Christmas Trees and Poppies – Unlocking Warwick

With the arrival of the Victorian Evening, the Christmas Tree Festival in St. Mary’s Church is open, with trees decorated by local organisations on show against a backdrop of the 62,000 hand-made ‘Warwick Poppies’.

Both displays can be viewed every day between 10am and 4pm (except during services) until December 9th, when the trees will go to new homes and the poppies will make way for the festive Christmas season at St. Mary’s. Already thousands of people have been to see the poppy display since it opened in October.

Unlocking Warwick’s Christmas Tree is Number 3 as you walk round the church. It reflects our special project for 2018 – the centenary year of the end of WW1- finding the stories behind the 358 names on the Warwick War Memorial and posting them on a dedicated website www.warwickwarmemorial.org.uk

The names and pictures of The Fallen from Warwick are hung on the tree with keys, representing our mission to unlock Warwick’s history and heritage and present it in community projects. It was appropriate this year to complement the poppy display by unlocking the stories of the local men (and one women) who gave their lives in The Great War. Here is a picture gallery. Click on each photo to see it full size.

Our tree is in the aisle leading to the Royal Warwickshire Regimental Chapel

The Unlocking Warwick tree commemorates those from Warwick who died in WW1

On the tree are pictures of the Warwick men who did not return

Photos of the Warwick Fallen on the Unlocking Christmas Tree

Eric Pyne went to war straight from Warwick School and died aged 20

Alfred Kemp from 10 Jury Street died in Turkey in 1915

The tree was the runner-up in the public vote

More than a hundred old keys have been collected

Stories of the Warwick Fallen are on the Warwick War Memorial website

There are over 62,000 hand made poppies in the display

The display will be available to view until December 9th

The Unlocking Warwick Festival Christmas Tree

If you decide to vote for your favourite tree you will be entered into a prize draw. Clearly you will want to vote for Tree Number 3 ! Visitors to the Christmas Tree Festival are asked to contribute £1 (children free).