A Fife fisherman has restored the festive spirit to his home village by creating a huge Christmas tree built from more than 150 creel baskets.
Finlay Innes’ 15ft tall creation in his front garden on Queen Margaret Street, in the East Neuk fishing community of St Monans, has made the 26-year-old the talk of the town since he built it a week ago.
And now that word of the outsized Christmas decoration, which even lights up at night, has spread, sightseers have been flocking to have a look and get their photo taken with it.
Finlay, who has lived in the village all his life and keeps a fishing boat in the harbour, said the idea to build the tree came to him while he was mending some of the many fishing baskets stored at his home.
“I have no idea where the idea came from as I’ve never done anything like it before but was mulling it over while mending some of my baskets,” he said.
“With the help of a pal, Connor Smith, we started laying out the baskets and ended up having it built within 90 minutes.
“At first it attracted a few funny looks but once i got lights and a flag on the top people warmed to the idea.”
With an unofficial ‘Light Up St Monans’ initiative having taken off in the local community, Innes’ tree sculpture has become one of the main attractions.
Car loads of people have come to get a glimpse of the structure.
“It’s gone a bit mental but in a good way with all the people stopping to have a look,” said Finlay.
“Cars have been cruising by to have a look and people (have been) bringing their children to have a photo stood next to it.
“I’m just glad that people like it and it’s helped with the efforts to make St Monans look all festive.”
East Neuk Councillor Bill Porteous, a St Monans resident, was quick to praise Finlay for his tree.
He said: “It’s a great idea and looks fantastic.
“What’s more, it’s really caught the imagination of the public and added to the Light Up St Monans efforts which has helped bring some much needed good cheer to the local community.”
However, Finlay said that the pressure was already on to come up with something that will be even better next year.
“Loads of people have already asked me what I’m planning for next Christmas, which has surprised me,” he said.
“I’ll be just glad to get 2020 out of the way first then I’ll wrack my brains to see if we can come up with something even better next time”.
