Haworth residents spruce up village in bid to make it "more beautiful than ever" following cancellation of Christmas events

Christmas 2020 may be one of the few when sticklers for tradition welcome signs such as Terry's chocolate oranges creeping onto supermarket shelves before the onset of December – even if celebrations this year are very different to normal.

Residents in Haworth have committed to sprucing up the village’s famed Main Street with as much cheer as possible this year to keep up spirits, and businesses have urged people to continue to shop local and support independent businesses in an extremely difficult period.

Among the region’s most popular tourist destinations thanks to its world famous parsonage and literary connections, Haworth usually hosts a calendar of events in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

With such events not possible due to Covid restrictions, the village’s Christmas committee says it is channelling all efforts into decorating Main Street and making it “as beautiful and atmospheric as ever”.

A 30ft tree was put up last week, while smaller spruces were installed yesterday along the village’s famous cobbles. Some trees will also be mounted above the street’s shops, cafés and pubs.

“Our regular events such as the Christmas lights switch on sadly won’t be going ahead this year,” said committee leader Ian Parks, whose wife Diane owns the Wave of Nostalgia gift shop on Main Street.

“It was just not feasible to put them on, so it was really important to put everything we can into making Main Street as beautiful and atmospheric as possible.

“We are really going for it. There are probably another dozen trees to put up.”

All trees have been sourced locally from New Coley Nurseries just outside of the village.

Mr Parks added: “We wanted to help out by continuing to buy from local businesses.”

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