Alnwick shop windows share some Christmas cheer

Alnwick Civic Society’s annual Christmas shop window competititon has spawned a host of seasonal displays, from windows packed with festive fun to a solitary Santa.

The judges couldn’t split their favourites and awarded joint first place to the panto-themed display at Elemental, in Fenkle Street, and the exuberant ‘organised clutter’ of toys, figures, angels, snowmen, gnomes, Santas, Nativity sets, candles, plates, baubles, lights and Christmas trees at the Salvation Army, in Bondgate Within.

The Society’s project officer David Lovie said a number of other shops had gone out of their way to create appealing windows, including House and Home and the pet shops.

Two windows which particularly caught the judges’ eye were the Balloon Emporium, on Fenkle Street, with its gingerbread house, and accountants Greaves Grindle on Bondgate Within, with a Nativity display organised by Alnwick Christians Together.

Mr Lovie said: “Being of Polish origin, it offers to Alnwick’s Christmas shop displays both an international element as well an example of seasonal co-operation between commerce and community – something that would have been totally alien to the mind of Mr Scrooge!

“The display also includes easy-to-read explanation sheets which inform the reader that the expressions on the faces of each of the Nativity figures attempts to reflect the different feelings of each one.”