'Bring Christmas back' Kells residents gutted after unique festive tree vandalised

Louise Walsh

A town is appealing for help to 'bring Christmas back' after their festive tree, bought by kind hearted residents and businesses through a GoFundMe page was destroyed by vandals

Residents and businesses banded together during Covid 19 times to afford Christmas lights and a tree to make the town of Kells look festive.

However last Thursday residents woke to find their aluminium Christmas tree, which they had all donated to fund its cost of €2,500, broken in three pieces in a wanton act of destruction.

Kind hearted Kells lights committee member Emily McEntee and her husband James Carr have managed to design a makeshift structure for the tree to hold it together until after Christmas,

Carpenter James made a wooden circular structure to fit inside the broken tree in an effort to hold it together until Christmas is over.

The committee are now appealing for dashcam or CCTV footage to help identify the culprits.

In a post Emily says: "If anyone who might have been around the town at 1am on Thursday could check their dashcam footage, it would be a great help.

"So, so much work has gone into these lights from the committee members and the whole town has paid for them. Please help us find whoever did this. Help us bring Christmas back."

She added: "This is complete and utter badness. We have some CCTV footage which isn't clear enough to identify anyone but it shows a group of males around the tree, and one climbing up it.

"Clearly he fell and the tree toppled and broke. We are also worried about the person's wellbeing as they may have been severely hurt when they fell.

"The committee, which also includes Chantelle Quigley, Ricky Doyle and Geraldine Walsh have put so much time and effort into trying to get the town looking festive for Christmas to give residents, businesses, shoppers and children a bit of Christmas cheer so it's so disheartening and devastating to see this happening.

"The aluminium tree was broken in three and the branches are all bent. My husband is a carpenter and spent hours making a circular structure to try and put some shape back into it so we can have some kind of tree in the town. This Chrismas tree was bought and paid for by the town through donations big and small that people and traders could barely afford but they did so they could make their town bright and colourful for Christmas.

"We have reported the incident to Kells Gardai who have been brilliant."

Four years ago, the GoFundMe page was set up to help cash-strapped businesses, who were forced to close due to Covid-19 restrictions, pay for the seasonal lights.

"There has always been a committee who collected money from the community and businesses. I just set up the GoFundMe page to make things easier on businesses and people to donate during Covid and we have kept the page running ever since.

"The costs of the lights vary each year, depending on installation, repairs and additional lights.

"This year, it cost €14,500 but we got generous donations towards them from the council and individual local councillors and politicians"

This year, over €7,000 has been raised through the GoFundMe page, Help Kells Shine Bright This Christmas' page.

It says: "A town illuminated with stunning Christmas lights does more than just look pretty. It brings the community together, lifts everyone’s spirits, and encourages people to come out, explore, and support local businesses. A brighter, more inviting Kells means more people shopping in our local stores, dining in our restaurants, and experiencing the charm our town has to offer during this special season.

Every donation will go directly towards funding the Christmas lights that will transform our town into a festive winter wonderland."