Broadford’s annual Christmas tree and light display celebrated its third decade of donations from a local club this year.
The tree and accompanying lighting and festive decorations are each year selected, decorated and erected by the Broadford and Strath Community Council alongside a team of volunteers aiming to bring the Christmas spirit to the village – and it is in large part thanks to donations received from the local ‘Whist Drive’ group that this has happened.
The group of card-playing enthusiasts meet through the year to play whist, and as well as enjoying the social and competitive elements of the club, they have been raising money for the local Christmas light displays since the 1990s.
The idea surfaced 30 years ago when Seonaid Nicolson and Fiona Mackay, along with their husbands, were on holiday in Canada during Halloween.
Seonaid and Fiona saw that the towns and villages were decorated with banners and lights, and found themselves thinking, ‘this sort of thing doesn’t happen in Broadford – and really it should’.
Seonaid’s husband suggested that if a similar thing was needed in Broadford, then they should get on with it and make it happen, so when they arrived back home that’s exactly what they did.
They started fundraising for Christmas lights at the ‘Whist Drive’ evenings and have continued to do so for the following 30 years.
Hamish Fraser, vice-chair of the community council, said: “Both Seonaid and Fiona must be congratulated for rising to the challenge and for continuing to fundraise for the community Christmas lights for at least the last thirty years. The garden in its full splendour highlights the work of such a worthy pair of ladies.”
Whist Drive member Alastair MacPherson also helps select and fell the Christmas tree every year – assisted this year by fellow Broadford and Strath community councillor Nick Ferguson, with the pair also erecting the tree at its position in the community gardens – aided by David O’Donnell and fellow Broadford residents – before well-known and long-serving local electrician, Donald Murray, connected the lights.
Article by Daniel Cullen
