THOUSANDS of people have enjoyed an 'absolutely stunning' Christmas Tree Festival in Otley.

The event saw 40 twinkling trees, all specially decorated by local charities and community groups, fill Otley Parish Church last week.

This year's attraction, organised by Otley Chamber of Trade members Helen and Tim Wilkinson, was the town's seventh and once again drew in visitors from far afield.

Otley Town Council Chairman Councillor Ray Georgeson was among those who attended.

He said: "I thought the display was absolutely stunning, very festive and a great way to generate Christmas cheer and raise awareness of many good causes and groups.

"Many congratulations to everyone involved, especially Helen and Tim for their amazing voluntary efforts and for turning this festival into one of the town's annual highlights."

Ruth Blackwell, posting her appreciation on the festival's Facebook page, said: "A fabulous event.

"Thanks Tim and Helen Wilkinson for all your hard work to make this happen.

"The church looked magical."

Mrs Wilkinson told the Wharfedale & Aireborough Observer: "Our visitor book, together with many repeat visitors and addresses in Yorkshire, included such locations as Bury in Lancashire, Woking in Surrey and Tanzania, in Africa.

"In their comments visitors said they found the festival and its variety of local charities 'a delight', 'thought provoking', 'beautiful' and 'very moving'."

Visitor numbers are still being tallied by are expected to match or exceed the 5,000 total from last year as the event continues to grow.

Mr Wilkinson added: "Some of the organisations and charities have let us know what their collection buckets contained and it looks like the total will top last year's amount of about £5,000 - all useful, especially at this time of year."

A variety of free, live music featuring local school choirs and groups also entertained visitors - while the festival included an evening show, too, featuring Chippendale Singers and Westgate Primary School Choir.

The Wilkinsons said they were grateful to everyone who took part and supported this year's event, and to All Saints Parish Church for being 'the perfect venue'.