Rochy decks the hall

By Lua Ikenasio

Dec 11, 2024

Rochester community Christmas Trees Photo by Aidan Briggs

The Rochester Community House has decked the halls of the Shire Hall with over 30 Christmas trees of every size and colour.

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The Christmas trees were created by local schools, sporting groups and businesses, with many of the designs mirroring what each group is all about.

Rochester Primary School’s entry was hard to miss with plenty of lights, colours and decorations. Photo by Aidan Briggs

Rochester Neighbourhood House youth and community engagement officer Jenna Harvey said the display started last year as a way to spread some joy.

“I just wanted to make something that would make it feel like Christmas for the community and just something simple that would create a bit of joy,” she said.

“I didn’t ever think would get over 30 trees and then everyone last year asked if we would do it again this year.

“We will keep doing it, it's a really simple and cost-effective way for us as an organisation to just spread some joy.”

The call-out for Christmas trees went out in November, giving the community a little over a month to create their trees.

The Town Club assembled their tree over three days at the hall, tying each pine cone and piece of foliage down individually.

The Town Club assembled their tree on site across three days. Photo by Aidan Briggs

The Rochester Historical Society creatively put together three vintage push mowers and decorated them with old photos of the town and people as representation of their group.

The Rochester Historical Society got creative with their entry. Photo by Aidan Briggs

Rochester Pizza was also among the most creative trees, stacking their pizza boxes to form a makeshift tree.

There was no doubting which tree belonged to Rochy Pizza. Photo by Aidan Briggs

The display also features original decorations from when the Anglican church used to run the display years ago.

Original decorations from the Anglican Church. Photo by Aidan Briggs

The display officially opened on Saturday, December 7 and will be open until Saturday, December 21 down at the Rochester Shire Hall.

The hall will be open from Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm and on Saturday from 9am to 12pm.

The display will also be open later on Friday, December 13 in conjunction with the Rochester Christmas Markets.

The Rochester Ambulance had a very informative tree with lots of important information scattered around. Photo by Aidan Briggs

Guests will be able to vote for their favourite tree using a QR code that can be found at the hall.

The display is free to enter; however, there will be a donation tin which people can donate to, with all proceeds going to a very special cause this year.