What a tree-mendous effort! Over £100,000 raised through St Giles Hospice’s Christmas TreeCycle
An annual scheme to recycle Christmas trees in and around Lichfield has had its most successful year yet, with volunteers collecting 5,800 trees and raising more than £100,000 to fund vital end of life care.
St Giles Hospice's TreeCycle service saw kind-hearted volunteers collect 5,425 real Christmas trees from supporter’s doorsteps - enough to stretch almost all the way from Lichfield Cathedral to Tamworth, passing through the hospice site in Whittington.
The scheme, which ran from 10-13 January, saw a fantastic team of volunteers, local businesses and St Giles Hospice staff brave the winter weather to collect Christmas trees across Staffordshire, North Birmingham and surrounding areas. Once it was safe to start collections following Storm Goretti, the team pulled on their waterproofs and worked tirelessly, helping to make this year’s TreeCycle the most successful yet.
The collected trees - which lined up would measure nearly 7 miles - were recycled at Greener Composting in Lichfield, where they are turned into compost for agricultural purposes.
Sam Colclough, Senior Events Officer at St Giles Hospice, said: "We're absolutely thrilled with this year's TreeCycle results - who would have thought there would be so many trees needing to be recycled! Nearly 7 miles of Christmas trees is quite something.
"This fantastic response shows just how much our community cares about supporting local people at the end of their lives. Every tree collected represents a family choosing to support St Giles, and we're incredibly grateful.
"A huge thank you to our 150 kind-hearted volunteers and all our supporters for making this year’s TreeCycle such a success. We couldn’t do it without you and our headline sponsor Marfleet Facilities. Thank you to everyone who signed up - your support means the world to us and helps fund vital care for families when they need us most."
The 2026 TreeCycle scheme saw 4,987 bookings for collections, marking a 10% increase on last year's 4,528 bookings and 296 more trees collected than in 2025.
St Giles Hospice provides specialist palliative and end of life care, free of charge, for people living with terminal illnesses across Staffordshire, North Birmingham and surrounding areas. More than 80% of the charity's care is delivered in the community.
With less than a quarter of its £10 million annual costs funded by the Government, St Giles relies heavily on donations and income generation from the local community to continue its vital care.
The hospice faced significant financial challenges in 2024, when it was forced to reduce bed capacity from 23 to 15 beds and make 23 staff redundant due to financial pressures facing the hospice sector nationally.
For more information about St Giles Hospice, visit stgileshospice.com
