Christmas decorations

Christmas came early for Tower Hamlets community groups who participated in Bethnal Green’s first ever Community Christmas Tree Festival.

To send a link to this page to a friend, simply enter their email address below.

The message will include the name and email address you gave us when you signed up.

Email address

  Send link

To send a link to this page to a friend, you must be logged in.

The event held last Saturday (December 11) at Bethnal Green Mission Church in Cambridge Heath Road invited East End community groups to design and enter Christmas trees related to their work.

Twenty-one trees were decorated by 19 organisations, and the event boasted nearly 200 visitors.

Bikeworks, a community cycle centre in Tower Hamlets, won the competition.

Although the event was free, around £200 was raised from donations, cake and tea and coffee sales, which went to the Sick Children’s Trust in Tower Hamlets.

Mike Houston, who organised the event, said: “It was hugely successful.

“The aim was to gather community groups and organisations together, and to share diversity and creativity in Tower Hamlets.

“We had all kinds of groups, from hairdressers to Quaker Social Action.

“The intention was to get groups together and do something fun and creative, and to get people into our building.

“The money was a nice side benefit – it was an excellent event,” he added.