The first Christmas Tree?

I was shocked when I walked into the Tillington Hall hotel, Stafford, on Saturday morning to find a Christmas tree already in the corner of the reception area! Is this the first Christmas tree up in the country, apart from those on 'for sale' display in shops!

I was attending the 9th annual reunion and gala dinner of the RAF Masirah and RAF Salalah Veterans Association.  It was great meeting up with old friends and colleauges, some of whom I had served with at RAF Masirah, a desert Island in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Oman, in 1968/69.