CHARITY Christmas Tree Collection in Coventry and Warwickshire announced the dates for 2025, which will be the sixth year of recycling and fundraising.
The annual collection is organised by Pass The Smile with The Myton Hospices – in return for a donation, volunteers collect and recycle your real tree.
The collection dates for next year will take place from January 10 to 12 – after costs, 51 per cent of cash raised will go to The Myton Hospices and 49 per cent will go to Pass the Smile.
Launched in 2020 the project has now raised £149,323 to help both local charities to pursue their work and support communities.
In each of the last two years, the collection has visited over 3000 households and businesses taking the total number of trees amassed in five years to 10,558.
In 2024, over 200 volunteers participated, with support from RSS, Biffa, Amazon, DPD, KB Transport Solutions, Coventry Building Society, Bear Cleaning, Tudor Environmental, and Jaguar Land Rover.
The team were honoured at BBC Coventry and Warwickshire’s Make A Difference Awards and received a fundraising prize at September’s celebratory event.
Pass The Smile’s Scott Crowther said: “We couldn’t do it without the great support that we get from the communities of Coventry and Warwickshire.
“The Award recognises the team spirit and effort that we all put in. It was a great experience to win and has given us tremendous impetus to do even better in 2025; to be worthy of everyone’s goodwill.”
Charlotte Ingram director of income generation at The Myton Hospices added: “We are delighted to once again be working in partnership with Pass The Smile and Just Helping to organise the Charity Christmas Tree Collection.
“It has gone from strength to strength and the BBC Award is testament to this.
“We hope to build on this momentum and make this year’s collection bigger than ever to raise vital funds for our two local charities.
“The collections wouldn’t be possible without everyone who supports through vans, volunteers, and donations – so thank you from all of us at Myton, our patients and their families – every penny raised really does make a big difference.”
The team now gather trees from most of Warwickshire, including Nuneaton, Rugby and Stratford-Upon-Avon.
Once collected, trees are transported to Russells Garden Centre in Baginton, where they are shredded and used to restock paths in their Quarry Gardens and maze.
In a trial for 2024, 35 tonnes of chippings were blended with other forestry waste and sent to a Biomass Power Station to generate electricity for the National Grid.
Visit: just-helping.org.uk/register-tree to book for a tree collection or form.jotform.com/2400952873403 to volunteer.
