Last chance to register for Christmas tree collection and help support local hospice

a happy van crew

There is now under a week to register to have your tree collected by the volunteers of the East Cheshire Hospice Christmas Tree Collection.

Richard Raymond, one of the organisers, said "Right now bookings are well up on last year's record total as households book in early to avoid being disappointed. However it does look like it will be another busy year for the 300 or so volunteers who will be collecting the trees."

The 17th annual Christmas Tree Collection will take place next weekend, Saturday 14th January and Sunday 15th January, and this year the collection team are aiming to raise over £100,000 for the Hospice. They are also aiming to collect and recycle 7,500 Christmas trees.

So far over 6200 trees have been registered, so they are well on their way to exceeding last year's total and, unless they get full sooner, registrations will be taken up to 5pm on Thursday, 12th January. These can be made at www.echtrees.org.uk.

Richard added This is a really big community effort and the excitement of The Christmas Tree Collection weekend will be seen and felt from the roads of the area through the headquarters of this operation to the hospice itself. The days will start with bacon butties and the presentation of the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service by the Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire and will only finish when the last trees have been gathered in. Then it is expected that the team will retire to a local hostelry for sustenance!

In January 2016, the Christmas Tree Collection raised over £102,000 to help the Hospice meet its fundraising need for £7,500 per day to cover the running costs. This broke the previous record of £91,000. Over 6,800 individual collections were made from over 2,080 different roads using 37 vehicles and with the support from over 130 volunteers each day they recycled over 69 tonnes of trees.

The East Cheshire Hospice Christmas Tree Collection, which was awarded a Queen's Award for Voluntary Service this year, is believed to be the world's largest, volunteer led, Christmas Tree Collection and Recycling Scheme. Since 2001 over £678,000 has been donated to the Hospice by supporters of the Christmas Tree Collection.

The closing date for collection requests is 5pm on Thursday, 12th January. There is no minimum donation but volunteers request that you please give generously to support the Hospice, its patients and their families.

Tags:
Christmas Tree Collection, East Cheshire Hospice, East Cheshire Hospice Christmas Tree Collection
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