A local street has raised thousands for charity with their annual Christmas lights display in Stanmore.
Howards Tompkins and his wife Sue, along with neighbours Paul and Angela Symons, have been lighting up Stanmore for a number of years now, and for the last two years they’ve managed to raise over £3,000 for charity.
Kenneth Gardens in Stanmore has become the go-to place for families in Harrow as hundreds of visitors pass by each year to see the lights.
Harrow Online had a chance to speak with the Tompkins family and find out more about their annual festive display.
Can you tell us when you started doing the lights to this level?
It started during the last recession. I was a self employed building contractor and didn’t have any work leading up to Christmas so decided to go ‘over the top’ with the front and put a lot of decorations in the rear garden and form a Santas grotto in the rear garden, where our grandchildren and friends children and grandchildren meet Santa
Do you get many people coming to see the lights? If so, do they knock on your door at all?
We get lots, a few knock on the door but the rear garden isn’t open to the public.
We’d been thinking of collecting for charity for years, finally did it in 2020. Last year we collected just under £2000 this year it’s less maybe £1300
Can you tell us more about the charity and why you chose them?
This year it was my neighbours turn to choose and they chose Harrow food bank. Which was thought was a good idea because it’s a local charity and times are hard at the moment so it seemed appropriate
Finally, what have you got planned for the future? Any new additions to the display next year?
Every year I spend approx £200 with new additions. This year the front is different to last year and I’ve noticed sone of the displays aren’t working properly so they will be replaced. It has gradually got bigger over the years.
If you’re interested in seeing the lights, put HA7 3SA into your sat nav – you can’t miss them!.
