Sixth annual Christmas Treecycling service a huge success

Residents across North Herts have turned green and helped raise more than £17,000 for Garden House Hospice Care by taking part in our Christmas Treecycling Service.

For the sixth year running, a team of volunteers travelled across Stevenage, North Herts, South Bedfordshire and surrounding areas collecting Christmas trees to recycle in exchange for a donation to the Hospice.

In total 1,100 trees were collected over a five-day period from 50 different towns, villages and hamlets across the region, with more than £17,000 raised towards the care provided by the Hospice.

The Christmas trees were shredded by local housing association, settle, with chippings being donated to Standalone Farm, for use with its animals, and also Green Care at Norton, a therapeutic gardening project in Letchworth.

Richard Harbon, our Product and Events Manager 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 local Christmas tree vendors who helped advertise the scheme, this excellent service just wouldn't exist."

Joe Williams, Director of Housing at settle, said "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."

Jason Valentine, Venues Manager at Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation, added, "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."

The Hospice would also like to thank the following Christmas tree vendors for helping to publicise our Christmas Treecycling service: Dane End Christmas Tree Farm, Festive Trees Hertfordshire, Hitchin Garden Centre, Bickerdikes Garden Centre, Pioneer Nurseries, Tapps Garden Centre, Thornes Garden Centre, Highfield Nurseries, Watton Nursery, Ickleford Stores, Waitrose Hitchin, G & M Growers, Waste Not Want Not, Arrington Garden Centre, Bury Lane Fruit Farm, Lannock Christmas Trees and Hitchin Market.