By Callum Ludwig
Christmas creativity is back in full flight this year and Inglewood Artisan in Wesburn has a merry homemade display on show in Wesburn.
Owner of Inglewood Artisan Anthony Glynn has been putting on the displays for the last four years and has been building up with new additions each year.
Mr Glynn said he is a big fan of Christmas and being outdoors and getting creative, and he combined those interests for the display.
“I’m actually a tennis coach by trade and while I sell a little bit of stuff, I don’t really do it for the business side of it, it’s more as a community idea. Wesburn has its own small, tight-knit community here and people enjoy it,” he said.
“They come to take photos and jump on the reindeer and play in the gingerbread house and this year I’ve made a big new train which I am going to call the Inglewood Express.”
Mr Glynn was left without work throughout the first Covid lockdown and got more invested in the project as a way to keep himself occupied, getting ideas from Pinterest and deciding to make them himself.
While the final products are quite impressive, Mr Glynn said his DIY skills are not amazing.
“I’m a very beginner woodworker, but the kids come out and help in the garage. I’m hoping to get it all completely finished by this Sunday [4 December],” he said.
A few of the previous items had been damaged by recent wind and rain and Mr Gylnn has been hard at work bringing them back to their pristine best.
Mr Glynn said he first got the idea when driving through a small town called Cowwarr, near where he is originally from in Bairnsdale.
“They only have about 10 houses there, but all of their letterboxes are cows and I thought I’d like to do that, so I made nine reindeer and the gingerbread house in the first year and it’s gotten bigger from there,” he said.
“There are plenty of people out there in the community still doing stuff off their own back and not really expecting anything in return, and this is about the enjoyment of seeing kids happy, playing on sleds and jumping around because it’s Christmas time and after the last two years people need something to be upbeat about.”
Mr Glynn and his wife source pallet wood from a business in Kilsyth, which gives boxes of it to them for free instead of paying to take it to the tip and Inglewood Artisan sells a number of the products they make from the wood.
