21/11/2021
Always a pleasure to see our Oxo-Biodegradable Tree Netting being put to good use! 🤣🎅🎄
FLASHBACK!!!!!!!!!
This is the photograph which really started something 3 years ago.
For many years we had put some of our staff members through our Christmas tree netting machine. A few customers had also asked if we could put their children through!
So, in 2018 I decided that we would like to raise a bit of money for charity by allowing our customers to go through the netting machine in return for a donation.
I anticipated that we would perhaps get a handful of customers wanting to take part. But, I completely underestimated the immense power of social media! And some!!!!!
Putting Elliott’s photo on Facebook really caught people’s imagination and sense of fun. Our Facebook followers began sharing our post and tagging their friends……and then it really began to snowball 😳😳😳😳
Suddenly, our quirky little fundraiser was featured in the local newspaper……..then on Radio Norfolk (with Wally Webb going through the netting machine live on air!). Then ITV Anglia News did a live broadcast from THORPE PLANT CENTRE, with their weatherman Chris Page in hysterics as he was pulled through the netting machine.
Footage of people going through the netting machine was also shown on The BBC “One Show”. Somehow, footage also found its way onto YouTube…….reaching over 8 million views!!!! The story also featured on an American TV network (Fox News?) and a couple of American radio stations.
Meanwhile, we were kept busy at the garden centre, netting up our customers and visitors. The ages of our victims (sorry customers!) ranged from about 18 months old to a gentleman in his mid 80s. We had people visiting from miles away, just to get netted! Everyone had great fun, nobody got hurt and, of course it raised money for charity.
We are now planning to bring back the “GET NETTED” campaign for Christmas 2021…..with customer donations being used to fund food parcels for local individuals and families in need.
And, being very conscious of environmental issues……the netting we use is Oxo-Biodegradable Netting, which degrades and then bio-degrades leaving no micro plastics behind. It can be put in compost or organic recycling bins.
Further details of our “GET NETTED” campaign will be revealed next week.