I personally thought that those trees in the Hargreaves Mall were pathetic. 

Pathetic in the true sense of the word. 

They were tired and tatty and badly wrapped, sitting on their wooden pallets as if they were about to be forklifted off somewhere. 

As the days rolled on they looked worse. 

I visited Benalla this week and saw large, colourful boxed gifts in trees all the way down the main street. 

They looked great. 

On our way back we visited the Shepparton mall, which, incidentally, is full of trees, shade structures and seats. 

They had Christmas cows (Shepparton is famous for its fibreglass cows) and numerous large, colourful decorations. 

Our Bendigo tree is spectacular, but it’s strange that the local powers that be had to be coerced into having a tree “event”.

John Morton,

Quarry Hill