Last year they endured the embarrassment of having one of the country’s worst Christmas trees.

But this year Emley villagers have a festive specimen to be proud of after clubbing together and raising £1,000 for a new tree.

The spectacular Nordic spruce adorned with twinkly lights will take pride of place at the village’s light switch on next Friday.

It is a far cry from the sad looking tree that hit the headlines last year and was so sparse that lights could only be hung from a few of its branches.

The conifer was donated by a mystery benefactor after the previous tree died but it has struggled to grow and is now suffering from disease.

A resident surveys Emley Village's sad looking Christmas tree last year
A resident surveys Emley Village's sad looking Christmas tree last year

Resident Paula Kemp said that the negative publicity surrounding the tree “snowballed” as she was approached by newspapers and even television producers to talk about it.

She said: “It was quite sad because people donated that tree and I didn’t want to offend anybody by making fun of it.

“We just said we’ll try and do our best for the village this year.”

The weedy tree, located on a side verge in Church Street, sparked many complaints from residents who wanted a proper tree to raise their festive spirits.

The parish councillor and two other residents, Pam Dyson and Mike Wood, got together in the White Horse pub and decided to do something to raise money for a cut tree from Kirklees Council.

Paula said: “Every other village around had one and three collecting jars were placed in the local pub, club and shop.

“Word soon got around and we were amazed at the substantial donations from individuals, families and local businesses.

“No longer would we have the ‘saddest Christmas tree in Huddersfield’ or make ‘The top 10 worst Christmas Trees in the UK.’

Paula Kemp with new and old Christmas trees in Emley.
Paula Kemp with new and old Christmas trees in Emley.

“It’s not going to be Oxford Street, it’s just our tree. For Emley and Emley Moor it’s lovely and we just wanted to make people happy.”

To celebrate a special festive event has been organised for Friday evening from 7pm, where the new tree will be switched on and Santa and his elves will arrive by tractor.

Villagers have raised enough money this year to kick-start fundraising for next year’s Christmas tree.

In the meantime the poorly tree will be replaced thanks to the generosity of local tree expert Andrew Schofield, who has offered to donate one and look after it.

Paula added: “As soon as we can get Kirklees to dig a hole it will go where we’re having the cut tree now at Emley Cross.

“We just need to keep raising enough money to make sure we’re getting a tree we can call a tree while this one grows.”