Tree
The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is typically a 50- to 60-year-old Norway spruce, generally over 20 metres tall. The tree is cut sometime in November during a ceremony attended by the British Ambassador to Norway, Mayor of Oslo, and Lord Mayor of Westminster. After the tree is cut it is shipped to Great Britain by sea. At one time it was shipped to Felixstowe free of charge by a cargo ship of the Fred Olsen Line. As of at least 2007 the tree was shipped across the North Sea to Immingham by DFDS Tor Line.
The Trafalgar Square tree is decorated in a traditional Norwegian style and adorned with 500 white lights. In 2008, the tree utilised low-wattage halogen bulbs which used 15 amps (3.5 kW) of power.
At the base of the tree stands a plaque, bearing the words:
This tree is given by the city of Oslo as a token of Norwegian gratitude to the people of London for their assistance during the years 1940-45.
A tree has been given annually since 1947.
Read more about this topic: Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree
Famous quotes containing the word tree:
“A single soldier does not make a general, just as a single tree does not make a forest.”
—Chinese proverb.
“Some say that happiness is not good for mortals, & they ought to be answered that sorrow is not fit for immortals & is utterly useless to any one; a blight never does good to a tree, & if a blight kill not a tree but it still bear fruit, let none say that the fruit was in consequence of the blight.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“The tree of Knowledge is a Tree of Knowledge of good and evil.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)