Epping Forest MP Eleanor Laing supported the annual Christmas Tree Festival at St John’s Church, Epping.
 
Some 60 trees decorated the St John’s Road church at the start of the festive season, with each one sponsored by a local business, charity or individual.
 
Mrs Laing, who visited the church on Friday, said: “The tree festival, now in its ninth year, is a traditional fixture in the town’s Christmas calendar and really is a magnificent curtain-raiser to the festive season.
 
“It was lovely to see so many colourfully-decorated trees lining the church, and marvellous to see how so many local organisations come up with their unique ways of decorating them.”
 
Mrs Laing added: “An awful lot of hard work goes into the event – by the tree sponsors and the church and I am sure their efforts will result in a healthy sum being raised for the three causes chosen this year.”
 
Money raised from the event - which includes the sale of handmade festive decorations - will go to the church, the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign and Christian Community Services in the Mount Kenya Region.