TREES filled St Andrew's Church in Calstock over the weekend as the parish held its first ever Christmas tree festival, which was deemed a success by organisers.

Local businesses, organisations and groups decorated trees which were on display in the church for visitors to view over the weekend.

Festival committee member Lorna Baker said: 'It went really well. It was well supported by the variety of local organisations, clubs, businesses and schools.

'On the day when the trees went up, the church was buzzing with all ages doing their bit and the visitors were raring to get in from the minute we opened on Friday — they certainly enjoyed the event from the visitor book comments.'

During the festival visitors were entertained by live organ music and a miscellany of local choirs, including Calstock Singers, Callington Singers, the Gunnislake U3A group and the occasional church choir sang a widely diverse selection of seasonal songs to an appreciative audience.

A total of £650 was raised during the festival from donations, which will be used to help maintain the fabric of St Andrew's Church.

Mrs Baker said: 'Raising money was not our main objective.

'The objective was to invite folk into a beautiful and friendly church and to raise their spirits with a community project. We think we've achieved that and we thoroughly enjoyed it all.'

l Pictured above are Shirley Doidge, Valerie and Douglas Dollow and Jim Walker with some of the festive trees.

Picture by James Bird