Another great year for Christmas lights display in Wellingborough

Karl Beetson and his family have been raising money for many years by decorating their house in Wellingborough with a vast array of Christmas lights and decorations.

This Christmas was no different as they added to the £19,000 that they have raised for various charities since 2007.

And Glamis Hall in Wellingborough was one of the beneficiaries from the most recent festive fundraiser.

Heather Saunders from Glamis Hall said: “The Beetsons’ Christmas lights in Torrington Road raised £2,036.25 (including Gift Aid) each for Glamis Hall and Ups n Downs.

“Grateful thanks from all at Glamis Hall.

“This will go towards our community room refurbishment project.”

Heather added that they have also received £500 raised by Plumbco/Goodey & Howell who held a Christmas jumper day in support of the community centre on the Queensway estate.

Karl puts on the Christmas lights display throughout December.

He says it costs £4.35 in electricity to run the display from 4pm to 10pm each day, which means it costs about £135 for the 31 days.

The majority of the lights are fully computer controlled which enables synchronization to music to create shows.

The Beetsons’ display started as a cherry tree which had a single set of outdoor lights on display each Christmas.

But as Karl grew up, the display started to grow, with his father adding more lights while Karl would stand on the bottom of his ladder watching over the proceedings.

The 2017 display saw refinements, additions from the USA and expansions to the existing display, with the newest feature being the elf house decorated by Karl’s girlfriend Layla with animatronics built by Karl.

The second biggest change to the 2017 display was a full computer controlled pixel tree.