‘Rockin’ around the Christmas (Wish) Tree…’

If you visited the Billy B last December or follow us on social media, you’ll have seen our lovely Christmas Tree opposite the Help and Information Desk, adorned with all the festive decorations you could want – twinkling lights, sparkling tinsel, beautiful baubles, and – the ultimate decoration for us – hand-made craft bees. 🐝

You’ll also have seen our very special gift tags hanging delicately from the branches, handwritten with wishes for items to be donated to local charities to help someone in need.

We love our Christmas Wish Tree, and it returns this year on Monday 28 November to support three more local charities.

Chosen by representatives of Durham Students’ Union, this year’s charities are:

• DASH – anindependent charity, providing supported and unsupported accommodation for people who are, or about to become, homeless in County Durham.
• RSACC – offering free confidential counselling and support to survivors who have experienced any form of sexual violence.
• Durham City of Sanctuary – helping refugees and asylum seekers in the UK and County Durham find friends, housing, employment, legal help and education opportunities.

How can you get involved and offer your support this Christmas? Read on…

There are two ways you can donate. The first is to visit the Billy B, take a gift tag (or tags) from the tree, buy and wrap the item written on the tag (don’t forget to stick the tag to your item!) and place it back under the tree. Ideal if you’re already planning to head out Christmas shopping!

The second way you can get involved is by donating an amount of your choice online, which will help the charity to provide items from their wish list. You can choose to support as many of the charities as you like, and details of the online donation pages for each charity are available on our website and through QR codes next to the Tree in the Library.

If you do decide to get involved, all online donations need to be made and wrapped items need to be placed back under the Tree by Friday 9 December – any support you can give is greatly appreciated 😊

For more information on our Christmas Wish Tree campaign, visit our website.