With the practice of recycling Christmas trees to raise money for hospices now widespread, a group of volunteers have been speaking about how it all began in Cheshire.
The Christmas tree collection service which supports the East Cheshire Hospice in Macclesfield has now been running for 25 years.
It was set up by Peter Chapman and Richard Raymond, who invited people to make a donation in return for their tree being recycled.
The initiative has raised about 2m for the hospice and the business model has since been adopted by hospices across the country.
Mr Chapman said they had come up with the idea of collecting trees from neighbours in 1999 as a way to raise money to buy a new organ at Prestbury Church, where his son then sang in the choir.
Each chorister received a £10 incentive to get involved and the family trailer was used to pick up trees, with the £10 being spent on petrol.
“Everyone said it was a brilliant idea and asked if we’d do it again,” he said.
“Pete asked me the second year if we could borrow a van from where I worked, and the third year said he felt he was on to something,” said Mr Raymond.
“We needed a charity that would appeal to everyone in the area, so we decided to support the hospice.”
‘Turned into compost’
The project takes place over one weekend every January and involves hundreds of volunteers.
Mr Raymond said: “This next collection is a big one for us and we want to make it a special celebration.”
Mr Chapman said the idea had caught on across the country, with 173 hospices now also running annual tree collections, many of which had been supported by the team in Cheshire.
“Peter and I liaise with them over Zoom, and they email with questions,” Mr Raymond said.
The pair said they expected to raise about £150,000 for the East Cheshire Hospice this year.
Mr Raymond estimated that they had recycled 110,000 trees, with most turned into compost.
“It’s also a wonderful way of getting out into the community”, he added.
“To have done it for 25 years is very humbling and we’re proud to have done it for that long.”
The hospice’s CEO Karyn Johnston described the scheme as “brilliant”, explaining that their annual running costs were about £7m.
“People see it as part of their Christmas giving so it comes in at just the right time to get us through the difficult winter months,” she added.
