National Trust want your REAL Christmas Trees and need your help.....

The National Trust need your old REAL Christmas Trees, You can bring your old Christmas trees to the National Trust at Victoria Road during normal opening hours 9am to 4pm any day during the first two weeks in January. They use the trees to stabilize the sand dunes. Rangers caring for the Formby dunes are appealing for volunteers to build sand trap fences to improve the dunes’ stability. Over the past few years thousands of recycled real Christmas trees have been used to build the fences and provide better conditions for the growth of Marram grass which protects a vulnerable part of this internationally important sand dune habitat. The fences also help reduce the amount of sand that blows into the main car park. Could you spare 20 minutes to help protect the coast? On Saturday 4 and 11 January, between 10am and 1pm, the Ranger team invite you to have some fun helping to build the dune fence. Bring your Christmas tree along to the National Trust at Victoria Road, Formby or help by planting some of the trees which people have already donated. The Rangers are hoping to plant around 2,500 trees in January – enough to make ½ mile of sand fences – trees of 4 to 6ft are the best height for these fences. Coastal protection Andrew Brockbank, National Trust Countryside Manager at Formby said, ‘This is a great way to recycle your Christmas tree. Dune fences will not stop erosion, but they do help the dunes to build up and restore stability which is good for wildlife and good for coastal protection. The mobile dunes are an important part of the sea defence at Formby.’ You can bring your old Christmas trees to the National Trust at Victoria Road during normal opening hours 9am to 4pm any day during the first two weeks in January. For further information please contact the Formby Countryside Office on 01704 878591 or email.