Cherry pickers bring Christmas joy

When it comes to decorating your neighbourhood or town for the Christmas and New Year period, one of the most challenging factors is how to reach the great heights required to string fairy lights, banners, baubles and more. For some silly season enthusiasts, the job has become so big it now requires the use of cherry pickers!

One British couple, Avril and Christopher Rowlands, bought a live Christmas tree 35 years ago and planted in in their front garden. Now the tree is their village's most impressive,  standing at 50m tall and attracting visitors from across the town.

Every year the local community gathers together to help decorate the fir tree, lighting it up with over 1,000 sparkling bulbs. Its huge height now means a cherry picker is brought in to help volunteers decorate the highest branches.

The cherry picker enables decorators to be hoisted high into the air from the safety of a contained cage, and moved around to easily shower the tree in lights and other decorations.

Each year the Rowlands host an event where they switch the lights on the community tree, and collect donations for charity at the same time.

Closer to home, Sydney's iconic Martin Place tree is also assembled with the mechanical help of a cherry picker. Workers are lifted up in the cage to attach ornaments to the tree . This year's decorations include large three-dimensional colourful stars, lovingly strung onto the huge tree by workers in high-vis safety gear and hard hats.

The machines are used around the world to give workers and anyone requiring easy access to high places the ability to do so safely and securely.  It's not just at Christmas, either - think about your city's main streets and the banners and flags that often dangle from street lights and buildings. It's highly likely that cherry pickers were used to help erect these.

Cherry pickers are great for narrow-access jobs, such as working your way around that huge Christmas tree in tight or confined spaces.

Like any machinery, there are safety precautions that must be taken when using cherry pickers. If you're hiring a machine, the team at Kennards Hire will happily provide you with safety advice, instructions of use and professional tips and recommendations to ensure your job is completed as easily and effectively as possible.