Peterhead has been praised for its festive spirit after the community jumped into action to replace decorations that had been stolen from a Christmas tree in the town centre.
Light Up Peterhead, the group that organises the town’s public festive displays, were devastated to discover yesterday that the baubles and tinsel had been stolen from the tree they had set up beside the town house – including some hung by local children.
The tree – one of two donated by Peterhead FC – had been left unfenced this year, a change from previous years in the hope it would remain safe.
The group’s committee was particularly disappointed as, due to coronavirus restrictions, they had been unable to fundraise this year and had to dig into their reserve funds to ensure the decorations could still go up.
A post detailing the situation was put on the Light Up Peterhead Facebook page, and the comments quickly swelled with offers of help.
One commenter wrote: “Everyone should go down & add one decoration”.
To that, another replied: “Let’s rally troops and make it a stunning tree again!”
Soon, the community was making arrangements for collections, with one person offering up their car for the effort.
They said: “Anyone with spare baubles/tinsel are welcome to pop them into back of my jeep outside my house (social distancing/no contact) and I will take them all down to the tree and whoever is available can help attach at an organised time????‼️‼️‼️‼️
“Let’s do this!!! Beat badness xxxx”
Gradually, the town’s tree began to shine again with leftover baubles and other decorations adorning its boughs.
Light Up Peterhead committee member Dianne Beagrie, who also serves as a local councillor for the area, said: “Yesterday afternoon I went down to check the tree and found that all the baubles and tinsel had been taken and the cable ties holding the lights were broken.
“This is very disappointing for the Light Up team.
“After checking with the chair Phyllis Mundie I put up a Facebook post, and the community of Peterhead have already responded.
“We have some decorations already added to the tree and lots of comments on Facebook offering to help.
“We have a great community who all work together and we would like to thank everyone for their support.”
The group is currently running two separate Christmas competitions on its Facebook page: one for children who have placed decorations on the town house tree, and one for the local house with the best festive lights.
For contest details and information on how to enter for the chance to win a prize, search ‘Light Up Peterhead’ on Facebook.