Christmas spirit is alive and well in Uplawmoor... after a fundraiser to save the village’s festive celebrations hit its target in under an hour.

Plans for this year’s Christmas lights switch-on were thrown into chaos amid claims East Renfrewshire Council had gone back on an agreement to supply a tree for free.

For the last two decades, Uplawmoor Community Council has arranged for a tree to be supplied free of charge by the council, with the community organisation covering the cost of lights and electricity.

However, when community councillors began making preparations for this year’s celebrations, they were told they would have to pay £460 for a tree.

East Renfrewshire Council said local groups have been responsible for funding their own trees since 2016 and could not explain why Uplawmoor had continued to receive one for free over the last two years.

Ross Leggat, secretary of Uplawmoor Community Council, said: “The community council simply cannot justify spending £460 of our limited funds which are kept for administration, additional hall lets and website costs, amongst other unexpected costs.

“I find it extremely disappointing that, after over 20 years of the tree being supplied by ERC, they have decided to stop this and only notify us when we are trying to finalise plans for our annual lights-on event.

“This event is one of the largest annual community events in the village and we do still plan on holding our joint lights-on event with the church at the beginning of December and still have a few exciting announcements which will be made at the event.”

On Monday, the community council set up an online fundraiser seeking £300 to purchase a tree from a different supplier.

Incredibly, donations poured in, with the £300 target reached in less than one hour. As the Barrhead News went to press, the fundraiser was on the verge of hitting £500.

Uplawmoor Community Council has said it will donate any excess cash to Barrhead’s foodbank.

An ERC spokesperson said: “Christmas trees for local communities were historically funded through local area forums. Following these forums being discontinued in 2016, trees have been funded by local groups.”

Uplawmoor’s Christmas lights switch-on event will be held on December 12 at Caldwell Parish Church.