1,000 Christmas Trees Collected

Date: 14th Jan 2023 Author: Nigel Harris

Over the weekend of January 7th and 8th, 1st Weston Green Scout Group underwent its annual transformation into a Christmas tree collection and recycling service.

On Saturday and Sunday morning, our adult volunteers went out in our minibus and rented vans, working four-hour shifts as crews of three.  On the streets of Weston Green, Esher, Molesey, Hinchley Wood, Thames Ditton and Long Ditton, they navigated to the addresses of the 950 people who had booked a tree collection through our online store, found the tree and brought it back to our drop-off site.  Here, another crew of volunteers helped unload the vans and stack the trees into a 75-meter wall. A third set of volunteers worked, warm and dry, at “tree towers” to coordinate the vans and handle customer issues.

Across the weekend, we collected 1,000 trees, raising around £6,500 in funds, which will allow us to keep subscription fees low, buy the equipment we need for our camps and other events, and, eventually, to replace or upgrade our minibus and trailer.

Huge thanks to Sandown Park Racecourse, for generously allowing us the use of their land as a collection site.  Thanks also to Greenwood’s Tree Contractors, who very efficiently converted 1000 Christmas trees into woodchip biomass, and transported it to a renewable power plant in Kent, where it will be used as fuel for electricity generation.

We’ve put up a gallery of images for you to enjoy.

 

HM King Charles III has been confirmed as our new Patron, a great honour for UK Scouts.

The King continues a long tradition of the monarch giving their Patronage, dating back to 1912. This was when Scouts was granted its Royal Charter and HM George V became our first Patron.

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King Charles III

Our Patron, HM King Charles III