A “covert ops” Christmas tree campaign in Whitchurch has shown the best of the town.
“Operation Prickle” has seen businesses , community organisers and the council work together to bring some colour to the town centre as a way to raise donations for Whitchurch Food Bank.
The operation saw over a dozen Christmas Tres being put up in the town centre with directions for how to donate to the foodbank with each shop acting a donation spot.
The campaign is the brainchild of the Whitchurch Marketing Collaborative and the Street Garden Project and is made up of local businesses such Moo & Boom, the Vinyl Countdown, Refill Your Boots, BizEd CIC, Mee Fit, Docket and Wild Shropshire.
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It quickly gained support from other local groups such as Blackberry Fair and the town council and saw plans being put together.
Owner of the Vinyl Countdown, Mark Fulton, said he was part of the “covert ops” team who put the trees up earlier this month.
“We have been trying to do things for the town to make it look better,” said Mark. “At Christmas there are no Christmas trees in town. So we decided, along with the council, to put some trees out.
“We got trees from a local nursery. We decided to do something nice and on the back of that we have added signs up so that people can either come into my shop, Moo and Boom, Refill your boots and Biz Ed and you can leave food and toy donations for the food bank.
“It’s putting those presents under the tree. It was just a nice thing to do for town.”
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Mark Cornelius is part of the collaborative and was one of the key figures in organising the campaign.
“This is a fab little town,” said Mr Cornelius. “You have all this amazing stuff that is happening in a 10-minute walk.
“It is a passionate belief here that the town is made up of loads of different parts and these guys are doing their bit to promote the town.
“The Christmas trees were an idea to put a smile on people’s faces. It’s a bit different and it makes the high street a bit brighter.
“There are 14 trees and hopefully it will get people to help the food bank who always need a bit of help at this time of the year.
“It was this midnight operation on December 1, it was like a really bad heist. What has been brilliant about it is that it has been supported by every element of the community.
“The council contributed, the church contributed. The trees are a bit wonky but they are going back into the ground and they will come back next year.”
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