Lighting up for Christmas (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Lighting up for Christmas

A COUPLE from Down Ampney who have raised more than £5,000 for charity by decorating their house each Christmas could be hanging up the bulbs for good in January.

Every December Bob and Yvonne Goode's home in Suffolk Place, becomes a hive of activity as visitors come to see the thousands of illuminations.

But the couple whose family and friends have helped them decorate the house for 14 years say this Christmas may be the last.

Mr Goode said: "There is a certain amount of sadness this year but we have been doing it for a long while and I think it's about time to call it a day.

"We get an awful lot of people that come back year after year and we have met a lot of interesting people on the driveway."

Mr Goode and his wife decided to decorate their house after visiting their daughter in America.

"We saw how nice they were and thought we would do a similar thing," he said, "When it became so popular we decided it was worth doing for charity."

This Christmas all donations are going to Children In Need. Past beneficiaries include Paternoster School in Cirencester, Guide Dogs for the Blind and the RNLI.