THE scent of pine will be filling the air at Tavistock’s St Eustachius’ Church as it hosts the annual Christmas tree festival, opening tomorrow (Friday).

The ten day event will see businesses, organisations and charities decorate Christmas trees to be exhibited in the church from Friday, November 30 to December 9.

Tavistock mayor Cllr Paul Ward will open the festival at 2.30pm and there will be carol singing by Tavistock Church Schools’ Federation choir. The event will be open daily from 10am to 4.30pm.

Judy Hannaford Hirst, vice chair of the Friends of St Eustachius, organisers of the event, said: ‘Our tenth annual Christmas tree festival promises to be the best yet, with over 65 trees beautifully and imaginatively decorated trees by schools, organisations and businesses.

‘There will be musical entertainment throughout, delicious refreshments and wonderful, homemade Christmas gifts for sale. We are also open until 9.30pm on Dickensian Evening, so come along and join us for a glass of mulled wine.’

One of the exhibitors among the 67 signed up will be Robin Rich, owner of I Love Candy and former BID chairman.

He has entered the festival for the past five years and previous decorations have included flying saucers sweets, a number of which he said had ‘gone missing’ by the time the tree was taken down.

He said: ‘It’s about dressing your tree to do the best for your cause and making it really eye-catching. It’s a bit of Christmas fun; when you think of what is going on in this world and in this country, it takes people’s minds off it.

‘A lot of people make a specific visit — not just to spend an hour in the church, but to move out into the town, have coffee, lunch and make a day of it so it’s not just benefiting the church but the town as well.’