Bradley Stoke charity Christmas lights display raises more than £2,000

A charity Christmas lights display on a house in Watch Elm Close, Bradley Stoke has raised more than £2,000 for a locally-based medical research charity after being featured in the December edition of the Bradley Stoke Journal magazine.

The 15,000 light display on the home of Mike Checkley and Terry James, which was first powered-up on 22nd November, is raising money for BRACE, a charity that funds research into Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

The amount collected has now exceeded £2,200, which is more than twice the target originally set by the house owners.

A delighted Mike told The Journal:

“There have been some amazing stories of kindness – from young children giving us their pocket money, to a lady who knocked the door and was apologetic that she could only afford to donate £1.”

“Tonight [27th December] a van driver gave us £30 made up of 1p, 2p, 5p and 20p coins (all bagged up). There are so many kind people about.”

“Perhaps the one thing that has really moved us is that our main Merry Christmas sign went out with the gales, so we phoned our supplier Festive Lights on 23rd December at 4.30pm to see if there was anything they could do to help. All their normal deliveries had gone for the Christmas period, so we agreed we would get a new sign delivered to us on the 30th.”

“To our amazement, a special courier service from Wigan arrived at 12noon on Christmas Eve, to deliver a new light at no cost, and by 2pm it was up and working! That’s what you call the true spirit of Christmas and really exceptional customer service too!”

Anyone visiting the display, which runs until 3rd January, can leave a donation in a collecting bucket positioned on the drive of the property. It is also possible to donate online, at www.justgiving.com/Mike-Checkley

Find the display here: BS32 8AN (Google Maps)

More photos on PicasaWeb (The Journal).