Andy Green from Penwortham, has turned his house into a Christmas light show to raise money for Derian House Children’s Hospice.
He does this for the hospice’s ‘Deck The Halls’ Campaign, which asks people to cover their houses in elaborate Christmas decorations and raise funds for their work.
The Highgate Christmas Lights
For the last 5 years, Andy has been decking his house out in Christmas lights to raise money for the campaign. He originally started this project during Covid and has since turned the hobby into what it is today.
This year, there are roughly 32,000 lights on show. Andy assembles each individual light himself and co-ordinates them to various musical numbers. For the first time, this year, there is also a jukebox available at the front of their house, where people can select the songs they want to hear.
Andy estimates that it takes roughly 100 hours to get all the lights up and ready. He said: “We don’t stop preparing. We start again on the 1st of January thinking about what we can do again for next year.”
The official switch on for the Highgate Christmas Lights was the 30 November, with roughly 200 people turning up to watch the show.
Andy said:
It’s a really interesting hobby that I’ve started. I spend all year doing the lights. I’ve made friends doing the lights… I just enjoy spending my time, building the light show and having a really great switch on.
The decorations will remain up throughout December, with the lights turning on at 6pm every night.
In total he has raised over £4,500 for Derian House and hopes that this year he will reach £5000. Outside the house, is a plaque with a card reader for people to donate to the cause. Andy’s Just Giving page can also be found here.
Deck The Halls
The Highgate Christmas Lights are part of Derian House’s wider ‘Deck The Halls’ Campaign. Each year they ask people in the North West to decorate their houses as boldly as possible for Christmas. As with the Highgate Lights, outside each house taking part is a card reader for visitors to donate, as well as signs raising awareness about the campaign.
As a children’s hospice, Derian House supports young people and families with end of life care, respite, and bereavement support. Particularly around Christmas, it is important to ensure that Derian House is a merry place for its residents. Kerry Salmon, the community fundraiser for Derian House, said:
Christmas can obviously be a really difficult time. At a hospice, and specifically a children’s hospice, we make sure that every effort we go to is the utmost for the children and families at Christmas.
In total this year, there are 15 families taking part in the campaign in over 6 different towns and villages across Lancashire.
Derian House also have a map available, so people can visit every house taking part.
Over the years, the campaign has raised over £40,000 for the hospice. This year they aim to make another £10,000. It costs around £6,000,000 every year to run the hospice, and under 30% of their funding comes from the government. Kerry emphasises the value of these donations. She said:
Any event we host, or any donation that comes to us does have a huge impact… every single penny does go to help provide that care.
Derian House are also running their own Just Giving Page, which has so far raised over £3000.
You can find out more about the campaign here.
