St Giles Hospice will be enjoying a great late Christmas present again in 2018 thanks to the success of this year’s environmentally-friendly Treecycle campaign.
Collections across Lichfield and the surrounding area last week (6-12 January) saw dedicated volunteers picking up more than 1,400 dead Christmas trees from local families and businesses, raising more than £11,000 to help fund the work of the hospice.
The selfless efforts of the volunteers included visiting Tamworth Snowdome to chip 300 trees and Hogarths Gin Palace, which is also in the town, to chip a further 60.
St Giles Hospice Fundraising Events Manager Zoe Westwood said: “Treecycle is a brilliant fundraising event which just gets bigger every year. It is good for the environment, helps families out after Christmas when they’re left with a dead tree – and raises money for St Giles Hospice in the process.
“We’d like to thank all of our brilliant volunteers – especially Lichfield Treeworks who helped to organise the campaign and collect and chip the trees – who have given their time and resources to support Treecycle this year. We really wouldn’t be able to run the campaign without their continued amazing support.”
Between Monday 8 and Friday 12 January 2018 St Giles volunteers, supported by local company Lichfield Treeworks Ltd, collected and chipped old Christmas trees from homes and workplaces in Lichfield, Burton, Sutton Coldfield, Tamworth, Walsall and surrounding areas in return for a donation to the hospice.
St Giles also ran a drop-off point for unwanted Christmas trees in the city centre at Lichfield Cathedral on Saturday 6 January.
Local companies which supported the scheme include Lichfield Treeworks Ltd, Greener Composting, Spectrum Plant, A1 Vehicle Rentals Lichfield, Golds Vehicle Rentals, Darwin Electricals Ltd, Masonry Solutions and Robert Yardley Photography.