RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Hun­dreds of peo­ple gath­ered at Rosan­na Street, Palmiste, to wit­ness the il­lu­mi­na­tion of an 80-foot Christ­mas tree at the home of busi­ness­man Dave Singh and his fam­i­ly.

The event, which has grown in­to a com­mu­ni­ty tra­di­tion over the past decade, brought to­geth­er fam­i­lies from all across Trinidad.

Plan­ning Min­is­ter Pen­ne­lope Beck­les-Robin­son, Trade Min­is­ter Paula Gopee-Scoon, and San Fer­nan­do May­or Robert Par­ris were among those in at­ten­dance.

In his ad­dress, Singh ex­plained that the event be­gan ten years ago as a ges­ture for his daugh­ter Chris­tiana and evolved in­to a rep­re­sen­ta­tion of the spir­it of Christ­mas.

“So much is go­ing on in the world, but this brings fam­i­lies to­geth­er. We want to cel­e­brate that good and share this evening with friends and fam­i­ly. Peo­ple come from all over the coun­try to be part of this,” Singh said.

Singh’s wife Deb­bie and daugh­ter, Chris­tiana joined him in wel­com­ing at­ten­dees. He said last year, the tree stood at 65 feet, but Singh in­creased its height to 80 feet this year, with plans to reach 100 feet next year.

Beck­les com­mend­ed Singh’s ef­forts, ac­knowl­edg­ing the joy of see­ing fam­i­lies come to­geth­er and the val­ue of fos­ter­ing a sense of com­mu­ni­ty.

“For all who are here, I know it is not easy for Mr Singh to or­gan­ise some­thing like this. It costs a lot, but it brings peo­ple to­geth­er as a com­mu­ni­ty,” Beck­les said.

Re­flect­ing on her time liv­ing abroad, Beck­les com­pared the gath­er­ing to the light­ing of the Rock­e­feller Cen­ter Christ­mas Tree in New York, which at­tracts peo­ple from across the globe.

Beck­les and Gopee-Scoon, both South­ern­ers, ex­pressed grat­i­tude for the op­por­tu­ni­ty to cel­e­brate Christ­mas in Palmiste.