A family from Kingsteignton have been awarded with a prize for creativity in our eco-friendly Christmas decoration competition.
Cherie Glover, along with her two daughters, ten-year-old Hollie and Grace, 14, decided that instead of buying a traditional Christmas tree this year, they would handmake it out of driftwood.
After collecting the wood, they came up with the idea of turning it into a tree to do their bit for the environment.
Cherie entered the competition after spotting it on our Facebook page and thought their environmental idea might just scoop her the prize.
Cherie said: “We’re so excited to have won, the girls are thrilled. We’re struggling a bit financially, so this is lovely for us.
“The children said back in June - why don’t we do our bit and instead of buying a real tree, make our own. It was actually Grace who said, ‘why don’t we collect some off the beach and make our own tree?’. And Hollie found that exciting.
“We have some wonderful coastal walks where we take the dog out, so this is a joint effort between me and the children.
“It’s brilliant LiveWest are promoting the environment because it does need to be. I think other people seeing it and passing it on means it can help improve everything to be more eco-friendly. I think it’s brilliant so keep on doing it.“
They went out to lots of beaches including Exmouth and Teignmouth to collect pale, bleached wood that would match.
This is their first handmade tree which they’re very proud of and sits on their dining room table, but they have previously made Christmas decorations to be greener.
It seems to have sparked interest and could be a popular festive activity, with friends asking to show them or for tips on how to recreate one themselves.
Cherie added: “It’s brilliant people like the idea because then you're doing something eco-friendly and passing it on and I think if a lot more people could do that, it would be great for our little planet.
“It's been so good to do it together, we're getting involved as a family. And really exciting to be able to think what can we create? And then for the children to do it.
“But it’s just been great fun, getting the girls to lay the driftwood sticks out and Holley was measuring them and writing it down. I drilled a whole in them and they did it, so it had a spiral going up. Then they put the star on together, so it was perfect.
“I say to the girls, we don't know where they've been, they could have come all the way from the Mediterranean and landed on our shores from a tree.
“It's so good for the environment and it gives back into nature as well. So, we feel like we're giving something back like it's given it to us. So that's our little tree, it might not be everyone's cup of tea, but we love it.”
The girls may also add a driftwood star on top the tree but have had fun being creative this Christmas.
The mum-of-four has praised her daughters’ schools, Canada Hill Community Primary School and Newton Abbot College, for encouraging the pupils to be more environmentally aware.
Cherie said: “It’s really big at the children’s schools, they're promoting everything to do with eco-friendly. They try hard to promote recycling and being kind to the universe. And we also do recycling, like our local school, if you recycle everything, they do little prizes to encourage you to put the right things in bins.
“It’s great for children to have that at such a young age and to carry that forward.”