Christmas in Retrospect By Harold Cunliffe
you think things could not get any worse, they did. It was very difficult to attach the small tree to the existing tree because the wood and sap was slippery, but I did my best by using metal clamps. The day following my handiwork a strong wind hit the town which made the top section lean at a right angle to the wind. All over the festive period the top section changed direction as the wind changed.
There is an air of Christmas in the shops and supermarkets as retailers start to fill their shelves with Christmas merchandise. In a search for when the newspapers first commenced their Christmas advertising campaign I find that it was after the Second World War. Before then, commercially, very little was spent on promoting festive merchandise.
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hristmas began two weeks prior to the event. The first civic Christmas tree to be placed in the Market Place of the town of Middleton, a town north of Manchester was in 1954, again being post-war. This area was once the location of the central air raid shelter, which was converted into gardens with seating after the Second World War, no doubt 1954 was the time of their upgrade pleasure and recreation facility. The first two Christmas trees were gifts to the borough. For the Parks Foreman Christmas tree was a task which he had to pay attention to, all the eyes of the borough were upon his work. It was during the mid-1970’s that the team of Rochdale workmen who were given the task of erecting the 35ft tree made an error by attaching a rope 134
too close to the top of the tree, which when tensioned snapped the top section of the tree. In typical workman style it was decided to discard the top section of the tree in the hope that no one would notice. In fairness, no one did until the coloured lamps were fitted, then the festive monument sported a round instead of pointed top. The local press was the first to highlight the missing section in publishing a comment that some Middleton gardener had a freebie, had sawn the top off and taken it home to use as his festive tree. If there is one thing that instils a response from the council, it is bad publicity. The council thrive on good publicity. To correct the decapitated tree the powers that be in the Town Hall held a meeting, and the outcome was that a five foot Christmas tree would be purchased which was to be spliced on the top of the thirty foot tree, and it was my job to attach it! Two days later the small tree arrived, a dumpy tree in stature which was totally the wrong shape, a tall thin one would have been ideal, but I followed orders and attached the tree as instructed, which looked dreadful. It looked like a Christmas tree placed on top of a Christmas tree, which it was. Just when
LANCASHIRE & NORTH WEST MAGAZINE
In the end I thought it was amusing having a seasonal weather vane in the centre of town. I certainly did not want to repeat climbing a huge ladder again to attend to the top of the tree. Initially another Local Gvt officer was sent to assist me in the attaching of the small tree, which was to be one as darkness set in so the public would not realise that the tree had grown a new top. My assistant, Trevor, was to ‘foot’ the ladder, to prevent it slipping. After I had been up the ladder a while I decided to have a rest. The wind was making the ladder sway from side to side; my arms were hurting in trying to hold the small tree while affixing the clamps. Then glancing around from my lofty position I noticed a familiar face in the queue of the chip shop over the road, it was Trevor, he became hungry so went over to purchase two pies. Another seasonal
Second World War gas advert
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