IS it not typical of Bendigo council, that they have decided to “light up the city’’ by spending more than $60,000 on an artificial Christmas tree? In case the councillors hadn’t noticed, for 31 years the Bendigo Lions Club has decorated the 100-foot tree in the RSL gardens in Pall Mall with more than 200 lights and a star on top.

Unfortunately, last year, because of the ageing membership of the Lions Club and also the fact that the lights and wiring needed replacing, the Lions had to forgo this wonderful community service.

Over the years hundreds of families have “gone down the street to see the Christmas tree lights’’.

Would it not have been a better choice for the council to have taken over from the Lions, instead of spending so much of ratepayers’ money on an artificial tree? Sorry, it’s Bendigo council we’re talking about. That choice wouldn’t have spent enough of our money, would it? JOAN DEAN, Bendigo