A TEAM of residents want to bring the Christmas spirit back to their village high street by reviving a popular festive celebration after a six-year gap.

The Tiptree Christmas Fayre Committee is appealing for volunteers and donations to help them once again stage the popular festival, which attracted roughly 4,000 people when it last ran in 2013.

A spokesman said the fayre is designed to “create a Christmas community spirit and feel good factor about the village of Tiptree, encourage local shopping for the benefit of Tiptree village businesses and shops, and promote small home businesses, hobbyists and arts and crafts”.

In previous years, the event featured a brass band, display stalls along Church Road and the opportunity for visitors to take photos with Father Christmas himself.

This year, organisers want to raise £8,500 to hire equipment, book stalls, and buy up to 50 small illuminated Christmas trees to be hung from brackets on shop fronts along the high street for years to come.

Initial plans to buy Christmas lights which could be hung from lamp-posts were recently deemed too expensive and scrapped.

The committee, which is made up of about five organisers and 20 volunteers, is more than halfway to its fundraising goal, with £1,000 of its budget coming from a parish council donation.

A spokesman said: “The parish council are supportive but do not have a budget to provide funds.

“Therefore this event will only happen if the businesses and villagers of Tiptree get behind us to support us with funding and sponsorship.”

The committee is encouraging local businesses to take part and hopes to secure food stalls featuring candy floss, a hog roast, baked potatoes, mulled wine and roast chestnuts.

The spokesman added: “We will have a large Christmas tree at the heart of the fayre which we will need donated.”

The committee has set up a donations page on justgiving.com.

For more information and to learn more about volunteering, visit the committee’s Facebook page by searching for Tiptree Christmas Fayre.