HUNDREDS of unwanted Christmas trees have been collected from residents in Furness.

St Mary's Hospice has raised more than £5,000 picking up trees from homes in Barrow, Ulverston and Millom and beyond.

Dozens of volunteers around Barrow, Millom and Ulverston came to Charnley’s Home and Garden centre before heading out to collect hundreds of trees.

The hospice relies on support to raise 82 per cent of the £3.2m it needs annually to provide St Mary’s services.

St Mary's said it wanted to make the 2020 Christmas collection even bigger than last year.

It celebrated raising more money and collecting a record number of trees.

Area fundraiser Clare Paling said it had been a hugely successful operation that would go a long way to helping the hospice.

He said: "We are thrilled with the response to our tree recycling scheme this year – with 500 trees and £5,450 donated, this is a huge increase from last year and a flying start to 2020’s fundraising efforts.

"It would not be possible without the support of our corporate and community volunteers that give up their time to complete the collections.

"This year, hundreds of miles have been covered over a total of 17 rounds, with trees coming from as far as Grange, Coniston and Millom as well as our usual strong support from Barrow and Ulverston."

"I must thank the following individuals and organisations for making this possible – Charnley’s Home and Garden for sponsoring the event, vans and personnel from Athena PTS, Community Payback, Deltawaite, Direct Rail Services, Orsted and St Mary’s Hospice Furniture Warehouse, Steeles removals for the loan of their van, the team from GSK Ulverston, Greaves’ for the chipper and individual support from Neil McDougall, Paul Bundy, Anne Fox and David Attree.

"All the crews worked tirelessly in sometimes terrible weather conditions, navigating unfamiliar roads and all with a smile on their faces. And of course, thank you to our generous supporters for registering their trees – I can’t wait to see how many we can collect next year."

St Mary's Hopice, in Ford Park Crescent, stopped accepting new patients last year due to a shortage of senior staff.

It is hoping to re-open soon after bosses managed to recruit the speciality doctors they need to work alongside existing members of the team.

The new model - a UK first - is said to remove the need for an on-site medical director, a post the hospice has been unable to fill.

Digital doctors will provide consultancy services via digital conferencing or phone.