A 'WINTER Wonderland' has landed in Sholing and is raising festive funds for a Southampton charity.
The impressive display in Kathleen Road was created by software developer Andy Elsey, 51 and his wife Sheila.
The pair have always been keen decorators when it comes to Christmas lights, and decided to use their efforts to fundraise for Abby's Heroes.
Andy said: "The lights and decorations as a whole, I have been doing for many, many years. We always decorate the house at Christmas. In the last 10 years, we have really gone to town with the outside garden, and each year we add an extra tree.
"My wife Sheila is very involved in the local community, and we started supporting Abby’s Heroes, and we’ve done things for them several years ago.
"Last year we came up with the idea of using the lights as a fundraiser as we were decorating our house anyway. We raised over £100 and this year, in the first weekend, we raised over £140.
"So we’ve raised that amount with something we would’ve done anyway, so raising money and doing this is a win win."
The lights display was officially opened by the Mayor of Southampton, Cllr Alex Houghton, on Saturday, December 11,
Since then, many people have visited the dazzling display and made a donation to the family's chosen charity.
Andy said: "It took four weekends to complete as there were lots of fiddly bits and about 3,500 lights. Kathleen Road is a main road, but I deliberately don’t go over the top as I don’t want people hanging around or to distract drivers.
"£100 is enough to support a family who are going through something really traumatising with their child. We have got three children ourselves, so any charity that supports children we support.
"The people who run the charity are so nice. They don’t just look after the children; they look after the family as a whole. It’s a really good charity. If we can do something like this for them, then it’s money well earned."
The display can be enjoyed until January 5 2022.
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