Four-year-old left 'devastated and disappointed' after his bauble is removed from public Christmas tree

A mother is ‘heartbroken’ after a bauble her son attached to a Christmas tree in Datchet was removed.

Emma Clarke and her four-year-old son Dexter, who is autistic, walk past the Christmas tree on The Green twice a day during the school run.

She said Dexter gets ‘extremely excited’ when he sees the tree.

“He talks about it every day,” said Emma. “He wakes at 4am asking if he can decorate the tree. I decided one Saturday to let him place one small bauble on it. He was beyond happy.”

She posted about the happy moment on the village’s Facebook group, Datchet Eye, but Emma said the post was later removed by one of the admins.

Emma said she was then told by an admin that as the tree is professionally dressed this year and insured, placing the bauble on it would cause the insurance to be revoked.

Later on Emma noticed the bauble had been removed from the tree.

She said: “I didn’t realise one small bauble placed by a child with additional needs would cause such a problem.

“What could have been something all the children of the village could have joined in with turned into something quite horrible towards a little boy.”

Writing about the experience on Facebook, she posted: “I’m dreading to have to try and explain to him every day when we go past. He will be devastated and disappointed.”

Her full post has been shared over 400 times and seen by over 1,300 people on Facebook.

As the tree is the responsibility of Datchet Parish Council, Emma said she believed it may have been removed by them, however the council said it had no knowledge of the bauble being put up in the first place.

Katy Jones, clerk of Datchet Parish Council said: “I’ve spoken to four people about it, and no one has had any involvement. Our groundsman can’t remember there being a bauble. As far as we’re concerned, there isn’t an issue.”

The parish council is now looking to arrange for Dexter to place a new bauble on the tree.