We hope you had a peaceful Christmas and that 2024 has got off to a great start.

If you had a real Christmas tree over the festive period and are in need of it being removed, Bury Hospice has a collection and recycling service that’s available, so that your home is needle free and ready for the year ahead.

Our annual Christmas tree collection scheme is the most convenient way of disposal, as each collected tree is recycled, chipped, and either used at a local golf course or as green biomass fuel.

The registrations currently stands at 819 trees and we are looking to increase this number in the coming days.

We ask for a kind donation in return for having your Christmas tree reliably removed and recycled.

The hospice will receive 90 per cent of all funds raised, which will support the provision of much valued palliative and end-of-life care in the community. The remaining 10 per cent will go towards supporting other local charities.

As you can imagine, it takes a lot of coordination to collect hundreds of trees of ranging sizes.

We acknowledge and thank all of our local corporate sponsors who have donated gifts in kind to ensure the success of this year’s collection.

All vehicles and box tippers have been provided, as well as a fantastic chipping service.

Communal spaces for our teams to gather after completing the collection rounds have also been offered in support.

We are grateful to the gardening centres across Bury that have been displaying our flyers in store and also to our wonderful team of volunteers who have diligently distributed around 10,000 flyers in their local areas.

A wonderful team of local volunteers from the borough will be out across our six townships collecting all registered trees over the weekend of the 12th - 14th January.

In January 2023, 1,296 trees were collected in Bury, raising more than £16,000 for the hospice.

Dale Mulgrew, events fundraiser, at the hospice, said: “We are roughly two thirds of the way to reaching last year’s collection total.

“Surpassing last year would be fantastic as it would mean that monies raised would go an even further way to ensure that our patients receive the specialist care they need and deserve.

“If you haven’t yet done so, do register your Christmas tree today to avoid missing out on our hassle free service.”

Registered trees will be collected over the weekend of January 12 to 14 in the following post codes: BL0, BL8, BL9, M25, M26 and M45. Trees will also be picked up in Ainsworth and Bradley Fold.

The registration deadline is on midnight on Monday, January 8. Head to https://www.buryhospice.org.uk/events/christmas-tree-collection-2 or call 0161 797 1748.