Christmas tree charity raises £150k in five years

A Christmas tree collection service has raised almost £150,000 for charity in the five years since it was set up.

The Coventry and Warwickshire Charity Christmas Tree Collection visits people’s homes after the festive period to take away their trees for recycling.

They do this in return for a donation to charity, with the money collected split between Myton Hospices and Pass the Smile.

The group has been nominated for BBC Radio CWR’s Make a Difference Awards, which will take place in September.

Scott Crowther, one of the organisers, told BBC Radio CWR the amount of money raised “stunned” him and said it all started from a small group with four vans.

He said they raised about £4,000 in their first year and more than £48,000 in their fifth, which has put them just short of £150,000 in total.

“This collection wouldn’t work without hundreds of people helping. We’ve started something we can’t stop now either,” he said.

“We’ve created this huge, unintended snowball that’s rolling downhill at Christmas time and won’t stop.”

'Very big operation'

Co-organiser Hannah Johnson said the scheme was run by a small committee made up of five people.

"But when it comes to the weekend [of collection] itself, we have about 200 volunteers," she explained.

Ms Johnson added it was a "very big operation" but that the volunteers enjoyed it.

"They're actually doing something physical to raise money for charity, which people really enjoy," she said.