Kind-hearted Barton gran Sandra Coulson is more excited for Christmas than most.
Back at the start of the national lockdown in mid-March, Sandra began asking family and friends to collect plastic milk bottle tops and leave them on her doorstep.
A keen sewer, Sandra padded each bottle top with wadding. Then, she covered the tops in differently patterned festive cloth before stitching 26 of them together at a time to make hanging Christmas tree decorations which she trimmed with stars and bows to finish.
Read more: Parking charges return at Royal Preston Hospital
Over the last nine months, Sandra has transformed more than 600 milk bottle tops to create 24 trees, which she has sold for £10 each to raise £250 for Rosemere Cancer Foundation.
The extra £10 came from an additional £10 donation from one happy customer.
She raised the funds to help her daughter Michelle Tickle, of Kirkham, who has been helping the charity since her late mother-in-law Anne was diagnosed with cancer in 2017.
Michelle, who works as Head of Communications and Publicity at Kirkham Grammar School and ran last year’s Great North Run to raise funds for Rosemere Cancer Foundation, said: “Each tree takes hours of work.
“Mum has done an amazing job and has already been asked to make more milk bottle top trees for people for next Christmas.
“Originally, mum and I had planned to hold a fundraising wreath-making workshop for Rosemere this Christmas and had booked a company that hosts them but with lockdown, mum began making her trees and it’s a good job she did as the workshop couldn’t have gone ahead with the restrictions we’re under.”
Read more: Fulwood school joins the Big Climate Fightback
Michelle has also been raising funds, selling £445 worth of Rosemere Cancer Foundation Christmas raffle tickets, bringing the total money raised for the charity in the last three years to just under £4,000.
Rosemere Cancer Foundation funds cutting edge equipment, research, training and other cancer services and therapies that the NHS is unable to afford.
For further information and to donate, click here.
Find the news in your area below
Read more:Latest news and updates from Blog Preston