Festival Lighting
LED lights on each tree are often recommended. Trees can be placed on boards on top of some of the pews as well as standing on the floor. Each set of tree lights is plugged into a socket extension which takes the lights from each group of trees and these are then plugged into the sockets in the walls around the church. The leads on each tree are hidden with either a tree skirt, a piece of material or a scarf around the base. Depending on the theme of the tree there could also be some straw or tinsel or something else. The extension leads feed into the nearby sockets but there is one area where you have to have a lead trailing across the stone floor between the choir stalls. This is then taped to the floor with black and yellow tape, so it isn’t a trip hazard. Because of the low voltage of the lights there isn’t a risk of overloading the plugs.
Battery lights are another option that might work for smaller Festivals or ones that last a weekend, although using battery lights means someone has to go around to each tree to switch the lights on each time. Some Festivals are fortunate enough to have electricians in the congregation, who take care of the lights and the electrics. Various people think that the tree lights use a lot of electricity, but in reality, they don’t use much at all, especially if they are LED lights. Heating the church can sometimes be the biggest cost – but some may say giving visitors a warm welcome is worth every penny.
It is best that the tree decorators put the lights on the trees first before their decorations. Lights should be plugged into a socket and tested to check they work before arranging them on the trees. Once the tree is decorated, the plugging can then be sorted out. Doing it this way means the public don’t have anything to do with plugging the actual trees in, and it fits in with the Health and Safety and Risk Assessment policies for the CTF. Decorators can use their own lights, or the Church can supply them. If the Church supplies them, they could have a supply to be used or they could be included in a charge to decorate a tree. There could be complications if the decorators are paying and they have preferences for certain type of lights e.g. white rather than coloured or a special shaped or themed light (e.g. flowers or candles). There are so many different types and sizes and lengths of lights around, so it is worth considering the options you are prepared to offer, if any. Some of the larger trees may need more than one set of lights and it can look odd if they aren’t the same sort of lights.
Some Festivals have built up a collection of lights and offer them to the decorators to help themselves to on a first come first served basis. Lights can be organised according to colour (e.g. one box for while lights and another box for coloured lights). It is advised that each set of lights should be kept in a plastic bag so that they don’t all get tangled together (which can be quite frustrating when trying to find a set!). Tree lights supplied can take years to acquire, and some Festival organisers have found that most decorators do use these lights, and often come early to decorate their trees so they can get the set of lights they want. If the Church is supplying the lights, it is best that someone should go through them each year to test them so that they are fit for purpose. This does also mean storage space of these lights do need to be taken into consideration.
