'I get abuse for Christmas lights tribute to daughter'

Suzanne Wiggins's 25th annual Christmas light display to honour her late daughter

A bereaved mother says she had abuse shouted at her as she put up her Christmas lights display in memory of her late daughter "because it was only November".

Suzanne Wiggins, 54, has put up the display at her Tameside home for the past 25 years as a tribute to her nine-year-old daughter, Courtenay Wiggins, who died of misdiagnosed meningitis in 2000.

But after a "venomous" comment from a passer-by, Ms Wiggins said she wanted to remind people of the tradition's backstory.

"I know it's only November, and if my daughter was alive I'd be buying her a car now or a pram - but she isn't so I do this," she said. "Courtenay loved putting the lights on - and I promised I'd carry it on after she died."

Courtenay Wiggins and her father David pictured on holiday

The tradition began in 1995, when Ms Wiggins and family first moved into their Dukinfield home. "It was nothing back in the day, just a normal house like a terraced house with a couple of lights up," she said.

"But then Courtenay started buying her own lights with little bits of pocket money," Ms Wiggins told BBC Manchester.

"She loved going out with a little tray of mince pies and giving them to people passing by.

"When she got poorly, I promised her I'd always maintain her memory and carry it on.

"I can't have her being forgotten, she was too precious for that."

'Utterly heartbreaking'

At age nine, Courtenay became ill suddenly with what was thought to be a stomach bug.

"I kept taking her to the doctors and they kept telling me I was being overprotective," Ms Wiggins explained.

"One day, she said something awful - utterly heartbreaking - she was holding my hand and telling me that her hands wouldn't get old.

"And then she told me she didn't want to die.

"So I grabbed her up in my arms and took her to hospital. I had been to the doctors that very morning and they told me that there was nothing wrong with her."

She added: "By the time I got to hospital they said she was so dehydrated that if I had taken her two or three days beforehand things would have been a lot different.

"It all happened very quickly after that - she deteriorated terribly, very quickly."

Ms Wiggins said she recalled moving "from one hospital to another" and consultations with international doctors.

"They tried their best but it was just horrific, from the memories I do have," she said.

Courtenay died less than three weeks later.

Courtenay with her father David - Ms Wiggins's fiancé until his sudden death in 2006

Ms Wiggins said that for years everyone in Dunkinfield knew who she was and what the tradition meant to her.

From bus drivers slowing down to wave, to passing joggers stopping for a hug, Ms Wiggins said she was often approached by people showing their support.

And up until three years ago, she used to host a party for more than 80 guests on the evening of "Courtenay's switch-on".

Suzanne Wiggins and her current partner John

But with new people moving into the area, Ms Wiggins said she had felt "pushed" to notify locals as to the meaning behind the lights.

"We have quite a bit of vandalism," she said. "If it's not a light being pulled or caught, it's the gate nearly being ripped off its hinges.

"We also get people coming walking past and making comments."

Ms Wiggins said this year a young girl turned and shouted at her as she was putting the display up - telling her it was too early for it.

"It wasn't jokey, it was quite venomous," she said.

Ms Wiggins made a post on a local community group in the hope she would be "left alone".

"Everything is on a timer, I'm conscious of not upsetting the neighbours, I am careful and considerate - so I just want people to show me some consideration.

"Let me do what I need to do to remember her."