Lighting up Halkirk with some Christmas magic

Halkirk Village Council (HVC) has been on a Christmas mission to light up the village with its first Winter Window Wonderland competition.

Local residents were encouraged to spread some Christmas magic by lighting up their windows with colourful and creative Christmas displays making a “treasure hunt” style walking route around the village.

Martin O’Kane, HVC member, said: “With the cost of living crisis, the village council recognise for many it will be a tough Christmas, and for many the dark nights can be difficult too."

Martin said that through the project, the council wanted to encourage some community spirit and help people feel connected.

"It’s lovely walking around the village at night and seeing the windows all lit up with the beautiful designs. We certainly have some very creative people living here and we have been overwhelmed by the positive response. We even had entries from Halkirk Primary School and Sutherland’s Garage.”

“To kick off the project we ran a community workshop and gathered together to make the window designs for the Ross Institute using low cost and recyclable materials. Everyone chipped in to create the 'stained glass' windows featuring Christmas trees, candles and stockings – they are really effective, especially considering they are just made of tissue paper and glue.”

The Halkirk Brownies got involved in a workshop and were "wonderfully creative and enthusiastic" with their designs.

The difficult decision of judging the competition was made by Sinead Hargan, co-director of Lyth Arts Centre, who was extremely impressed by the displays and “blown away by the creativity and effort by all involved”. The winners were announced on Saturday at the Christmas Festive Fun and Milton Mob Santa Run at the Ross Institute.

Fourth place was awarded to Robyn Speirs for "excellent use of illustrative design and a keen eye" for visual narrative. Sinead commented: "This window had a wonderful wintry feel. I felt like I was in the North Pole!"

Third place was awarded to Cal Morrison for the dashing Santa sleigh displayed over three windows and second place went to Jo Sutherland for fabulous use of stencils. Sinead said this was a "really fun piece that gave us a good festive giggle!".

First place was awarded to Vivien Mackay and grandbairns, for their “adorable” display of upcycled snowmen and penguins. Sinead said: “These snowmen made from fluffy socks and googly eyes would melt any frosty heart!”

The village council plans to hold similar community focussed events next year starting off with a Burns Supper on Saturday, January 20, 2024 – details can be found on the Halkirk Village Council Facebook page.

HVC thanks all those who took part in the competition and the support from the community.

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