Jurassic Fibre Breaks from FTTP Rollout to Recycle XMas Trees

And now for something completely different. Broadband ISP Jurassic Fibre, which is building a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across parts of South West England, has volunteered staff and vans to assist in Hospiscare’s (charity) Christmas Tree Recycling fundraiser. A total of 1,200 trees were collected, raising £16K.

As you can probably guess, the initiative involved collecting people’s old Christmas trees to recycle in exchange for donations to Hospiscare. As above, a total of 1,200 trees were collected from homes and other properties in Exeter, Exmouth and Honiton by 50 volunteers.

Jurassic Fibre is a member of the charity’s 40 Club, a group of businesses who pledge to donate £1000 a year, but they often do much more than that. For example, JF’s most recent fundraising efforts for Hospiscare included taking part in the charity’s Festive Fundraising campaign in December, which saw the team participate in multiple fundraising activities such as raffles, bake-offs and a Christmas jumper day.

In 2021, the team took part in Hospiscare’s Twilight Walk fundraiser by dressing in pink and completing an ambitious coastal walk. The event saw over 1,000 participants come together and raised over £50,000. All of this should help to reduce the charity’s £1m funding deficit, which needs to be met by March 2022, or it will have to severely reduce its services (see their SOS appeal).

Hospiscare itself provides end-of-life care to people facing terminal illnesses and their families across Exeter, Mid and East Devon.

Michael Maltby, CEO of Jurassic Fibre, said:

“We are very proud to continue our support of Hospiscare, an exceptional charity who provides vital support to those in our community facing life-limiting illnesses.

Many charities and organisations have faced recent hardship due to the pandemic, with volunteering activities and events being put on hold and charity shops closing during the three national lockdowns. The work Hospiscare does is paramount, especially for the 2,500+ people in our community who face terminal illnesses, and we are dedicated to supporting them so these vital services can continue.

Thank you to everyone who donated their Christmas trees and took part in our fundraising efforts so far. The Jurassic Fibre team look forward to continuing our support for Hospiscare throughout the coming year.”

The provider, which is currently being supported by an investment of £250m from Fern Trading, holds an ambition to cover 350,000 premises across the region by the end of 2024 (here and here). Interestingly, today’s press release includes a brief update on their progress, which notes that they’ve now “connected” over 30,000 premises across Devon, Somerset and Dorset (e.g. Exmouth, Sowton, Honiton, Barnstaple, Bridgwater, Wincanton and Sherborne). But we aren’t sure if they mean premises passed or subscribers (this is being checked).