A TOUCH of Christmas came to Ipswich town centre today as the Evening Star tree was put up in the Cornhill.The tree, which has come from Elveden forest in west Suffolk, was being installed in its normal position early this morning - long before the town centre was invaded by shoppers and office workers.

A TOUCH of Christmas came to Ipswich town centre today as the Evening Star tree was put up in the Cornhill.

The tree, which has come from Elveden forest in west Suffolk, was being installed in its normal position early this morning - long before the town centre was invaded by shoppers and office workers.

The tree will remain in position until just after Christmas - it will be taken down before the New Year celebrations on the Cornhill.

Once the tree was fixed in place, the decorations were due to be put up.

Its lights will be tested, along with those in the rest of the town, at the first late-night shopping event tomorrow.

The tree took about an hour to put up and unwrap from its protective plastic covering today - unlike the tree you will be putting up at home next month this one required specialist equipment including an industrial “cherry-picker.”

And unlike your tree at home, this one took about an hour to manoeuvre into position - before the decorations were added to it.

The tree itself will form the centrepiece of the collection tins for the Star's Christmas appeal - full details of that will be announced in tomorrow's edition of the newspaper.

The Star has provided the town's main Cornhill tree for many years - it has always been the centrepiece of Ipswich's Christmas decorations.