DURSLEY residents have been giving charity a helping hand after the holiday season by recycling their unwanted Christmas cards.

Dursley and Cam Churches Together put out a plea for cards to be collected in aid of the Cheltenham-based medical charity Cobalt, which raises money to fight cancer and other serious illnesses.

Ronnie Harding, who co-ordinates the card project in Dursley, said she was blown away by the response from the community.

“True to form, we had mammoth support from Dursley,” she said.

“Many thanks to everyone who donated. And thanks to Mark Prowse at the Chantry Centre, who organised and stored the cards and to Pete Hayes of Dursley Lions Association, who came along with the Lions’ van on Monday and took the cards up to the Cheltenham Breast Care Centre.”

Shortly after Christmas each year, Cobalt launches an appeal to members of the public to donate their used Christmas cards so that they can be recycled, re-made into new cards to be sold the following Christmas. This provides vital funds for the charity.

Ninety dedicated volunteers have been repurposing and recycling cards for 30 years in support of Cobalt, whose work adds to the NHS services across three counties.

Cobalt provides diagnostic scans and imaging to support patients with cancer, dementia and other conditions, as well as funding research. Donated cards will be sorted and upcycled into new greetings cards to raise £30,000 for this vital work.

The Cobalt recycling project also helps to divert festive cards from landfill (every year one billion cards nationally end up heading for landfill once the festive season is over – the equivalent of 33 million trees).