Lights stolen from Te Awamutu Community Christmas Tree

Te Awamutu Community Christmas Tree organiser Dean Taylor with two of the light baubles that were cut and disconnected from the tree in the Rose Gardens over the weekend. Two others were stolen.

Te Awamutu Community Christmas Tree organiser Dean Taylor had only just finished installing the last lights in the Rose Gardens on Friday, but he never saw the tree in all its glory.

"It has been another hard year as we know, so I wanted to make the tree as attractive as possible for Christmas this year," he says.

"Contact Electrical fixed the wiring and timer and I removed all the faulty baubles and spent several nights stringing the frames with new lights.

"I finished the lights Thursday night and installed them in the tree Friday morning."

The Taylors went away for the weekend and were looking forward to seeing the Christmas tree on Sunday night.

"I was disappointed at how sparse it looked after all my work," says Dean.

"I had a closer look and found two banks of baubles weren't working.

"Two had been disconnected, the ropes cut and they were lying on the ground.

"Another two were missing completely, along with power connector cables."

Dean says it is a pretty mean and selfish act to ruin the tree for a bit of fun.

He says the lights require special power supplies, so whoever took them isn't likely to be able to use them.

"It is more likely they'll try and run the lights and they'll blow," he says.

"Also, when the tree is lit there is live power, so climbing into the wiring can be dangerous.

"There are warning signs about live wires on the tree.

"I'm hoping it was just a bit of high-spirited 'fun' and the culprits will return the missing baubles," says Dean.

The lights in the tree have been funded by community groups, businesses and individual sponsors for several years, notably Te Awamutu Community Board and Te Awamutu Rose Trust, plus local businesses have donated time to help maintain the tree.

This year Dean has undertaken all the repair and installation work alone.

Each bauble is worth about $250 for lights, frame, connectors and time to build.

Dean says they are made to order, and with Covid there is already a shortage of the imported lights through the Auckland supplier, let alone time or funds to make new baubles.

The best outcome would be for the baubles to be returned to Te Awamutu police, Te Awamutu Courier, Waipā District Council or Te Awamutu i-Site so they can be reinstalled.