Take a festive trip to East Northants to David's Warmington winter wonderland

A Christmas lights-loving grandfather has taken his love for the festive season one step further after the gloom of 2020 and dark days of Covid-19 to bring festive joy to his village.

David Strafford, 65, of Warmington, a former lighting shop owner has turned his home near Oundle into a dazzling display to raise money for a cancer charity in honour of his wife.

Pam Strafford, 59, has been living with myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer, for 11 years and receives treatment at the Royal Marsden Hospital.

As a result, the couple have been shielding for more than nine months and son Matt thinks that gave his dad the idea to spread some Christmas cheer.

Matt, 33, said: "It's the first time that he's done it to this extent. He's always made an effort but this year there's thousands of bulbs. He's added reindeer, lasers and a snowflake projector.

"He spent around a week and a half solid putting up the lights. He's been planning this for a while buying lights from garden centres during the year."

The sparkling spectacle in Big Green, Warmington, is free to view but people can donate to Cancer Research UK via their Just Giving page.

Matt, who also lives in the village with his wife Alex, said: "People have been loving it. People have been driving over from the different villages and they are so excited to see it. It's amazing, incredible."

Pam has been continuing her fortnightly treatment sessions and due to shielding she has not been able to see her new granddaughter as normal.

"Mum's in good spirits. She's got an auto-immune disease so we can only see her at a distance. Our daughter Amelia was born in lockdown and we've not been able to see them as much as we would like. Our other daughter Ella who is five understands about wearing a mask but it's very hard.

"Dad is her carer. They've been married for 40 years.

"He's an absolute legend. The most selfless person I have ever met. It's all to make people smile and raise some dosh for charity."

To donate to Cancer Research via David's Just Giving page click here