Gift from Premier Forest helps Yorkshire Santa spread festive cheer

Premier Forest Products reached out to Reese Fletcher, a landscape gardener who raises money for vulnerable children at Christmas time, after hearing about his amazing project on BBC Breakfast.

Mr Fletcher crafts Christmas trees out of leftover wood and sells them for £10, using the profits to buy Christmas presents for children and young people at risk in his local area.

In 2020, his first year, he raised £3,600 and in 2021, after word spread, they raised an incredible £10,000, which meant they bought toys for hundreds of children in the area.

In 2022, a target of £50,000 was set and Mr Fletcher scaled up the scheme massively, organising collection points, online fund-raisers and receiving large donations from businesses like Premier.

Premier is always keen to help local communities across its 12 sites in England and Wales, with Premier Forest Doncaster donating to Mr Fletcher’s local appeal.

“The work that Reese and his team are doing in our local community is so important, especially at this time of year,” said Andrew Francis, UK sales director at Premier Forest. “We’re proud to be able to support them in any way we can and hope our donation helped them raise even more funds to buy even more presents for local children in need.”

“I’m very grateful to businesses like Premier for approaching me to donate to the cause,” said Mr Fletcher. “The wood to make the trees has to come from somewhere and receiving it for free means more money can go towards buying presents for vulnerable children.”