THOUSANDS of pounds have been raised for a Bude charity thanks to the help of some unwanted Christmas trees.

Talan’s Trust, a Bude-based charity, has been out and about collecting hundreds of old Christmas trees in an effort to raise money for vital cancer research.

The charity was set up in memory of Talan Penny, an 18-year-old Bude local who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), a type of soft tissue sarcoma that grows in active muscles of the body. The trust now carry out a number of awareness and fundraising campaigns in aid of those with the same condition.

Back in September, Sarah Penny, chair of the charity suggested a different fundraiser for the trust, after a friend’s charity saw some of its most successful fundraisers through the collection of Christmas trees.

Scott Crowther runs the charity Pass the Smile for Ben with his wife Sarah in Coventry.

Scott and Sarah’s son Ben lost his life aged seven, after being diagnosed with the same form of cancer as Talan. Sarah Penny first met the pair in 2019 at the International Paediatric Sarcoma Conference and has since stayed in touch.

For the last seven years, Pass the Smile for Ben has collected Christmas trees, becoming one of its most successful fundraisers, so after talking to Scott at length, Sarah and Talan’s Trust decided to give it a go in Bude.

Sarah says that the response has been nothing short of amazing, with 309 trees collected throughout the Bude area, raising the impressive sum of £4,215.50.

Speaking to the Post, Sarah said: “The volunteers along with the committee were fabulous, using their own vehicles and teaming up to collect, amongst the 21 helpers were Stratton Young Farmers who were a credit to the local farmers and the youth of Bude, Talan's Trust have been nominated as their charity of the year and when they were asked to help they responded with alacrity.

“Phil Brown, better known as The Tree Fella alongside Dan, spent all of Saturday shredding the collected trees for free, we could not be more grateful to them.

“Helen from the Falcon and Steph from the Brendon provided all the volunteers with well deserved coffee and cake mid morning which gave us a much needed boost.

“Also thank you to the ladies in the tourist Information who were so accommodating!”

Sarah has also thanked those who did their bit by printing and posting some 3,500 leaflets advertising the event back in December.

Sarah added: “I cannot say enough how grateful we are for everyone's help, together we really are stronger!”

With such a successful first year, the trust is already hoping to repeat the fundraiser again in 2026.

“We hope next year to double what we did this year,” said Sarah. “And would be great if more people would like to help, it was a lot of fun and laughter all round, everyone agreed.”