Maidenhead brothers raise £10k recycling Christmas trees to remember late mum

A tree surgery collecting old Christmas trees has raised more than £10,000 for Thames Hospice in memory of a late Maidenhead swimming teacher.

Luke Burnage, 26, owner of Riverside Tree Care, and his brother Nick, 27, braved chilly temperatures to recycle around 700 festive trees between Friday 3 and Tuesday, January 7.

The fundraising drive remembers their mother, Alix Burnage who died from a brain tumour at Thames Hospice in August 2021 at the age of 56.

As head of swimming at St Piran's School for more than 15 years, the school sports centre was later renamed The Alix Burnage Centre, with a mosaic mural unveiled in her memory.

Alix’s mum, Gill Hoare told the Advertiser about ‘how proud our whole family is that the boys gave up their time’, adding:

“We still feel we will always owe so much to Thames Hospice for their care of our whole family.

“We’re so proud of them both as their mum would have been.

“They produced a very efficient collection service. The boys hope to do this again next year.”

Luke formed his company in September 2024 and Nick returned from Australia this winter to ‘give back to the charity’ and ‘do something good’.

“We made about £3000 up to Christmas and then it just took off between Christmas and into the New Year,” added Nick.

“I thought five grand would be wicked – I thought it would be amazing to be able to raise that much money so five was the target and then it just kept going and going and going.”

Being their first year undertaking the Christmas tree collection service, Nick said the process was ‘hard work’ but Thames Hospice was ‘super chuffed’.

“Thames Hospice looked after mum, they looked after the family – they were just amazing and without them, at that time, it could’ve been a lot worse,” Nick said.

“We don’t want another family to go through what we’ve gone through, but, if they are, you want someone like the hospice who can care for them and make it as good as possible.”

Their five-day collection spanned Maidenhead, Bray, Fifield, Marlow, Windsor, Cookham, Bourne End and Taplow for a suggested £10 donation to support the Windsor Road facility.

“It was from dawn to dusk. It was 8am starts until 4.30pm – or until we couldn’t see the house numbers really,” said Nick.

“We started with the main areas and people were coming from further afield. We just wanted to raise as much money as possible, so we basically said yes to everybody in the end.”

He said their total is one of the highest sums raised from a Thames Hospice Christmas tree collection which was a ‘massive bonus’ as the charity hadn’t originally intended to run one this year.

“It was a lot of work last year so us coming in and taking it all off their hands… I think they’re super grateful for that,” he added.

Thames Hospice senior community fundraiser Leyla Pipe added: "Nick and Luke's dedication to Thames Hospice, in memory of their Mum, is truly inspiring.

“Their Christmas tree recycling initiative has been a huge success, and we are deeply touched by their and our supporter’s generosity.

“This incredible donation will help us continue providing compassionate care to our community.

“In fact, £12,000 is enough to fund ten days of 24/7 expert care at the Hospice as an inpatient.

“It was a great privilege to meet Nick and Luke yesterday (Tuesday) to express our heartfelt thanks as they picked up their final Christmas tree – the Thames Hospice tree.”

To donate to the cause, visit www.tinyurl.com/2w4t9ckb