A pair of beautiful Christmas trees have lit up St Michael’s Hospice in Harrogate and St Monica’s Hospital in Easingwold. The trees, donated by Alice Wombwell and Lizzie Standeven of Newburgh Christmas Trees of Coxwold, are in memory of Alice’s mother, Penny Denny and her grandmother Patricia Lamarque.
Alice said: “Both my mother and grandmother received wonderful treatment and care at St Michael’s and St Monica’s respectively. They were looked after with such love. This was my way of saying thank you.
“It was very emotional dropping off the trees and lots of powerful memories came flooding back.
“The work that hospices and cottage hospitals do up and down the country is phenomenal, and I feel they often don’t get the praise and recognition they deserve.
“Hopefully our trees will go a little way towards rectifying this.”
Alice Wombwell and Lizzie Standeven of Newburgh Christmas Trees of Coxwold (Image: Supplied) Bethany Grace, marketing manager of St Michael’s Hospice was thrilled with the tree, said: “This is a wonderfully generous gesture by Alice and the Newburgh Priory Estate. We had great fun decorating the tree and it has made Christmas extra special here.
“Christmas is such an important tradition and this lovely tree makes St Michael’s feel very much like home at this special time of years for everyone here. The generosity of Alice and the estate is a highlight of this Christmas.”
Amy Smith, a nurse at St Monica’s Hospital, echoed these sentiments, saying: “The gift of this lovely Christmas tree means such a lot to all of us. It has brightened up our hospital and lifted everyone’s spirits.”
Alice and Lizzie, her business partner at Newburgh Christmas Trees, who runs the estate’s Christmas Pop-up Shop, have also delivered free trees to Queen Mary’s School at Topcliffe and Husthwaite and Sessay primary schools this Christmas.
Alice said: “Every Christmas for the past nine years we have also selected a number of nurseries and schools, together with churches, in the Coxwold, Malton and Thirsk to give our trees to.
“We feel it is so important to contribute to the community in which we live and this is a joyful way of doing it.”
Newburgh Priory diversified parts of the estate for Christmas trees, shortly after Stephen Wombwell and his family took ownership of the Estate from his father, who retired in 2010.
Selling Christmas Trees below the tomb containing the alleged headless torso of Oliver Cromwell, which lies in the Newburgh Priory Estate attics, adds to the excitement – as Cromwell tried to ban Christmas.
Alice said: “We believe that nearly everyone wants to continue to make memories and celebrate at Christmas as best they can – and at the heart of that festive family time is a real Christmas tree.”
