Tree-mendous appeal response

Volunteers have been swamped with requests from residents for their Christmas trees to be collected and used to help protect the sand dunes in St Annes.
By The Newsroom
Published 12th Jan 2017, 20:00 BST
Coun Tony Ford and Coun Carol Lanyon with St Annes In Bloom volunteers collecting discarded Christmas treesCoun Tony Ford and Coun Carol Lanyon with St Annes In Bloom volunteers collecting discarded Christmas trees
Coun Tony Ford and Coun Carol Lanyon with St Annes In Bloom volunteers collecting discarded Christmas trees

St Annes In Bloom, which took over the collection scheme this year from Fylde Liberal Democrats, had to extend the collections beyond last weekend and slightly beyond St Annes boundaries to cope with demand as hundreds of trees were collected.

Coun Tony Ford, one of the originators of the scheme, said: “We were on the go all weekend and well into this week. We were really trying to focus on collections from St Annes but there were so many clients in Ansdell and Lytham from previous years, we felt we didn’t want to let them down.”

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More volunteers than ever were involved in this year’s scheme which, through social media publicity, attracted inquiries from as far afield as the east of the county.

St Annes In Bloom volunteer Rick Armstrong -Bell collects Christmas trees for recyclingSt Annes In Bloom volunteer Rick Armstrong -Bell collects Christmas trees for recycling
St Annes In Bloom volunteer Rick Armstrong -Bell collects Christmas trees for recycling

“All the residents we collected from were so grateful for the service and are grateful to local business Adams Signs, which kindly provided one of their vehicle trailers for free to enable us to utilise more of our volunteers on collection duties.”

Fylde Council collection points across the borough, the trees collected will be stockpiled at St Annes’ North Beach car park and used next month to help preserve and protect the dunes.

They will be dug in along the front of the dunes on February 7, 8 and 9 as volunteers and Fylde staff continue with their conservation and protection work.

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Fylde Council’s tree collection points remain open up to and including next Monday, January 16.

St Annes In Bloom volunteers Eric and Val Gaskell collecting discarded Christmas treesSt Annes In Bloom volunteers Eric and Val Gaskell collecting discarded Christmas trees
St Annes In Bloom volunteers Eric and Val Gaskell collecting discarded Christmas trees

Residents in Lytham can dispose of their real trees within the barricaded areas at the town’s station car park and at Lowther Gardens, while St Annes drop-off points are at Fairhaven Road and North Beach car parks.

Householders will also be able to deposit trees in the areas set aside at St Paul’s Avenue car park and Stanner Bank car park, close to Fairhaven Lake; Rawstorne Sports Centre car park, in Freckleton; Mill Lane car park, Kirkham; Newton Hall Park car park on School Lane, Newton-with-Scales and the car park at Staining Village Hall. Further information about the collection points is available via the council website, www.fylde.gov.uk/christmas

Related topics:St AnnesLiberal DemocratsFyldeResidents