Scottish island gets its very own 'creel tree' for Christmas

A Christmas tree made from fishing creels is lighting up a tiny village in the Western Isles.

The creel tree at Leverburgh on the Isle of Harris

The tree has been built by children, with a little help from their parents, at Leverburgh on the Isle of Harris.

It is the first time that some of the children have seen their village lit up for the festivities with the creel tree funded by the Western Isles Lottery.

The Leverburgh tree comes after the people of Ullapool built Scotland’s first creel tree and won admirers around the world for the innovative design that reflects the village’s seafaring ways. Mini versions are now popping up outside people’s houses.

Janet Paterson, of the Western Isles Lottery, said a life belt now decorated the Leverburgh tree with the buoys that usually mark the creels in the water now hanging as baubles.

She said: “The creel tree is perfect as it is so robust. The creels are really heavy and there is no way they are going to blow away.

"I think the village was inspired by everything that was lying around, they wanted to make the most of what they had.

"For some of the children, it is the first time in their lives that they have seen their village lit up at Christmas.”

The creel tree was built after Harris Voluntary Service received £1,470 to buy the lights with further money secured for the outside exterior sockets.

A spokesman for the service said: “The Leverburgh Festive Lights mission is complete. We have been planning this one for a while and are happy after what has been a crazy year to have pulled it off. This year more than any other we need some festive cheer about the place.”

Harris Voluntary Service thanked Jason Morrison for installing the outdoor sockets and volunteers Willie MacRae, Neil Maclean, Chris Morrison for putting the lights up.

The service added: “Special mention must be made to the local children who helped put up all the lights and build the tree. The children did a fantastic job and are excited to see lights in their own village for the first time in their lives.”

Lights have also gone up on some shops and businesses in the village, which is in the south of Harris.

The Western Isles Lottery has also helped to fund the lights in Stornoway town centre and the crochet tree at Castlebay in Barra, which is made up of 600 knitted and woven squares stitched together.

The lottery costs £1 a ticket with 3,000 sold every week at present. The weekly prize stands at £560 with one prize of £1,000 going every month. A holiday can also sometimes be won.

Ms Paterson said that money spent on tickets was channeled right back into projects in the communities where the tickets were bought.

She said bids for money for projects were dealt with quickly.

“There is no red tape. If you make a bid in the morning you could have the money by the end of the day.

"We only set up three years ago and we have raised more than £250,000 for our communities since then.”

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