The 13th annual Christmas Tree Collection will take place over the weekend of Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th January raising much needed funds for East Cheshire Hospice.
Last year the collection raised over £47,500 for the Hospice to help meet its fund raising need for £6000 per day, this just broke the previous record of £45,400. In addition, £6,800 was reclaimed from the Government under the Gift Aid Scheme and over £207,000 has been donated to the hospice by supporters of the Christmas Tree Collection since 2001.
Long established as one of the Hospice's largest fundraising events, the Collection is run entirely by volunteers and gives every pound that it collects on the trees to the East Cheshire Hospice. It is the largest volunteer Christmas Tree recycling service in the country and last year over 4,300 individual collections were made using 30 lorries and support from over 120 helpers each day.
The Collection team grind the trees into mulch which is mixed into compost for recycling back into the soil in an entirely environmentally friendly manner. Last year nearly 47 tonnes of recycled mulch was treated in this way, equivalent to 10 African elephants!
Richard Raymond, one of the organisers, said "It is a simple idea which works on the principle of "save all that mess in your car by having your Christmas tree collected in return for a small donation. You book in with us and we will collect and recycle your old tree and collect your donation to the Hospice - no mess and no worries!
"All of your donation goes to the Hospice and we suggest a minimum donation of £4 per tree, which will run the Hospice for about 1 minute! However, this is a worthwhile cause so please be generous if you can. We will let you know how to donate when you book in. For security, cheques are preferred, payable to the East Cheshire Hospice. We will never ask for cash."
The target this year is to collect and recycle 5000 Christmas trees in one weekend. So far 1792 trees have been registered. To help the volunteers reach their target book your collection at www.echtrees.co.uk or by phoning Richard Raymond on 01625 612025.
The collection will be made over the weekend of Saturday 8th January and Sunday 9th January but due to the vast number of trees to be collected it is not possible for them to give an exact time when they will be in your area.
