respite service have showcased their creativity by decorating a tree to display in the Christmas Tree Festival in Worksop.

The Festival, which takes place each year within the historic 12th century Priory Church, includes displays of more than 50 trees from local organisations and community groups.

Organisations are urged to let their imaginations run wild and display a tree in any way they like whether it's traditional or made out of different materials. Whitegates’ support worker, Kelso Lennox crafted a tree out of wood, which was then personalised with photographs of the ‘Whitegates' family’ of team members and service users.

His colleague, Lucy Johnstone-McCarthy (pictured) installed the tree in the church and dressed it for today’s opening of the festival.

“It’s been a team effort,” she said. “Everyone has been involved. It represents the amazing service users we support at Whitegates in Worksop and the amazing team that support them. I hope that lots of people will come and see our tree and come and have a chat with us to find out more about AEM, the support we can offer and about the opportunities to work with us here at AEM.”

Organisers are expecting to welcome around 1,700 visitors through the doors during the festival and hope to raise hundreds of pounds for charities.

• The festival starts today and runs through to Sunday. The festival is open between 10am and 4pm each day and on Thursday until 7.30pm. On Saturday the Priory Church will also host a Christmas Fair, giving people another opportunity to take a look at the tree display.