Artificial Christmas Tree in Ramsey Collapses Shortly After Illumination Ceremony

An artificial Christmas tree, measuring 15ft (4.5m), belonging to a Cambridgeshire town, fell over and was subsequently removed just one day after its public unveiling at a switch-on event. No individuals sustained injuries when the tree, located in Great Whyte, Ramsey, came down on Sunday afternoon amidst strong winds. Adela Costello, who serves as both a town and county councillor and chairs the Ramsey Christmas lights committee, indicated that prior to its collapse, there were reports of the tree being damaged. It is believed that someone had taken out the internal weights that were securing it. Ms. Costello mentioned that the Ramsey town Christmas event had to be relocated to the community centre on Saturday evening due to high winds. However, the light switch-on, which included the tree, proceeded at approximately 17:45 BST. “We bought the tree last year, thinking it would be more economically viable than having to buy a real one every Christmas,” she said. “It had cost about £5,500 and was made possible thanks to grants.” “The only issue was it was too small, so we added an extension this year, but that cost another £2,500. We are a small committee with limited funding, but we thought it would last us years.” She further stated that someone had moved branches to one side to gain access to the hollow central section and had displaced the sandbags used to secure it. A partially consumed bottle of wine was also discovered inside the tree. The tree had been erected the previous week, and no issues had been reported with it until Sunday. The tree is currently with a welder, who is hoping to repair it.