Over the Advent weekend in 2025, people from right across the Benefice community came together at Norton Church to bring in the Advent season which culminated in a packed church joining in with Advent carols on Advent Sunday evening. Before that, people had visited the church on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday to see a wonderful selection of trees created by groups from the community. Children from Norton School came to sing on the Friday and the Leadonvale Singers performed on the Saturday too.

The top two trees, as voted for by the many visitors that came, were the Tuesday Trotters (first) and the prayer tree. The prayer tree had an invitation ….. ‘What is on your heart this Advent and Christmas?’  Visitors were invited to write it on a tag and tie it to the tree.  A precious range of prayers were offered including those for a family member, friend or loved one in need, prayers of thanks for the things that have brought joy,  prayers for strength for the things that make people sad, and prayers for our place in our world.

Norton has hosted tree and flower festivals for many years. Often trees are there to help us think about issues in our lives and the world. As an example, click here to see the commentary for the Syria Tree (2015)

Here are some pictures from the 2025 festival, especially some of the people who decorated the wonderful trees. THANK YOU ALL!