Around 9.00am on the morning of Saturday 8th January, an assorted fleet of 30 vehicles set off from the roads and car parks around Prestbury Village Hall on a military style operation to collect over 4500 spent Christmas trees and reduce them into mulch by the end of the weekend.
Manned by volunteers, they spread out across an area from Knutsford to Rainow and from Handforth to Rushton Spencer. Having had a bacon buttie or two and mugs of coffee or tea, this veritable army set about their task armed solely with fluorescent jackets, gloves, maps, lists of bookings, satsumas, chocolate and with lashings of good humour and truckloads of enthusiasm.
Throughout the following two days, trees in their hundreds were gathered in, returned to base and mulched into recyclable compost. Teams were refuelled with hotpot, homemade cakes, more coffee and tea and were then sent out again to pick up more trees. Donations were collected and counted. Data about each collection was logged. Phone calls were taken, and made regarding lost trees and unfound properties, and the whole operation was managed and monitored to ensure a successful and safe conclusion.
Final figures will not be known for a few more weeks as sponsorship, late payers, the recycling credit and Gift Aid are all computed. However what can be reported is that over 4600 trees were recycled into over 40 tonnes of mulch. What was collected from the trees goes in its entirety to our local Hospice, and this sum of money was 5% greater than last year and currently sits at over £47,000.
When all the other monies are added in, it is forecast that the East Cheshire Hospice will receive a net sum in excess of £56,000. Also this year has seen The Collection's cumulative contribution to Hospice over the last eleven years top £250,000.
However, none of this could have happened without the enormous and unwavering support of so many people – the families from whom we collect, the volunteers who do the collecting, the IT volunteers, the catering volunteers, our sponsors some of whom help financially and others who assist in kind and services, Cheshire East Council, the backroom volunteers who do the planning, those who deliver leaflets or make phone calls, the Hospice staff and all those other supporters not mentioned previously.
Thank you all.
Richard Raymond, Co-organiser of the annual Christmas Tree Collection.
Photo: The organisers Pete Chapman and Richard Raymond.
