Member Article

Manchester business back charity Christmas tree auction

An array of striking Christmas Trees is on offer to the highest bidder as part of the Francis House Children’s Hospice Festival of Trees.

L’Oreal and Virgin Media are among the brands donating products and gifts to decorate the trees. Manchester United and Manchester City Football clubs have both donated framed signed shirts and merchandise.

Each tree is unique and has been donated by businesses, community groups and individuals and festooned with must-have gifts and vouchers worth hundreds of pounds.

For the past 14 years Quayside MediaCityUK, Salford has been home to the Francis House Festival of Trees for six weeks in the run up to Christmas.

After national lockdown rules came into effect on Thursday 5 November, the shutters came down on the retail unit having opened just two days earlier.

Traditionally shoppers browse the stunning display and place bids on their favourite tree in store. This year the trees have also been added to a new online shop.

Each tree has a minimum bid of £50 and whoever has the highest bid by closing time on Sunday 13 December, gets to take the tree home.

With some of the trees fetching hundreds of pounds each, the charity hopes the project will raise much-needed funds.

This year’s participants include Towers Business Park in Didsbury whose two trees include hundreds of pounds in Selfridges, Harrods and M&S vouchers. The Hilton Garden Inn Lancashire Cricket Club tree offers an overnight stay in a pitch view room and club merchandise.

Julie Williams, Francis House fundraiser said: “We are so grateful to all our tree sponsors for coming to our aid in such difficult times and supporting the Festival of Trees. The display looks magical and the variety of trees this year means that there is something for everyone.”

“We of course couldn’t do it without the support from Quayside MediaCityUK who once again have generously donated a retail unit to the hospice to become home to the display in the run up to Christmas. We hope lots of people will continue to place bids via the website whilst the shop is closed and look forward to welcoming them back if it is safe to do so in December.”

The Didsbury based hospice is facing a shortfall in income from cancelled fundraising events as a result of the coronavirus crisis. All money raised will be used to support the work of Francis House and help towards providing care and support to the families of children, teenagers and young adults with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions from across Greater Manchester.

Information on how to bid can be found on the Francis House website.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Francis House Children’s Hospice .