Leamington and Whitnash Rotary Trees of Light campaign beats all records

This brings the grand total raised in the event's 20 years to £88,000 delighting the members of the Rotary club of Royal Leamington Spa beyond all measure.

Rotary president Michael Heath said: “When we started planning this year's Trees of Light for 2020, we feared that Covid would cause the donations to plummet as we could not use our usual channels for publicity.

"But to our amazement, we have had a record year!.

"Our heartfelt thanks go to everyone for their huge generosity, and to the many helpers from the two towns and Myton for this magnificent result."

Charlotte Ingram, the Director of Income Generation and Supporter Engagement at The Myton Hospices in Warwick, Rugby and Coventry added: "We are absolutely delighted that despite not being able to go ahead in the usual way an unprecedented amount has been raised from the Trees of Light campaign.

"We would like to say a huge thank you to the Rotary club and to everyone who has donated and supported it. It really does make a big difference to Myton, our patients and their families, now more than ever.”

Faced with Covid-19 restrictions neither of the two tree switch-on ceremonies were possible.

The Leamington tree was switched on during the virtual Four Town Lights Switch-0n relayed by YouTube and in Whitnash the tree lights were switched on by the Mayor Cllr Adrian Barton and club President Michael Heath, witnessed only by a photographer.

Instead of the explanatory leaflets usually available around the towns, the event had to make do with only some flyers, very kindly distributed at no charge by newsagents in Leamington. However the lists of names remembered were to be seen by the reduced number of shoppers in Leamington thanks to the Royal Priors, Town Hall and Pump Rooms and in Whitnash thanks to the Library and the temporary fencing at St Margaret's church.

Two new features made up for all this: publicity on Facebook and social media thanks to the sponsoring support by NewslinePR of Leamington, and greater use of online donations via JustGiving at www.mytonhospice.org/TreesOfLight.

The club's chief fundraiser Barry Andrews said: "We are eternally grateful to NewslinePR and to the Leamington Courier for the essential public awareness they generated for us, which encouraged the public to give so generously.

"The Leamington and Whitnash Town Councils also did all they possibly could to help us."