Cuckfield Christmas Tree Festival

Welcome to Cuckfield Life’s Cuckfield Christmas Tree Festival event page. Here you will find our most recent information for the Holy Trinity festival.

The first Cuckfield Christmas Tree Festival was in 2003 and it has been held almost every year. The Festival is set in the beautiful Holy Trinity Church in Cuckfield, West Sussex. Since the first festival, the total raised (as of 2024) for charity now stands at over £100,000! Without your support and help, this would not have been possible - thank you all.

See also, Cuckfield Christmas Tree Festival
Holy Trinity Church, Cuckfield

2026’s festival will take place Friday 4th (11.30am - 7.30pm), Saturday 5th (11.30am - 6.30pm), Sunday 6th December (11.30am - 5.30pm).

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Raise Your Voice at the Christmas tree festival

By Hazel Gaydon

Raise Your Voice is honoured to be the chosen charity for this year’s Cuckfield Christmas Tree Festival. With groups across Sussex, in Burgess Hill, Lewes and East Grinstead, we aim to bring music, creativity and shared joy to those living with dementia and their carers.

As an independent charity funded entirely by donations, supported by teams of volunteers, every penny counts towards our upbeat sessions, headed by three gifted professionals. Jane Haughton, experienced singer and workshop leader, together with Nancy Cooley and Jenny Bewick create imaginative programmes to stimulate brains, release voices and build a family of friends who love to sing together. You should hear our quirky version of The Magic Flute featuring Pam (Pamina) and Tam (Tamino) from this term’s creative project: Mozart mixing easily with Stevie Wonder and Burt Bacharach!

Participants report so many benefits: greater alertness, enhanced mood, reduced stress, heightened confidence, but above all, the joy of having fun. “Raise Your Voice is so very special; it does Mum and I the world of good. We all belong as equals and feel equally valued.”

The festival will run at Holy Trinity Church, Cuckfield from 4th – 6th December.

Do come along and enjoy the stunning display of trees; have a go at winning a top prize at our Raise Your Voice table in the Old School or some delicious refreshments in the festival café.

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How Bolnore and Cuckfield businesses bounced back

By Bradbury Williams

More than a year of massive uncertainty and draconian lockdowns have taken a huge toll on local businesses, but many are already bouncing back.

When life as we knew it ground to halt last March, Bolnore Village beautician Jade Lewis was faced with some pretty hard choices. The business she had started just seven months earlier was forced to shut for an indefinite period, and she was left with no income and no chance of any government support, as she’d been trading for less than a year. “I knew I had to do something quickly because I had to earn a living, but I also knew there were lots of people worse off than me,” said Jade. She rapidly found a new job as an internet shopper for Sainsbury’s, despite the regular 4am starts, she was grateful to find work.

As the first lockdown was coming to an end, the Honeycomb Hair Lounge in Bolnore Village, where Jade also runs her business, was quickly back to normal despite a huge new range of health and safety challenges to negotiate. “It was a very worrying time but we had kept in touch with all of our clients,” said Manager Steph Carden, “but it was very sad for Jade as she was not able to open for much longer.”

The new normal radically changed the way the salon operated. “It was not a great atmosphere, there were lots of rules, we couldn’t offer drinks and people were not allowed to wait,” added Steph. It was similar for Jade when she was finally allowed to open the beauticians but she was able to hit the ground running, mainly because she had also kept in very close contact with her clients. Business boomed for the rest of the summer but as the virus took hold again prompting the autumn lockdown Jade decided to take her destiny into her own hands. She qualified to work to as an NHS vaccinator and for much of the last six months has worked alongside a huge team at the Brighton Centre. “I wanted to be part of the solution and I learnt a lot but it is really exciting to get back to my business and see how I can build it up in the future,” added Jade.

This article continues inside May’s Cuckfield Life magazine on pages 16 & 17, where you can read more about your local high street and those within it like: Chris Preston, owner of Cuckfield Garden Machinery at Whiteman’s Green, Anne and Robin Upton and their 2.5 acre caravan site, Jo Jo’s boutique, Pepperbox Interiors, and a few more!

Back in business

Last month saw the return of some of Cuckfield High Street’s shops as they slowly began to reopen their doors for business for the first time in almost three months following the lockdown. The welcome news came after the government announced that non-essential shops throughout the UK could open their doors and allow customers to enjoy the High Street shopping experience once again. Lisa Evans, Director of Ensor Interior Design, described how she felt as the easing of the restriction measures and rules started to shift: “You could almost hear the tumbleweed on the High Street during lockdown, but now it is alive with browsers, shoppers and people just wanting to say hello. We keep our door open during the day, which people seem to love, most stop and say hello and are glad things are returning to normal. We are very positive about the future and are now seeing clients again.” Some of the traders of course remained open throughout the lockdown period and have kept the village alive by helping the Cuckfield community come together in these challenging times.

To read more about the Cuckfield shops and shoppers have a look inside July’s issue of Cuckfield Life!