By Andy Dalton

Volunteers at an Armley based charity are appealing for donations of old Christmas cards to help create something useful out of waste.

Leeds City Mission, in Mistress Lane, is asking people to donate their old, used Christmas greetings cards rather than throwing them away.

For the last three years Leeds City Mission has run this novel recycling project. 

In 2025 an incredible total of 4,200 greetings cards were donated by West Leeds Dispatch readers and other supporters. 

Enthusiastic volunteers used crimping scissors to create an incredible total of 7,200 seasonal gift tags. These were then given away free of charge to anyone who wanted some – residents, shoppers, voluntary societies, churches and other third sector organisations.   Voluntary organisations were able to pass them on to users of their activities and services.

Volunteers at the City Mission Compassion Centre in Armley hope to repeat the exercise in 2026.  They aim to collect thousands of now-redundant cards after the Christmas season and reuse them. They can also use old greetings cards connected to other occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries. 

Unfortunately one of their key volunteers creating the tags in 2025 died last summer.  Gillies Milner, who was 90 years old, passed away – but not before her nimble fingers had created a vast range of gift tags from the unused cards. 

The City Mission will be recruiting new volunteers to undertake the card cutting exercise throughout the year. Batches of cards can be supplied and they can be crafted in the comfort of one’s own home and to the convenience of the person involved.

The City Mission’s spokesman said: The more cards we receive, the more tags we hope to produce for next Christmas. This is a great opportunity to create something of worth out of waste.”Greetings cards can be dropped off at the Mission Room – the base of Leeds City Mission, which hosts its various compassion projects. This is the last public building at the end of Town Street and is diagonally opposite Armley Library.  

Volunteers at the City Mission will receive donations of no-longer-needed cards anytime between 10.30am to 2.45 pm Mondays to Fridays. Telephone 0113 345 3118 or e-mail lcm1837@gmail for more details.

Leeds City Mission is a multi-church Christian agency which has worked with marginalised people over three centuries seeks to meet the physical, social and spiritual needs of Leeds residents.  It is one of the city’ s oldest charities being in continuous existence since 1837.

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