THREE friends will once again be selling Christmas trees this year, with money raised going to support refugees.

This year will mark the ninth year of the Oxford trio’s pop-up shop, Oxford Christmas Trees.

The initiative began when Oska Paul, Rory Cockburn and Arthur Sharples sold trees using cash from their student loan, setting up shop outside Flash in the Pan, a festive pop-up shop in Oakthorpe Place, Summertown, which sells decorations, ceramics and jewellery – and is run by the mums of Mr Paul and Mr Cockburn.

Since then, money has consistently gone to charitable causes, and this year is no different.

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Mr Paul said: “We first started doing it during our final year of university, my mum and Rory’s mum have been running a pop-up Christmas shop for about 15 years.

“We decided to use a pot from our student loan to buy 200 trees. It was quite scary when they arrived, this massive truck appearing with a load of trees but we did manage to sell them all.

“We weren’t sure how it would work with Covid this year so we’re selling them from Rory’s house and we’re going to try and turn the garage into a grotto.

“Obviously nobody will come inside the grotto due to social distancing, but we’ll be putting up lights and decorations to make it as festive as possible.

Oxford Mail:

“Because everything is a bit unclear, we’re doing an order and delivery service so we’ll be staggering how many trees we order.

“Hopefully we’ll continue to deliver trees, and to the self-isolating and vulnerable too.

“We know all of our customers now, which is quite nice and even though it’s the only time of the year we see some of them, it’s always good to catch up.”

Although part of the funds from the sales have always gone to good causes such as Asylum Welcome and The Art Room, it was in 2015 when things stepped up a gear.

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After turning a ‘Christmas barn’ into a cinema, £2,000 was raised in total, seeing Mr Paul go to Calais to deliver building equipment to refugees in the French port.

Mr Paul said: “Since that trip to Calais, I’ve now dedicated my life to this sector.

“For the past three years, I’ve been in Athens, helping set up legal support for refugees and providing advice in navigating the asylum process.”

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Since returning to the UK, Mr Paul has embarked on a PhD at the University of Warwick, and is working in immigration case work in London.

This year, part of the funds from the trees will go to the South London Refugee Association.

The trio will be selling trees every Saturday and Sunday from Oakthorpe Place.

For more information, visit: oxfordchristmastrees.net