Broom Christmas lights display raises £10,500 for charity

Anne and Paul Nicholas said more people than ever visited the display in Broom, near Biggleswade

A large-scale Christmas lights display has raised more than £10,500 despite the cost of living crisis.

For the past five years, Anne and Paul Nicholas have created the display at their home in the village of Broom, in Bedfordshire.

The couple raised £10,571 for the Sue Ryder St John's Hospice in nearby Moggerhanger - almost £500 more than the year before.

The couple said they enjoyed making people happy at a difficult time.

Mr and Mrs Nicholas spent three months setting up the display in September to be ready for December.

"It's not massively more than last year but it is more; people are being far more careful," said Mrs Nicholas

"We had more people visit, but individual donations were down.

"I think people just wanted to have fun and smile. Look at news headlines and you have to search through to find something positive."

The couple raised more than £10,500 for the Sue Ryder hospice

The display has been a tradition for the last five years

She added that putting on the lights "makes us feel good".

Amid the cost of living crisis she said the couple were happy they could bring some joy to children and adults alike.

"People are over the moon, the adults are as bad as the kids. We put the snow machine on and they are screaming with joy, it's not just the children," said Mrs Nicholas.

She said the couple would continue putting the display up for the festive period "as long as we physically can".

She said they did not know how much the lights display had added to their electricity bill.

Making people smile in hard times was a definite perk of he display, the couple said