50ft Christmas tree lit up in memory of husband

In 1978, Avril Rowlands and her husband Chris planted a "very small" Christmas tree in the front garden of their new house, after moving from London to Worcestershire.

Now standing at a proud 50ft (15m) high, the tree is decked in 1,000 lights every Christmas, with the festive switch-on a pillar of the Inkberrow community, raising thousands of pounds for charity.

But this year, there was a change in the tradition - it was the first Christmas there that Mrs Rowlands, 80, turned on the lights on her own. Her husband died earlier this year.

"[The switch-on] was very special to both of us," she said. "We were very much a partnership in everything we did."

She added of Saturday's event: "Obviously it was emotional, but I wanted to do it in his memory.

"It wasn't a difficult decision to come to, that I absolutely had to do the tree this year and hopefully for years to come."

Every year, Paul Davis from local firm S E Davis uses a cherrypicker to drape lights across the tree, which for the first time this year is decked in LED lights donated by Mr Davis's company, as storms in 2024 damaged the tungsten bulbs.

Over the past 20 years, the couple raised more than £25,000 for different charities.

"Some are lesser known than others but they all need support," Mrs Rowlands said.

Money raised this year is to be donated to Asthma + Lung UK, a tribute to Mr Rowlands who died of lung disease.

The pair met when they both worked on a children's TV show for the BBC in London, with Mr Rowlands working as an editor and Mrs Rowlands as a production assistant.

Eventually the pair wanted to move out of London, which she said was partly due to their connection to the Severn Valley Railway: Mrs Rowlands wrote a TV series called God's Wonderful Railway which was filmed at the location, and the pair then did a publicity film for the tourist attraction.

The couple moved to the village of Inkberrow, also known as the inspiration for the village in The Archers, and never looked back.

"We never regretted for a moment moving to Inkberrow," Mrs Rowlands said.

"It's a very supportive village, people have been incredibly supportive of the tree."

The 80-year-old said there were people in the village who saw the tree lit up from their bedroom windows when they were children, who now brought their own children to see it.

"So I think it's become very important for the village and it's extraordinary how it seems to have gone around the world," she said.

"There was even an article last year in the Washington Post which slightly surprised us."

Mrs Rowlands has no intention to move away from Inkberrow and wants to keep the tradition of her 50-foot Christmas tree going as long as she is fit and able.

"During Covid we didn't have a switch-on but we did have the lights up and somebody very kindly said 'it's a beacon of hope'."

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