CHESHIRE charity Hospice of the Good Shepherd’s Christmas tree collection has been a record success, with over 2,000 trees collected and raising over £28,000.

Due to the announcement of increased coronavirus restrictions, the hospice took extra health and safety precautions to be able to provide this service. All volunteers were from the same household or normal work bubbles, and additional personal protective equipment was provided allowing the event to go ahead as planned.

Cheshire West and Chester Council assisted with recycling by allowing recycled trees to be unloaded at their local tree recycling stations in the local area.

Companies helping out included Rooted Tree Surgery, Treemendous Services, Dee Clearances, Forward Builders Supplies, Hoole Food Market and Menzies Distribution.

The hospice was also supported by an army of regular volunteers.

Sam Eastwood, community and events fundraiser, said "We’d like to say a big thank you to all of our amazing volunteers who were out with us collecting the trees from our community. This is a huge task for us each year but this year pandemic makes it even more challenging.

“We’re so pleased that we were able to collect more trees and raise more money than any previous year we have done this so a huge thank you to our community for their support after what has been a very difficult year.”

The hospice, located in Backford, has collected even more trees this year, with 1,400 being collected in 2020.

Based in Chester, The Hospice of the Good Shepherd serves the communities of West Cheshire, Chester, Ellesmere Port, Deeside and the surrounding areas, caring for patients with life-limiting conditions and supporting bereaved families.

Its dedicated team of staff and healthcare professionals aim to meet the unique physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of those with life-limiting conditions, and to help maintain their dignity. It provides specialist palliative care for people with cancer and non-cancer life-limiting conditions. The Hospice offers physical, emotional and spiritual care for patients, as well as family support and bereavement services.

Less than 25 per cent of its £4 million annual running costs comes from statutory sources, - the rest comes from fundraising, donations, events and corporate partnerships. It costs approximately £11,000 a day to run the Hospice.

Since this pandemic began, Hospice of the Good Shepherd has been raising money through virtual events such as live auctions as well as their weekly lottery draw, where participants have the chance to win £1000 for a cost of just £1 per week. Though fundraising is particularly more difficult due to Government lockdown, they are still determined to keep their Hospice afloat.