Upcoming events, things to do and businesses to support in Lymington and the New Forest
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In Anticipation and - O Christmas Tree!
Good morning, dear readers, for the final time in what has been a rather eventful year, after yesterday’s eventful weather, too - and watch out for ongoing flooding today! But I think the image above captures the quieter sense of anticipation, even as preparations are stepped up for the week ahead.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree, How lovely are your branches!
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree, How lovely are your branches!
Not only green in summer’s heat, But also winter’s snow and sleet.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, How lovely are your branches!
You can read the other verses and also the story of 'O Tannenbaum' on the BBC Classical Music website. Another link on that site will take you to some beautiful Christmas choral music, to which I've been listening whilst writing this week's newsletter - it's wonderfully calming!
Back to the trees... and after a couple of weeks of central heating and adorned with lights and decorations, the heroes of our Christmas homes which we've so appreciated and admired through the twinkly season will not be looking so wonderful! In fact it's quite likely that by then we'll be wondering how best and most easily to dispose of them.
This is where to the rescue comes the Oakhaven Hospice Treecycle!
Instead of you having to take your tree yourself to one of the council drop-off points, Oakhaven’s friendly ‘Treecycle’ volunteer team will collect it from your home and take it to be recycled for you.
Collections will take place between Thursday 8 and Monday 12 January, in this inaugural year within the SO41, SO42, SO45 and BH25 postcodes. The plan if successful is to roll the scheme out next year to other local postcodes. The suggested donation for the new service is £15 per tree.
Bookings need to be made now, so that the right number of volunteers can be galvanised in preparation for this new initiative. And with volunteers doing all the work, all the funds raised can go towards helping Oakhaven to provide vital hospice care services to local patients and their families.
Click here today to book your Treecycle!
Tree-Mendous Support, from New Forest Escapes
New Forest Escapes (whom we introduced a couple of weeks ago here) is sponsoring the inaugural Oakhaven Hospice Treecycle campaign.
Jane Wilkinson, Managing Director of the local award-winning holiday home rental business, is encouraging as many people as possible to support the ‘tree-mendous’ new Treecycle initiative and says: ‘We are absolutely delighted to be partnering with Oakhaven Hospice for the first year of their tree-mendous Christmas tree recycling initiative. As a proud B-Corp, we are always looking for meaningful ways to give back to our community and reduce our environmental footprint. This partnership not only supports vital hospice care to local patients and their families, but also ensures that something as simple as recycling a Christmas tree can make a real difference — both for people and the planet.’
‘The simplest New Year’s resolutions are the best and this one is a win-win as Oakhaven Hospice’s Treecycle initiative makes life much easier post-festivities, and keeps the family car pine needle free!'
Read more and book your collection!
NEW FOREST ESCAPES SUPPORTS OAKHAVEN'S TREECYCLE CAMPAIGN
The Next Two Weeks...
For your convenience (I hope) I've now listed all the ongoing Christmas events and offers together, in the top section of the Diary below - they include a variety of festive eating & drinking, and festive activities for the family. There's a new special offer if you have time to partake of it before Christmas: 10% off Festive Afternoon Tea at the historic Montagu Arms Hotel, until Christmas Day. And meeting the Beagles at the Turfcutters is always a special treat - that's on the 27th and could tie in nicely with a forest tramp (take wellies for that part!).
There will be no Weekly What's On next week (Boxing Day), nor on 2 January. The first newsletter of 2026 will be on Friday 9 January, including Member events and offers for January, February and March. (Members - think about adding a 'special offer' for the dreary month of January!)
So now it's time to wish you all a Christmas which includes some joy, laughter and warm moments, and the company of those who matter to you. And then, a happy and healthy New Year. Despite all that's happening in the world I'm still hoping for more peace and a lot less strife, in 2026.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Best wishes Jane
Read the rest of this week's newsletter here
And check out What's On in the Diary of Upcoming Events!
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