Family spends £4k to power charity Christmas lights

A family that racks up a £4,000 energy bill powering their Christmas lights says it is all worth it to raise money for charity.

The Molyneux family have raised around £40,000 for the children's ward at Wigan Infirmary since beginning the festive tradition in 2011.

This year's display features a 9ft (2.7m) Santa, a 6ft (1.8m) bear and an enormous Christmas tree. About 150 people gathered at the Shevington house on Monday as the 40,000 lights were turned on.

Paul Molyneux, 53, said it can cost the family about £4,000 in electricity to power the Wigan wonderland each year. "It's all for a good cause at the end of the day. If we can give a bit of joy to a few people, we'll still be here," he said.

Mr Molyneux told BBC Radio Manchester the display alone, which includes life-sized nutcrackers and a Santa sleigh, has probably cost the family about £40,000 to £50,000 over the years - before running costs.

"When the lights are on, it properly burns through electric - it costs us probably £4,000 to run it in electricity and I've probably spent about £3,000 on extra lights this year," Mr Molyneux said.

"It's a lot, but it's just the fact that from tiny kids walking past amazed, to HGV drivers, skip wagons, vans and cars beeping and putting their thumbs up - it just lifts people's spirits a little bit.

"We are heavily into the Christmas spirit and if we can give a bit of joy to people, so be it," he said.

And display has become a staple part of Christmas for Shevington locals, Mr Molyneux said.

"People have told how they come to the house every Christmas Eve with their children," he said.

"It's amazing how many people consider the display as part of their family tradition.

"We turn the lights on on the 1st of December every year we have people lining the road and you cannot move because it's bang on teatime traffic and it's just absolute carnage.

"We don't invite anybody, they just turn up," he said.

He said he and his wife Jill Molyneux, 52, began the tradition 14 years ago and "just thought we would try and give a bit back - and it's gone from quite a small thing to quite a big thing now, and it's all for a good cause".

Mr Molyneux said the family chose to do it for the Wigan children's ward, as their three sons had all received "fantastic" treatment there - including Alfie, now 16, who received care at the hospital for seizures from the age of two.

Several years into their fundraising tradition, the hospital played a huge role in caring for the Molyneux's youngest child Theo, now 15, who at the age of eight suffered an infection, which left him unable to walk.

The Molyneux family work with staff from the Rainbow ward at Wigan Hospital, and each year they use the donations to buy items requested by the ward.

From DVD players and Xboxes, to bottle warmers and flat beds for parents - the family's fundraiser has provided the ward with a range of necessary equipment over the past decade.

Mr Molyneux said he was proud that their 2023 donation helped to fund the construction of a sensory room for children on the ward that suffer from anxiety and stress.

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