December 1, 2013
The Nanango Cultural Centre has been brimming with tinsel, trees and Christmas spirit for the past few days as a fundraiser for the local school chaplaincy program.
The Combined Churches of Nanango organised the Nanango Christmas Tree Festival, a display of Christmas trees, erected by individuals, businesses and organisations.
This is the fifth year the festival has been held.
Kay Bochmann, from the organising committee, said funds would assist the two local school chaplains who service schools at Cooyar, Blackbutt, Yarraman and Nanango.
Each year entrants are given a theme. This year it was “A Christmas Story”.
And although it didn’t begin as a competition, prizes – donated by the local business community and the organising committee – are now awarded in four sections.
The trees were judged at a Celebration Dinner held at the Cultural Centre on Saturday night.
Winner of the Most Popular category (judged by members of the public) was Karinya Aged Care facility.
The other three categories were judged by South Burnett mayor Wayne Kratzmann and chaplains Jenny Jensen and Jane Hodgkinson.
The winners were:
- Tree that best captures the theme – Jeanette McBride (Catholic Church)
- Tree with the best hand-crafted items – Anne Uebergang (Lutheran Church)
- Best tree by primary school age and under – 1st Nadine Hinchliff kids therapy group; 2nd South Burnett Ministries Sunday School
Kay said the competition was well-supported with 40 entries being received, with trees coming from Blackbutt to Kingaroy.
The dinner was also excellent, she said, with 115 people coming along to support the fund-raising.
