Pingaring Christmas proves popular

The tiny town of Pingaring - which has a population of just 10 - swelled to 300 last Friday night as the town held its 90th Christmas tree reunion.

Guests came from as far afield as Albany, Perth and Northampton to celebrate what has been a popular annual event for Pingaring and the surrounding areas, including Lake Grace, Kulin, Newdegate and Hyden.

Among those to attend was Ivan "Lad" Fleay, who was a child at the first event back in 1925, and now lives at Kondinin.

Mr Fleay did the honours of cutting the cake made by local lady Bev Airey and received another present from Santa, who arrived at the event courtesy of Pingaring's new fire truck.

The event was organised by locals Lea Murray and Fiona Palmer.

Ms Palmer said it was a fantastic night and people made an effort to come vast distances.

"One of the highlights was opening a time capsule from the local school, which was buried in 1990. The school closed down in 1998," she said.

"The school kids of the time had written profiles, which were rather funny to read.

"The time capsule also included a couple of school newsletters, which included town happenings like local sports news and busy bees. There were also some newspaper clippings from 1990."

She said businesses from nearby towns such as Lake Grace, Kulin, and Newdegate made donations toward the event. The shires of Lake Grace and Kulin also contributed.

"The only hiccup was the toilets all blocked up," she said.

"With the hall being used just once a year for the Christmas Tree event - normally attracting around 30 to 40 people - it just wasn't up to the task of 300 people."