The angelic voices of St Colmcille’s Primary School pupils welcomed service users and visitors to the Downe Hospital’s annual and much anticipated Christmas tree competition and craft fair as the countdown to December 25 gathered pace.
Lending his support and on all important judging duty, South Eastern Trust Chairman Jonathan Patton commended all those who had taken part and put such effort and imagination into the trees. “It’s good to see the talent and the skill that is here, proudly on display in the Downe Hospital. There are some great paintings, some great collages and there is a real variety of everything, much of it made through the Victoria Garden initiative which is looked after by Manager Clare McCawley. It’s members really have contributed massively and I’m delighted to be here.”
Garden Manager Clare McCawley added, “The Christmas trees were made by the Probation Board of Northern Ireland and then they are passed around site. All the crafts on the stall here is from all the different groups that are working in and on the Victorian Garden project at the minute.”
After much deliberation, the winning tree was chosen, a striking visual representation of Trust Support Services.
Porter McCartan Digney described how delighted he and those who constructed the tree were to receive the accolade.
“We’ve had a lot of effort put into this year’s tree and we have used everything from our department because it’s Support Services. We used pieces of towels to represent the laundry, the takeaway boxes represent the canteen staff and the patches of cloth represent the domestics. Our notes and carrier bags represent us, the porters. We are just so delighted, so delighted to have actually won,” said McCartan.
