A HISTORIC Dalton church building has been illuminated with colour as part of an annual Christmas tree festival which is now in its 14th year.

Fifty Christmas trees have been decorated and assembled inside St Mary's Church in Dalton by members of the town's festival association.

This year, schools, charities and organisations have spruced up trees in the theme of 'A Name Remembered,' and festival organiser Sylvia Stoker has been amazed by the calibre of this year's crop.

She said: "It started with just a few trees but every year little by little more and more people have got involved and it's now gone up to 50 trees.

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"Each group decorates a tree to an amazingly high standard and it never fails to astound me how great they are.

"When we switch them all on I still go 'wow' even to this day.

"Every year people will come in and they will say 'we love this church.' They may not come in other times of the year but then they always commend the atmosphere as warm and welcoming when the trees are in."

Mrs Stoker, of Crooklands Brow, Dalton, believes that this year's theme is all encompassing in that it can reflect anything from across the world.

An impressive and wide range of entries has seen trees decorated with memories of trips to Blackpool and Cartmel Races as well as a dragon-themed entry from Dalton Bible Society.

Mrs Stoker is keen for as many people as possible to come in and experience the wonders of the festival and believes it is something that everyone should witness at some point in their lifetime.

She said: "If you have never been in a big church with 45, five to six foot high trees you have missed an amazing sight. The children absolutely love going with their bags of pennies donating to the charities and some families save up throughout the year which is just lovely.

"I look forward to organising it every year. Everyone has such a lovely time and everybody looks at one another's trees in amazement."

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The festival open its doors to the public every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 2pm to 5.30pm throughout December.

It costs £1 for adults to admire the trees and it is free for children under the age of 12.

Dalton will be switching on its Christmas Lights on Sunday December 4 from 5pm with crowds encouraged to gather in Tudor Square for the big reveal.