On Thursday 5th January the Christmas Tree on the Market Place and most of the Christmas lights in Abingdon town centre were lit up for the last time of the festive season.

By Friday evening the Christmas Tree was getting a short back and sides.

The branches were the first into the shredder on Saturday morning, followed by all the smaller trees bought in by Abingdon residents: some dragged, some carried, others ferried in by car.

The trunk of the large Christmas tree was chopped into sections and given to a local barge owner for his stove. The chippings from the branches and smaller trees will be used on places such as the Ock Valley walk. The fragrance of the oils in those pine needles ought to be bottled. It makes such a wonderful smell during the shredding.

P.S. Vale of White Horse District ‏say “if you’re a garden waste customer, leave your real Christmas tree out beside your brown bin this week – we’ll collect and compost it.”