A CHARITY which supports people with incurable illnesses has been forced to cancel its annual festive fundraiser as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

St Helena Hospice was due to mark the seventh anniversary of its celebrated Christmas Tree-cycle scheme, which is held at the beginning of every January.

The project, which is supported by Colchester Council, encourages people to dispose of their real trees after the festive season in exchange for a small donation to the organisation.

Usually volunteers from the charity collect the no longer required Christmas trees before sending them to be recycled.

The initiative grew to new heights last year, after workers collected a record 2,064 trees raising more than £23,000.

But this year’s event promised to be bigger and better than ever, after St Helena Hospice announced it would also be picking up unwanted trees from postcodes in Tendring.

Organisers, however, have now taken the difficult decision to cancel the Christmas Tree-cycle all together, as result of the more stringent Tier 4 coronavirus restrictions placed on Essex.

Sarah Wilson, fundraising manager at St Helena Hospice, said: “We are incredibly disappointed we will not be able to collect and recycle the trees of all those who have already registered for the 2021 Christmas Tree-cycle.

“We have had to make this decision to protect our staff, volunteers and supporters as their safety is always our highest priority, and to stop any further spread of the coronavirus.

“With the expansion to include the Tendring area this year, we were looking forward to our biggest collection to date.”

The charity’s cancelled Christmas Tree-cycle will see the charity lose an estimated £20,000 in donations.

The latest blow to the charity’s coffers follows an extremely testing year for the organisation, which has been hit hard by the pandemic.

To donate to St Helena Hospice visit sthelena.org.uk.