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A VERY DIFFERENT CHRISTMAS TREE?
Text
and photographs by David Marshall The story of our very different Christmas
tree began almost a year ago when I made the first enquiry about the possibility
of the Ryedale Aquarist Society taking part in the St. Peter & St. Paul's
Church Pickering (North Yorkshire) Christmas Tree Festival of 2007.
Towards
the end of October a letter arrived from the Church Project Fundraising Committee
in order to confirm that we had a tree for the Festival and so our donation fee
was quickly paid.
 |  | The
impressive spire of St. Peter & St. Paul's Church dominates the local skyline. |
| Enterance
to St. Peter & St. Paul's Church |
From
the very beginning the idea was to present a themed arrangement which would feature
25 endangered freshwater fish species from around the World in order to highlight
the often unreported plight of hundreds of such fish found in a vast variety of
habitats. I took on the task of choosing the 25 fish species to be featured.
The starting point was easy, as the Blue-eyed Panaque has not been reported in
the wild for almost a decade now, so may well be extinct? On the other side of
the coin the Two-saddled Corydoras was believed to have been extinct for a great
deal longer until it was re-discovered by a Japanese expedition a couple of years
ago. Next came Sandelia bainsii, as (through the A.A.G.B.) we are great supporters
of the South African Sandelia fund. With our members maintaining populations of
the Butterfly goodeid and the original population of Endler's livebearers we were
well on our way. A further 20 species (Bitterling, Vindace, Cherry barb,
Tube-nosed goby, Sturgeon, Lamprey, Archerfish, Mississippi Paddlefish, Trout
Minnow, Galaxy Rasbora, Chain botia, Rasbora wilpita, Betta uberis, Arapaima,
Cichlid CH44, Singapore Betta pugnax, Cave Clarias, Aphanius killifish, Musky
Pike and Silver Angelfish) were then chosen which covered all of the World's non-ice
covered continents and as many of their sub-continents as possible. The
photographic collection of Mr. Howard Norfolk, bequeathed to us for Ryedale A.S.
use, was a great starting point for the 25 photographs we needed, with Mr. Mark
Duffil, Dr. Iggy Tavares, Mr. David Armitage and fellow A.A.G.B. members, Mr.
Ivor Hilton and Mr. & Mrs. Kenworthy filling the gaps so enthusiastically.
With all the photographs in place I now prepared small information sheets
on all 25 species. For each I did a common name, the scientific name, country/countries
of origin, reason for decline and, where appropriate, hope for the future. Those
species either classed as extinct or extinct in the wild had an extra red notice
prepared in order to mark this fact. To turn the photographs and information
into ornaments required a phone call to our
'good friend' Mrs. Sue Kenworthy
(Otley A.S.) who is a 'hive of creativity'. As Sue and husband Arthur were doing
a presentation at the 14th November Ryedale A.S. meeting we decided that this
would be a good time to prepare the prototypes. Using stencils Sue had brought
along we cut out various shapes associated with Christmas from thick coloured
card and while Arthur re-sized the photographs Sue, with a little help from my
sister Sue and myself, set about pasting these photographs and information sheets
onto the shapes.
 |  | Sue
Kenworthy cutting Christmas shapes | Arthur
re-sizes photographs |  |  |
The prototype ornament for Iggy's Endler's livebearer photograph. |
The finished ornaments looked lovely but I knew Sue Kenworthy was not wholly
satisfied. It was no surprise when, a couple of days later, Sue phoned to let
me know that she had a new idea of pasting together 2 CD discs in which the photograph
of the fish along with common name and, where appropriate, red notice would go
on one side and the information sheet, to be edged in gilded silver, on the other.
So a couple of photographs and appropriate information sheets were e-mailed to
Sue and when a return e-mail showed how lovely these looked I replied 'go ahead'
and Sue then took stock of the remaining photographs and information sheets and
turned them into 25 wonderful ornaments.
| The
ornament featuring Mark's Rasbora photograph |
Now
just as I needed the two A4 information sheets, one about our Society and the
other about our theme and the names of people to thank, our computer had problems
so Sue Kenworthy came to the rescue again printing, laminating and sending these
through the post. On Thursday 6th December came Christmas Tree Festival
decorating day! When 'our Sue' and I arrived for the morning decorating session,
10.00a.m. to 12noon, Mrs. Ann Grayson had already found 'our patch' and had chosen
a very sturdy tree. Ann began the decorating by putting the tinsel into place
and then a lovely set of Christmas tree lights (donated to us by Sue and Arthur)
followed. For the placing of the ornaments it was lovely to have the help of youngsters
Sarah and Molly (to whom Ann used the morning to teach the importance of community)
and they did very well. No prizes for guessing that a Silver Angelfish (threatened
by the clearing of fallen trees from their natural habitat) adorned the crown.
 |  | Ann
putting the first piece of tinsel onto the tree | The
tree as it looked at noon |
Sue and I returned
for the afternoon session, 2.00p.m. to 4.00p.m,. and put the main finishing touches
of placing a red Christmas cloth under the tree and fastening our two A4 notices
to this cloth (for which yogurt cartons came in very handy!). The main problem
facing the Organizers was the placement of all the electrical sockets needed for
the lighting system. They had a qualified electrician on hand, so it was a case
of shedding boots and climbing onto chairs to help. As we left one of the Committee
ladies said 'Are you happy David'? and my reply was 'I am never happy as I always
can do better' so Sue and I returned for the final session, 6.00p.m. to 8.00p.m.,
and checked that everything was okay.
 |  | Sue
putting the final touches to the tree | David
and Sue with tree as it was at 4.00p.m |
The
nice thing was that over all three sessions so much interest was shown in our
project and as the light from the Church struck the ornaments they glistened in
beauty. We were very proud both of our tree and to have taken part! Our
tree was one of 34 decorated by local hobby groups, local educational providers,
local service providers and Christian groups. Spread out from the large entrance
area, throughout the Church to the altar they created a beautiful display which
complimented the famous Medieval wall paintings and formed a feeling of peace
and humility. Well done for all the work put into the tree decorating by all concerned.
It was lovely to see people of all age groups taking part during the different
sessions. Now I know why Roy Wood said 'I wish it could be Christmas everyday'.
The Festival ran from Saturday 8th through to Sunday 16th December.
Finally a big THANK YOU to Sue & Arthur, our photograph lenders and
those who were able to give their time to help decorate a very different Christmas
tree.
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