‘Wonky’ tree mark two for March – but not everyone is happy

A town’s Christmas tree has once again been hitting the headlines after last year’s offering made the town global news with its ‘wonky’ stance.

This year March Town Council who purchased the town’s annual festive tree from Elvedon Forest thought it would be fun to repeat the joke and have a wonky tree for the second year running.

Councillors agreed that town clerk Sarah Lemmon should request a ‘wonky’ tree when submitting an order to Elvedon when the council’s Christmas lights committee met in October.

Last year’s tree, which hit the headlines around the world after causing a storm on local social media sites, cost £3,636.

This year the council has received a 10% discount on the price and so the tree, which has appeared in the town centre this week, has cost £3,240.

The tree has been relocated from its previous spot on Market Place to the new pedestrianised area of Broad Street close to the town’s War Memorial.

The minutes of the October Christmas lights committee meeting clearly show the council made the decision to deliberately repeat last year’s ‘wonky’ tree.

They read: “Our little tree became world-famous and put March on the map and gave the town a much-needed boost economically. Could we source a wonky/imperfect tree again this year which would become a talking-point/local attraction?”

However, not everyone appreciates a repetition of last year with over 160 comments posted on Facebook about the tree.

Many of them negative.

One person wrote: “It’s like telling the same joke twice... you don’t do it - ridiculous.”

Another said: “How pathetic. All that money spent on rejuvenating the area and they do this. It’s not funny.”

While other comments included: “Noooooooo! Not again!” and “What an embarrassment.”, while another said: “Nice new town centre and they pull this stunt making March a laughing stock.”

But it was not all negative others were pleased to see a ‘wonky’ tree appear.

One person wrote: “Oh yes. Please be wonky please be wonky. Would be absolutely brilliant, just saying.”

Another said: “There are a lot of moaners in this town, nought wrong with it.”

One man added: “I’m glad, I was hoping it would be wonky again.”