As the last reams of tinsel are being draped around Christmas trees in town centres across the country, under the cover of darkness, a flurry of helpers are desperately attempting to cover up a Christmas tree debarkle.
For the past 60 Christmases, the Norwegian city of Bergen has presented a Nordmann Fir to the people of Newcastle upon Tyne as a way of thanking them for their help during the war. However, the tree standing prominently outside Newcastle Civic Centre is not exactly as it appears.
Although the Christmas lights on the magnificent piece of 50ft shrubbery had been jointly switched on by Newcastle’s Lord Mayor, the Mayor of Bergen, Gunnar Bakke and the Hairy Bikers, council bosses quickly feared for the safety of their Geordie constituents and decided that the tree was to be given the chop.
Leader of Newcastle City Council, Councillor David Faulkner said, “This is obviously unfortunate but in no way diminishes the generosity of this kind gesture from our Norwegian friends.”
It was a Newcastle resident that first noticed the tree wasn't the same as the one at the lighting ceremony. These suspicions were later confirmed after it came to light that late on in the night of the switch-on, council workers had worked furiously to pull down the Norwegian Fir and replace it with a Sitka Spruce from Kielder Forest.
Councillor David Faulkner explained that a crack in the trunk of the tree had been at the root of the problem, and he believed a replacement tree was necessary to prevent injuries being caused if the Nordmann Fir fell. After scurrying to quickly take down the flawed tree, it was then burned to comply with strict rules on imported trees.
