Christmas tree from Grønmo will light up Trafalgar Square

Christmas tree to LondonOslo.Christmas tree to London(2018).Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB scanpix

Traditionally, every year the City of Oslo sends a huge Christmas tree to London as a thank you for the British effort during the war.

On Tuesday, the selected spruce, 24 meters tall and about 80 years old, was felled at Grønmo in Eastern Marka in Oslo. Oslo Mayor Marianne Borgen (SV) and Ruth Bush, Mayor of London’s Westminster district, made the first incision with an old-fashioned log saw before a professional logger completed the job with a chainsaw.

Schoolchildren from Oslo International School and Stenbråten School sang and helped create a Christmas mood on an otherwise gray and wet November day in the forest.

From the ‘Øst Marka’ , the tree is transported to the port of Brevik at Grenland, where it is then shipped to the North East of England, equipped with its own “passport” – a special permit from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. From the port of Immingham the journey continues to London and Trafalgar Square.

– It was probably a very small tree when World War II broke out. In the 1930s, the tree stood just off a large marsh area called Ødegårdsmåsan. The area was previously used by the peat industry, it says in the fact sheet that Oslo municipality has sent out in connection with the solemn felling ceremony.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today

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