Christmas tree goes up at The Mound

It took  six workers, a crane and the co-operation of the citizens of Bergen and Edinburgh to once again raise a Norwegian Christmas Tree on Edinburgh’s Mound today.

Carefully preparation of the tree, donated by Bergens’s Hordaland Community Council, allowed it to be smoothly hoisted into pride of place overlooking Princes Street.

The 20 metre tree weighs over three tonnes and will be decked with 2,500 low energy lights which will be officially illuminated  on Light Night, Thursday 24 November 2011.

This “Frost and Fire Show” to light the tree will be part of the launch of the six-week City of Edinburgh Council Christmas celebrations, which end on Wednesday 4 January 2012.

It is the 26th year of this special bond of friendship between Norway and Scotland marking the assistance Scots provided during the dark days of the World War II.

Upon the fall of Norway in 1940, more than 7,000 exiles were based in Scotland as the Norwegian Brigade, fighting to free their country.  The help and support they received from the Scots has never been forgotten.

The Reporter waited for a while this morning to get the photographs and the video of the tree being hoisted into place which you can see below.And it went up at exactly one o’clock so the bonus is that you hear the one o’clock gun too. The workers had to prepare the base of the tree so that it fitted exactly into the steel pipe which will hold it in place over the next six weeks or so.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2MWYWMEA-k]