Kent farming family collect Christmas trees for charity

A minimum donation of £10 was required for Christmas trees up to 6ft

A farming family has been collecting Christmas trees and giving donations to a charity that takes disadvantaged children on farm visits.

The trees are being picked up in a tinsel covered tractor by the Broad family around Ightham, Kent.

They will then be pulped to provide green fuel for a biomass plant.

Debbie Broad said children on the farm visits might arrive "timid" but would be "very different" when they left.

'Sustainable mind'

The Country Trust charity gives children from social and economically disadvantaged areas the experience of visiting a working farm.

Residents have been asked for donations of £10 per Christmas tree.

Local Andrew Tawse had his tree collected and said he was "absolutely" on board with the family's focus on sustainability and helping disadvantaged children.

"There's often a lot of excesses at Christmas and I think we all need to be thinking with a sustainable mind," Mr Tawse said.

Ms Broad, whose family run Mote farm, highlighted the noticeable impact the collection had on the children who get to visit farms as a result of the money raised.

"Quite often, they come as very timid, very nervous and often anxious children because they've never been in such a vast area and by the end of their visit they are different children", she said.

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