A GROUP of family and friends volunteer at Wirral Hospice St John’s annual Christmas tree collection as a way to thank the hospice for supporting their loved one.
Emma Lovely, rounds up her friends and family every year to help the hospice who supported her sister’s mother-in-law, Jane O’Driscoll, at the hospice in 2016 and early 2017.
Jane’s son, Conan, is married to Emma’s sister, Nikki, while Jane’s daughter, Katie Turnbull, has also become great friends with Emma down the years.
The family speak lovingly about Jane and how she loved days out with the family and short breaks, particularly to North Wales and a little cottage called Bron-Nant near Betws -y-Coed.
Jane accessed the hospice Wellbeing Centre services in 2016 when her cancer progressed later that year, she was admitted to the hospice inpatients ward where she was cared for by the hospice team until she died on January 10, 2017.
Conan, who works at Brookes Bell, a shipping company in Liverpool, covers the cost of hiring a van to help with the tree collections.
Emma said: “We just love the hospice and supporting the Christmas tree collection effort is a really great way we can give something back towards the care and support we witnessed for ourselves when Jane was ill.
“The days themselves are such a laugh, we’ve seen some sights down the years from virtual twigs to 18-feet giant trees. We genuinely do wish it could be Christmas tree collection day, every day.”
From Friday, January 12 2024, Hospice St John’s volunteers will pick up used real Christmas trees from outside people’s homes and businesses across the borough.
The hospice tree collection contributes to funding specialist care and support services as people make donations, relating to the size of their tree.
On the days of the collections around thirty vans will be sent around Wirral. One person will take the wheel and navigate a pre-planned postcode route, while one or two crew members, will pick up the tree from each address and load it onto the back of the van.
Once each van is fully loaded it’s driven to various pre-arranged temporary ‘drop-sites’ around Wirral to offload for chipping, then back on the road heading out for the next load. The chipped trees have further recycled uses, maybe in biofuel or even spread around at community farms and paddocks. Other small local charities also receive around ten per cent of the monies raised.
Every Wirral postcode area is eligible to register and people can book from now, until 11.59pm on Sunday, January 7 to secure their collection of their real Christmas trees.
Postcodes covered by Wirral Hospice St John’s include CH41, CH42, CH43, CH44, CH45, CH46, CH47, CH48, CH49, CH60, CH61, CH62, CH63, CH64.
Suggested donations per tree:
£8.71 under 5 foot
£9.42 5-6 foot
£15.38 6-7 foot
£21.53 7-8 foot
£24.84 8 foot +
To register a tree for collection people can book online at www.wirralhospice.org/treecollection or call 0151 343 0778.
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