Storm blows out illuminations

The stormy conditions have destroyed some of the solar panels which were installed to use sunshine to power the festive illuminations.

The damage means that none of the 400 glow lights which should have brought the village centrepiece to life are working.

They will remain dark until after Christmas to the dismay of the tree's organisers at the Felpham Village Conservation Society.

Michael Harvey, of the society, said: "I've got one of the panels which would have powered 50 of the lights in my hands and it's been totally smashed by the recent inclement weather."

Other panels suffered similar amounts of damage. It was too late, Mr Harvey explained, to have the damage repaired or new solar panels installed before Christmas.

"The lights are not performing as we hoped they would. There is nothing we can do about the situation this year and the conservation society would like to apologise for that to residents," he stated.

Work to solve the problem for 2009 was already underway, said Mr Harvey.

It was hoped to get a permanent electricity supply fed to the tree illuminations from a nearby street light.

He added that initial contacts had been made with Southern Electric and the county council highways department in order to achieve that well before next December.

The tree, at 23ft high, is the biggest and most luxuriant the society has ever bought from the Goodwood estate.

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