Residents raise money for St Gemma's Hospice with competitive Christmas lights

For the last few years, residents at Farnham Close, in Whinmoor, have trimmed up their houses at Christmas time with lights and decorations.

Each year they kept getting bigger and better and began to be a local attraction with people travelling across Leeds to see them.

This year Farnham Close staged a switch on at the beginning of December and then asked for donations from people visiting in the run up to Christmas.

They made £1000, which has been matched by a local branch of Barclays Bank, to raise £2000, and is being handed over to St Gemma’s Hospice.

Resident Roger Lllewellyn said: “We started putting Christmas lights up and it became a bit competitive in the close. We started putting more and more up - they were quite tasteful - then it got to the point where we had a little competition where the best lights won a prize.

“This year, they were so lovely we thought let’s collect some money for charity. We didn’t think we would take this amount, it is wonderful. St Gemma’s is very close to a lot of people in the close, they have had relatives there and it is a local charity so we though we would do it for them. We are delighted.”

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