Vandals have destroyed a prominent Christmas tree in a Wairarapa town, casting a cloud over what should have been a time of celebration.
By Sue Teodoro of Local Democracy Reporting
The tree – handmade by a local craft collective entirely from recycled materials – was found in tatters after it came down on Monday night.
Former Featherston community board member John Dennison was one of about 15 volunteers who helped install the tree on SH2 in the central Featherston spot known locally as "the squircle".
“It’s quite sad. I doubt we will be able to put it up again,” Dennison said.
“It’s very discouraging.”
He estimated it had taken up to 300 hours for the group to put the tree together during October and November.
“Initially, some people thought [the damage] was the wind, but it wasn’t.
“The way it was broken made it quite clear it was vandals. Some of the internal structure had been broken, which would not have happened in the wind.
“Everybody is quite gutted having put all that effort into it."
The matter had been reported to police.
Dennison said the tree had been carefully designed, keeping wind permeability in mind.
The structure had a wooden pole through the centre, with plastic pipes down the sides. A shade cloth was placed over the frame, which was fixed to a large tractor tyre. It was then covered in a series of triangular designs, made of material.
“We try and use as much recycled stuff as possible. We started building it in October, and finished in late November in time for the Christmas parade and other events in town.”
A version of this tree, made by local craftspeople, first went up in 2019 and had been made every year since then.
The worn cloth collective, who worked on the destroyed tree, was a drop-in workshop and community project for people to make fun items from recycled clothes and fabric.
The collective was open to anyone in the community, at all levels of experience, who wanted to work with textiles, reuse materials, and be part of a creative, collaborative environment.
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
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