This January, Dorothy House Hospice Care ran its fifth annual Christmas Tree Collection fundraiser in partnership with the Justhelping charity raising over £66,000 to fund hospice care.

Local people booked their used Christmas trees in for a charitable donation and Dorothy House volunteers picked up around 3,689 trees between 8th-10th January 2021. The collection ran in fourteen postcodes in the local community with BA11 (Frome) raising £10,734.88 of the grand total.

Dorothy House's Christmas Tree Collection scheme is supported by many local businesses providing volunteers and vehicles including SSEN, Wessex Water, Buildbase, Go Self Drive, Western Skip Hire, Corsham Patio and Fencing and Geoghegan Builders. Students from Lackham Agriculture College in Melksham will be helping with tree chipping after the January collection. Greenhill Tree Care, Pearns Tree Services and Wessex Rural Crafts in Warminster also helped to chip trees, some of which will be used in the hospice grounds.

Other supporters include Inspired Joinery, Mobility Works, Western Skip Hire, Audience Systems and The Sweeping Company. While 90% of the money raised, after costs, will go to Dorothy House, 10% of funds raised will go to other local charities.

Tom Gardiner from SSEN said: "In the past five years, the tree-cycling scheme organised by Dorothy House Hospice has gone from strength to strength; raising vital funds, encouraging people to recycle their trees and then using that by-product locally in areas such as green spaces, parks and gardens.

"Sustainability is high on SSEN's agenda, so t be able to boost Wiltshire's environment through recycling and raise money for a local charity at the same time is something my colleagues and I were keen to volunteer for. As social distancing measures meant we could only operate the chipper individually, we needed more colleagues this year to be able to safely work in rotation to clear the record amount of trees."

He continued: "With current restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic, this fund-raising scheme has enabled people to donate to a worthwhile cause and have their trees collected from outside their homes by a charity volunteer without having to travel themselves or come into contact with anyone outside of their home, and SSEN is delighted to have been able to help."

Steph Cox, Community Fundraiser for Dorothy House Hospice Care said: "This is our fifth Christmas tree collection and recycling scheme, and has come at a time when many charities are being affected by the coronavirus pandemic, so we are especially pleased to have raised a record-breaking sum of over £66,000 in vital funds to support local hospice care. I'd like to say a huge thank you to all our volunteers and donors for their generous help and support."

Suzie Godfrey Head of Health and Safety for Buildbase said: "We thoroughly enjoyed the day collecting Christmas trees and it has been brilliant to hear the fantastic total that has been raised as a result of the collection. It was so well organised both for the people recycling their trees and for us collecting them. This was the first time that we've helped out with the Dorothy House Christmas Tree collection and will be definitely be coming back again next year."