Over £17,000 has been raised by an annual 'Treecycling' service in North Herts.
The Christmas event sees a team of volunteers travel the area once per year, collecting Christmas trees in return for a donation to Garden House Hospice Care.
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In total, 1,100 trees were collected over five days.
These were taken from 50 different towns, villages and hamlets across North Herts.
Once collected, the trees were shredded by local housing association, settle.
Chippings from the trees donated to Standalone Farm for use with its animals, and therapeutic gardening project Green Care at Norton.
Product and events manager at Garden House Hospice Care, Richard Harbon said: “Our Christmas Treecycling service has once again proved extremely popular and we were delighted to have had so many trees to collect.
“Not only will people’s kind donations really make a huge difference, but with so many people also giving permission to Gift Aid their donation by simply ticking a box, that equates to more than £3,300 in additional income which is fantastic.
"The service has also allowed people to help protect the environment by disposing of their trees in an environmentally friendly way and we’re very happy that tree chippings will be used on local projects right here in Letchworth.
“We’d like to take a moment to say thank you to our sponsors Vanstone Park Garden Centre; Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation and the team at Standalone Farm; and other local companies and individuals who have volunteered to collect and chip trees including settle, John O’Conner Grounds Maintenance, Ricky Cooper, EH Crouch Funeral Directors, Speedy Freight and Dormakaba.
"Without the assistance of all these people, plus the many Christmas tree vendors who helped advertise the scheme, this excellent service just wouldn’t exist.”
Director of housing at Settle, Joe Williams, added: "We’re delighted to support Garden House Hospice Care with this service, which is in keeping with our commitment to working in a sustainable way and support local partners.
"The trees will provide eco-friendly chippings to community projects, including Green Care Norton, who were our nominated charity of the year in 2022."
Lastly, Jason Valentine, venues manager at Letchworth Heritage Foundation, commented: “We always enjoy working with the community at Standalone Farm, but this partnership was particularly special.
"It was great to be able to raise funds for a cause as worthy as the hospice – and the animals are all especially thankful for the wood chippings!
"Well done to the chipping team – it looked like hard work, but it’s paid off all round.”
To register early interest in next year's tree collections, visit the Garden House Hospice Care website (www.ghhospicecare.org.uk).
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