UNUSUAL Christmas trees were on display last week as a festive competition brought hundreds of people to All Saints Church.

The church, in The Causeway, Marlow, played host to a Christmas tree competition where people placed their trees on display and visitors paid a donation to see them.

They could then vote for their favourite from a variety, many of which were themed.

The idea came from church warden, Anne Morse, of Pinecroft, who wanted to challenge the notion that trees were a pagan idea. She says they were in fact popularised in the story of Saint Boniface.

She said: "We had lovely trees. There were a lot of people who just happened to visit the church.

"We had people from the Czech Republic and Japanese visitors who came and couldn't believe what they saw."

The competition took place over three days up until Saturday and included one used tree from last Christmas. The dead tree was decorated with an old teddy bear and a toothbrush to symbolise the sadness of last Christmas following the Boxing Day tsunami.

The competition raised around £175 for the Lighthouse charity, which puts on events during the summer for local Christian children.

Their were two joint winners, The Christmas Treet by a local family, and Bell of the baubles by Holy Trinity School in Marlow.