Hamilton’s Court Street was lit up yesterday as schoolchildren joined forces with the City of Hamilton to decorate a Christmas tree.

The youngsters from Mount Saint Agnes and Dellwood Middle School helped dress the tree with ornaments donated by the City.

They were joined by staff from the schools and Hamilton Town Crier Ed Christopher at the tree, at the junction of Court Street and Dundonald Street.

Tina Duke, Dellwood Middle School principal, told The Royal Gazette: “The kids enjoyed it and were honoured to be asked, they were very excited. The ornaments came a week-and-a-half ago and we wanted to make sure that we put a bit of DMC style in there. Our art teacher Kimberley Tucker oversaw the designs for Dellwood.

“Our theme for this school year is ‘LITT’ — it stands for Leaders in Training for Tomorrow — so the kids’ theme for the decorations was ‘Littmus’.

Aboutn 30 pupils tucked into a continental breakfast provided by the City before they started work.

Ms Duke said: “The baubles had the Dellwood colours blue and maroon and our lion mascot.

“They had a good time. They said it was nice being there with MSA students and they were tickled pink with the breakfast.”

She added: “Today was our ugly sweater competition day so some of them had their ugly sweaters on — we do that every year but this is the first year we have been invited to decorate the tree.”

Sue Moench, principal of MSA, said: “I gave our art students the challenge of deciding how they could make the decorations specific to MSA and they chose to put the cross on there.

“Then our social studies and religion students went down to help decorate the tree.

“When they got to the site they were really excited that this was where they would have their input — it is very visible.

“People from the community were coming around and talking to them and that was rewarding for them that people were acknowledging that they were doing something for their community.

“It was great to do it with Dellwood because we are the only two schools within the city limits — to be part of the project with them was important for us because they are our neighbours.”

Two staff from the City put the final touches to the tree — with a forklift truck called in to help them reach the top.

City employee Carlos Burn said: “It’s been a very festive atmosphere with the children helping this morning. Everyone was very happy. There are about 70 baubles and 15 sets of lights.”