Derby Telegraph website offers tree dedication for Grandparents Day

GRANDCHILDREN are being offered the chance to dedicate a tree to the memory of a lost grandparent – through the Derby Telegraph.

Lasting Tribute, the paper's online memorial website, is inviting people to have a tree planted to honour their relative, at a reduced price.

The opportunity comes to coincide with Grandparents Day, a national celebration on Sunday, October 4, and Lasting Tribute is offering tree dedications at £9.99 – half the usual price of £19.99.

Lasting Tribute's managing director, Elaine Pritchard, said the idea came after seeing so many dedications to grandparents on the website.

She said: "We see hundreds of grandchildren – some now adults – posting loving tributes and fond memories of their grandparents.

"So we thought, in honour of Grandparents Day, it made sense to give people this wonderful opportunity."

The offer to dedicate trees applies to those bought through the online gift shop – www.lastingtribute.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/celebratelife.

People interested in taking up the offer have until Monday, October 12.

The idea of a national Grandparents Day was first conceived in the 1970s and, in 1978, American President Jimmy Carter made it a national holiday in the US.

In 1990, Age Concern suggested the idea to the UK and, since last year, it has been held on the first Sunday in October.

Ms Pritchard said: "Grandparents are a vital part of family life, providing strength, comfort, wisdom and fun and they deserve a special day in their honour."

There are more than 1.3m tributes on the Lasting Tribute website.

Each one is searchable and anyone can register on the site and add a memory, or an image, free of charge.

Whenever anyone places a bereavement or in memoriam notice in the Derby Telegraph, the price automatically covers publication online at Lasting Tribute.

One tribute left on the website for a grandparent said: "Some of my fondest memories as a child are of Christmas at your house – no 64 – with you and Grandpa. No-one's ever made a better Christmas dinner than you.

"Then in the evening you'd get out cold meats and pickles, cheese and biscuits and your wonderful homemade coffee and walnut cake and we'd eat while we watched Morecambe and Wise. Love you lots."

Another said: "When it gets to holiday time I always remember those childhood holidays with you and Nana.

"This week I've been thinking about some of those caravan holidays where we used to play cards in the evenings and eat Primula cheese spread on Ritz crackers for supper.

"Seemed the height of excitement to me, aged 8! Still miss you after all these years."

A third reads: "To Grandpa. We think of you often and miss you. We'll never forget you – and all that you stood for. We are very proud that you were our Grandpa."