It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas as church holds a tree festival
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas as one of the West Midlands' oldest churches gets ready for the festive season.
St Peter's Collegiate Church in Wolverhampton city centre has become a forest of green for its first Christmas tree festival.
The church has been decked out with about 20 Christmas trees, each with its own unique theme, for the event which runs until November 29.
The Good Shepherd Ministry has entered a tree decorated with mugs and a topped off with a woolly hat, reflecting its work with the homeless in the city.
The church choir's tree features decorations made from sheet music, while The Wood Saints – a voluntary group which creates bespoke furniture from waste wood – produced its own wooden tree.
Church volunteer Amy Bertaut said the festival was originally the idea of a former curate at the church, but was delayed by the coronavirus lockdowns.
She said charities and organisations had been invited to decorate trees relating to their work, based around the theme of A Christmas Carol.
Visitors will be invited to donate £2 to vote for their favourite, and would then be entered into a prize draw.
"Our hope is that the festival will help to showcase our church and some fantastic charities in the city, whilst raising money for the church and the Good Shepherd Ministries," Amy added.
"We really want to encourage people to come and have a look around, especially if they’ve never been inside our beautiful church before."
The festival will be open daily from 11am to 2pm and then from 4pm until 7pm. The Festival closes on Wednesday 29th.
The church also hosts its Christmas fair on Saturday from 10.30am and 2pm, which will be opened by Mayor of Wolverhampton Councillor Mike Hardacre.
