Castleton's Christmas display a great success!

Local Councillors in Castleton have hailed this year's Christmas tree and lights display a huge success. Previous years have seen vandals proving to be a costly headache as decorations were either stolen or damaged. The Christmas tree was donated yet again by All-In-One Garden Centre on Rochdale Road, with the lights being donated by Castleton Area Forum.

Castleton Councillor Peter Davison said: "I am delighted to see this year's Christmas Tree display in Castleton has passed without any major vandalism or theft taking place. There was a point around 6-7 years ago that our Council seriously considered scrapping Christmas trees across the borough in light of the huge amount of damage that was taking place due to mindless vandals.

Councillor Davison continued: "Last year at one of our area forums local youth organiser Emma Lloyd, suggested a great idea of getting local schools to design and make a decorative display to place around the tree. Her thoughts were that this was likely to encourage local children to take more pride in our display and therefore decrease the number of vandalism incidents. We were delighted that St Edwards Primary School kindly provided us with the decorations and I know that Councillor Ted Flynn has even gone to the trouble of saving their decorations in his garage for next year."

Councillor Davison also wanted to remind residents that they can go along to one of the council's designated Christmas Tree Collection points and recycle their old Christmas trees.

He said: "Last year we managed to recycle over 3000 trees which in turn saved over 12 tonnes of waste from going to landfill. The service is entirely free and is a safe, green way for residents to dispose of their Christmas tress."

For your nearest recycling point please contact the council's environment department on 0845 226 1800 or visit http://www.rochdale.gov.uk/festive_season_services_and_op/christmas_tree_collection_poin.aspx