At mid-night on New Years Eve many villages see the new year in around the Christmas Tree.

Early History of Aston’s Village Christmas Tree

In 1975 the idea of a Village Christmas Tree in Aston village centre was originated by myself and with permission of the Parish Council a tree and electric power supply was organised.

The tree was erected in the village centre with Victor Brown (still of Ellison Avenue) helping me, we were both 32 years younger then. We used to literally strap the tree to the lamp-post in those days.

The Christmas tree light set was borrowed from the Aston Village Society (pre SAVE, an Aston resident-type organisation) of which I was an active committee member and Harold Hilton was Chairman.

The funding of the tree and electricity connecting/disconnecting came from the 1975 Christmas Village Walk which was organised and run by my family on behalf of the Village Society. It was handy being able to divert the funds where I thought suitable.

This Christmas tree thing went on for six years to 1980. In 1981 it was handed over to our Parish Council who took on this festive job.

It is pleasing to see that our village tradition is still happening

Ken Adams