At this time of year, most people are getting into the festive spirit and thinking about putting up their Christmas trees at home.
But in a town in England, a tree farm is asking locals to do something different.
The Keele farm in Staffordshire is hosting the UK’s first ever Christmas Tree Throwing Competition, where participants must launch trees over bars suspended high in the air, or throw them as far as possible.
More than 100 trees will be involved in the event, which has taken inspiration from Germany.
The fundraising contest for Help for Heroes, came about after the tree farm’s 19-year-old owner, Charlie Reynolds, saw a clip of the World Christmas Tree Throwing Championships in Germany on an episode of TV show You’ve Been Framed.
Mr Reynolds told a local radio station: “I sold my first Christmas tree at the age of 10, so the whole business is very much part of my life and I’m constantly trying to think of ways to get people to consider real over artificial trees.
“In Germany they’ve been running a competition just after the main festive celebrations for about eight years, and always ask people to turn up with their old trees.
“I decided I’d rather we provided the tree and got people to come at the end of November, just as people start to look forward to the season.”
The winner of the competition was crowned the UK’s first Christmas Tree Throwing Champion, and was given £100 to spend at the farm itself.
The tongue-in-cheek competition is named the “Knut-Fest” in Germany, after a Swedish festival of St. Knut’s day, the day that Christmas trees are traditionally taken down in so that the sweeties adorning the tree can be eaten.
Contestants take part by throwing the trees over a high-jump style bar, across long distances by throwing them through the air like javelins, and hurling them “hammer-style” by attaching ropes to their bases.