Drogheda Christmas Tree - poor effort

Kaylee

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Has anybody else noted the sorry state of the Drogheda Christmas tree this year? :eek:

It is a fine tree in itself, but is it ok that a large town like Drogheda has a tree decorated in this condition, with the lights half working and one set seemingly thrown on around the bottom of the tree haphazardly.... I was so shocked I took a pic yesterday - I've tried to attach the jpeg but I don't know whether I've done it correctly...

On a related note - the idea of covering a tree in yellow ribbons to remember the recently departed is a nice idea... but should it be a smaller tree elsewhere in the town (maybe outside the Augustinian Church?) Surely the main Christmas tree in the town should be a traditional Christmas tree covered in multi coloured lights?

I happened to be in Newry last year and they had a huge, beautifully decorated traditional tree in the centre of the main shopping street.

Anybody else any views on this?? :cool:

Lord TSC

Jaysus, thats a horrid tree. But it's no less than the horrid atmosphere of West Street deserves

Kaylee

Ah now West Street is not that bad :P It seems to be getting busier all the time - especially on weekends....

Looking at a Christmas tree like thatwud put years on ye.... the tourists going in to St. Peters to look at St. Ollie's head must surely be impressed as they pass by :rolleyes:

.... for gawd sake putting up a decent tree is not that difficult :mad:

MonkeyTennis

The tree in Dundalk is really nice


*runs*

Shoe Lover

Kaylee wrote: »

IMG_3699.JPG
On a related note - the idea of covering a tree in yellow ribbons to remember the recently departed is a nice idea... but should it be a smaller tree elsewhere in the town (maybe outside the Augustinian Church?) Surely the main Christmas tree in the town should be a traditional Christmas tree covered in multi coloured lights?

I agree - think it's a lovely idea but it looks awful in the centre of the town. Outside the Auggies would be a good place for it.

Anyone else notice that there are no Christmas Lights on Narrow West Street? Or maybe no one goes over there any more except me?

Kaylee

Shoe Lover wrote: »

I agree - think it's a lovely idea but it looks awful in the centre of the town. Outside the Auggies would be a good place for it.

Anyone else notice that there are no Christmas Lights on Narrow West Street? Or maybe no one goes over there any more except me?

Poor Narrow West Street... I only drive through it now.... it used to be lovely at Christmas years ago

Kaylee

MonkeyTennis wrote: »

The tree in Dundalk is really nice


*runs*

why am I not surprised... :rolleyes:

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Kaylee wrote: »

why am I not surprised... :rolleyes:

It does look good though.

http://talkofthetown.ie/new-dundalk-christmas-tree-compliment-town-centre-illuminations/

Kaylee

Reign Spicy Mathematician wrote: »

It does look good though.

http://talkofthetown.ie/new-dundalk-christmas-tree-compliment-town-centre-illuminations/

Fair play to Tidy Town/Council in Dundalk, that's a decent display - actually looks very like the type of tree they used to have on O'Connell st. in the City

What about Drogheda though?? What happened??

Lord TSC

Kaylee wrote: »

Ah now West Street is not that bad :P It seems to be getting busier all the time - especially on weekends....

I was walking cross West Street the other day, and I could not wait to be off it. Mainly because that was the vibe every.single.person was giving off on it too.

I remember when I was younger, and you couldn't walk across it without meeting a few people you know, stopping and having a chat, checking out a few stores.

Now, everyone just has "**** off" written on their foreheads. Straight to where they HAVE to go, do what they have to do and then straight back to get their car from the ludicrously expensive carparks. No atmosphere from the shops (half of which are low budget ones, half of which are empty). Just a miserable place to be in

Kaylee

Lord TSC wrote: »

I was walking cross West Street the other day, and I could not wait to be off it. Mainly because that was the vibe every.single.person was giving off on it too.

I remember when I was younger, and you couldn't walk across it without meeting a few people you know, stopping and having a chat, checking out a few stores.

Now, everyone just has "**** off" written on their foreheads. Straight to where they HAVE to go, do what they have to do and then straight back to get their car from the ludicrously expensive carparks. No atmosphere from the shops (half of which are low budget ones, half of which are empty). Just a miserable place to be in

Yeah... I get that... maybe something missing... the street furniture/design as we all know is bad... could be general lack of pride and vision for the town.. dunno (which brings me back to my Christmas tree rant) - having said that, I still think it's quite nice there on a sunny Saturday morning

Aye Dundalk have managed to do a bit right this Christmas. That Drogheda one though, 50 quid would dress it better.

The tree is so bad I didn't even notice it until I saw the OP's picture and I've passed several times this week. I'm definitely one of the "Straight to where they have to go..." folks Lord TSC mentioned :pac:

I agree it truly is a shadow of what it used to be, can't recall the last time I bumped into someone I knew on west st.

All that said the lights on the west st side of the Town Center looked nice.

MugMugs

MonkeyTennis wrote: »

The tree in Dundalk is really nice


*runs*

Sure its only gorgeous. Just like the girls from Dundalk.......

minzabud

On a more positive note the tree outside the Gary Kelly center looks good.

tayto lover

The "tree" in Dundalk is not a tree at all. It's just lights in the shape of a tree.
I prefer the real thing.
I find it a bit bland.

Kaylee

minzabud wrote: »

On a more positive note the tree outside the Gary Kelly center looks good.

Just noticed that today... It's lovely - the one in the centre of Drogheda should look like that.

@ Tayto lover - I agree, a real tree is nicer.

Just out of interest, I emailed a few drogheda councillors the pic, Pio Smith replied quickly, fair play to him, he told me he hadn't noticed it but that he'd mention it at the council meeting in January... Hopefully he will.

Pio also passed my email onto the chairman of the Drogheda lights committee, and he told me that Drogheda received a tiny amount of money for lights from LCC compared to Dundalk :mad: also many businesses on West St. Don't (or won't) contribute to the lighting fund? (I had heard this before) Additionally, the lighting contractor they usually use was unavailable at short notice - tbh I still think that for the tree to be left in that state without anybody noticing is unacceptable.

I see that the yellow ribbons are going onto it now :rolleyes:

To be fair, I don't think there's any argument for 'nobody noticing'.

Someone was obviously given the duty of putting the lights on the tree. And if they decided that was the state to leave it in, then they should be sacked. It's a christmas tree in what we're always banging on about being the biggest town in Ireland and needing City Status etc.

For a town that's so proud of itself that tree is an utter disgrace. (And I hate using that word, because it's so 'Joe Duffy-ish'.)

I wouldn't put that tree in my house, never mind the main street of the town.


What I want to know is, was it set up like that? It looks like someone just gave up on it after they started. Or was it vandalised? If it was vandalised where is the footage? We know there are cameras on the Street, so who did it? Are the council fining them or making them fix it.

I really, really don't understand how this hasn't been on the front page of one of the papers. It's not that the budget was too low or it was a poor effort, the lights are just thrown in a ball on the thing. It's feckin' embarrassing. If anyone offered to help me, I'd go down and pull the lights off it and do them again from scratch (and that's a genuine offer).

fh041205

It possibly hasn't been in any papers because they fixed it. I never saw it in this state actually. They've re-organised the lights and have a stand beside it selling yellow bows that you can buy and include a message to a loved one who has passed on. It's called the 'remembrance tree' according to the sign.

Would make a more positive news story at least.