***FREE PHOTO FOR EDITORIAL USE*** 08/11/14 Katie and Colin Atherton with their daughters, Maecy (3) and Ruby (4) from Neston, Cheshire, are the fir
***FREE PHOTO FOR EDITORIAL USE*** 08/11/14 Katie and Colin Atherton with their daughters, Maecy (3) and Ruby (4) from Neston, Cheshire, are the first members of the public to get a lucky, sneak-preview of how the inside of this year's tree looks. If you are dreading the thought of dragging your Christmas decorations down from the loft, and beginning your annual battle with strings of lights that wonÕt work, baubles that have lost their hooks, and finding some way of making your tree stand up straight; then spare a thought for these professional decorators who have the challenging task of putting up BritainÕs tallest artificial Christmas tree. The tree, at McArthur Glen Cheshire Oaks, the UKÕs largest outlet shopping centre, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire stands (90ft) tall, and 10m (32ft) across the mammoth structure is festooned with a dizzying nine kilometres of white fairy lights made from 100,000 LED bulbs, 1,000 football-sized red baubles and another 20,000 smaller ones. ThereÕs another two kilometres of cabling and everything is held together with half a ton of nuts and bolts. This year the entrance doors to the tree are styled on a Nordic cabin. And once inside visitors will, for the first time, be part of an interactive snow scene projection. As they walk they will leave virtual footprints in the snow and be able to 'kick' snow up into the air. A team of 14 men had just seven days to put up the 18 ton tree, which was finished off this evening ahead of the official Ôswitch onÕ this Thursday. The conical tree sits on concrete piles sunk, twelve metres into the bedrock below. ÒThe decorations alone weigh six tonsÓ, said John Vasey, Project Manager for Springfield Decorations. ÒItÕs so large we had to get planning permission for it C we even had to check to see if we needed to put a red light on top so aircraft didnÕt fly into itÓ, ÒItÕs engineered to withstand a one-in-one-hundred-year storm and will cope with many tons of snow,Ó he added. Amazi
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Keywords: cheshire, christmas, decorations, ellesmere, fsp, glen, liverpool, mcarthur, oaks, port, press, springfield, standalone, stop, tree, wirral
