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Christmas tree collection brings in £17,000 for hospice

More than £17,000 has been raised for Mary Stevens Hospice as part of their Treecycle weekend.

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Rob Whitley, area manager of Enterprise rent-a-car, and Adrian Brooks, director at Brooks Forgings, who have supported the treecycling initiative at Mary Stevens Hospice, Stourbridge

In exchange for a donation to the Stourbridge-based hospice, more than 1,200 real Christmas trees were collected in the Black Country and surrounding areas.

This year, the hospice covered 10 postcodes in the local area, with supports simply leaving their real Christmas tree outside of their property for hospice staff and volunteers to collect over the weekend.

Tree Surgeons were on site at Mary Stevens Hospice over the weekend and trees were also taken to Hagley Christmas Trees in Broome where they were also chipped and recycled.

The whole event was carried out ensuring that all staff and volunteers were working under Covid-secure conditions, following advice from West Midlands Police and local authorities, hospice staff were confident that the event could be carried out safely.

A spokesman from Mary Stevens Hospice said: "Volunteer collectors worked tirelessly over the weekend collecting Christmas trees from all over the borough and combined with the incredible support from the local community, this Treecycle became the most successful that the hospice has organised.

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"Following on from the success of this year, Mary Stevens Hospice will be running the event again in January 2022."

Adrian Brooks, from Brooks Forging, which sponsored the Treecycle, added: "Mary Stevens Hospice does incredible work for the local community of which we are a part.

"Being a West Midlands family business located in Lye and Cradley Heath we have many members of our team from Stourbridge and the surrounding areas, most of the postcodes the hospice supports.

"Many of us have had contact with the hospice over the years, perhaps when friends or loved ones have been cared for.

"The work the hospice does is essential in providing care and support to patients and families at difficult and sometimes overwhelming times.

"With this in mind and to recognise the wonderful work that the hospice staff and volunteers perform throughout the year, we thought it was good fit in our desire to support the local community at this dfficult of times to say thank you to all at Mary Stevens Hospice."

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