Streamstown's 'lucky' Christmas tree

 

The Christmas tree erected in Streamstown this year is one of the most unusual ever: its branches are made entirely from old horseshoes.
“It ticks all the boxes – reusing and recycling,” says Noel McCormack of the Streamstown Tidy Towns committee.

It also ticks the boxes for history and heritage, as 2016 marks the 100th anniversary of the success of a local horse in the Grand National.

And it has to be lucky, as all the horseshoes are facing upwards!

“In 1916, there was a horse called Allsorts that won the Grand National, and he was born in Boher, at Cleary's,” says Noel.]

The 1916 Rising meant trains weren't running, and so All Sorts had to be walked back to Westmeath.

To celebrate the local connection, the community put out a call for horseshoes, with a view to having them fashioned into a sculpture.

“We now have a head of a horse made from horseshoes,” says Noel, adding that also to be erected in Streamstown is a copy of the Proclamation.

However, there were so many horseshoes, that Streamstown now has a tree fashioned from horseshoes.

The idea for the tree came from Streamstown Tidy Towns's Tús worker, Joanne Byrne, and craftsman Michael Kelly created the impressive structure – which, cleverly, can be taken apart for storage.

The horse's head sculpture is the work of James French from Lucan.

The lighting up ceremony for the Streamstown tree takes place this Sunday at 6pm, and all sorts of excitement is planned.