The Salvation Army has commenced operation Christmas Cheer, the New England toy drive is in gear and the Australian Red Cross Glen Innes Branch kicked off their annual Christmas tree and decoration competition on Friday night.

Members of the community gathered at the town hall to enjoy cocktails and delicious food while admiring an abundance of Christmas trees made by various groups and individuals within the town.

Loma Wright from the Red Cross and coordinator of the Christmas tree launch said it was the initiative started 15 years ago and was a great way to get the community into the Christmas spirit.

“This runs for a week and people vote for their favourite tree,” Ms Wright said.

“We usually get over 1000 votes and we run a raffle.

“The schools have been a big input this year … [we have] 57 trees in the competition this year.”

All entries compete for different categories with big prize money up for grabs.