THE West Buckland Friendship Club is encouraging the people to hand over their old Christmas cards to their nearest M&S store in January, to help the retailer and the Woodland Trust plant thousands of new trees.

The club hopes to beat its total from last Christmas, which saw the Friends deliver over 8,000 cards to the M&S Taunton store, enabling eight trees to be planted.

M&S has pledged to plant one tree for every 1,000 cards donated in store throughout the month of January as part of its commitment to the Woodland Trust.

The Trust say more trees are desperately needed in Somerset as tree cover is just over 8 per cent, compared to the UK average of 13 per cent.

If everyone in Taunton Deane donates just one Christmas card in January, more than 110 trees could be planted.

Denis Cottle from the West Buckland Friendship Club said: “People like that something useful happens to their Christmas cards, rather than just putting them in the bin.

"I think they feel proud that they have contributed to a good cause and that they can end the festive season by helping to plant trees. Hopefully this year we can help to plant lots more.”

The Woodland Trust’s Joanne Mathieson said: “Christmas is a time of year where we think about giving to others and this is great way that your Christmas gesture can keep on giving.

"Hundreds of thousands of trees have been planted thanks to the generous support of the public – creating beautiful habitats for people and wildlife to enjoy.

"We want this year to be a real cracker and are calling on the public to collect up their cards after Christmas, take them to their local M&S and help us plant even more trees.”

Stephen Deacon, store manager at M&S Taunton, added: “This year at M&S we’ve been working hard to encourage our customers to get involved and Spark Something Good – from fundraising, to volunteering, to recycling.

"Through our partnership with the Woodland Trust the small action of dropping your cards into store after Christmas can help make a big difference in planting trees across the UK”.

Special card collection bins will be in the M&S Taunton store throughout January. Visit woodlandtrust.org.uk cards for more information.