Three families who light up their homes for Christmas have each won £500 for charities which are close to their hearts.
We teamed up with Collins Skip Hire to find the best Christmas lights in Suffolk and asked readers to vote for their favourites.
More than 500 people voted and the winners with the most votes were Neil Stout and Diane Chilver, who have both supported St Elizabeth Hospice with their £500 donation, and Colette Saville who has donated her £500 to Families in Need (FIND) Ipswich.
For Neil Stout and his wife Julie, of Mill Road Drive, Ipswich, Christmas won’t be the same again since their daughter Jessica passed away in 2021.
That year they began to create a Christmas lights display in her memory to raise money for St Elizabeth Hospice.
This Christmas, with the £500 from their competition win, they have raised more than £1,100 for the hospice.
Julie said: “We would like to thank all those that again this year, with the cost of living crisis, donated.
“Also Collins Skip Hire for the generous cheque to go to the hospice, we feel honoured that we had people take the time to vote.”
Neil and Julie described Jessica as a “caring girl” who raised money for the hospice after her Pops passed away.
Neil said he and Jessica loved Christmas: “We would be so excited. I can’t explain how much Christmas meant to her and myself. It's not been the same since and it never really will.”
Julie added: “The light has gone from our lives, that’s why we’re lighting up the Christmas sky in her name.”
Diane Chilver, of Edmonton Road in Ipswich, raises money for charity every Christmas, with St Elizabeth Hospice benefiting from the lights display this year.
With the £500 from Collins Skip Hire the total this year will be just under £2,500.
“It’s fantastic because the hospice will be so pleased to get the money,” said Diane.
“A big thank you to everyone who looked, voted and donated,” she added.
Diane’s husband Peter has been putting up their Christmas lights for over 20 years.
The couple has raised money for the hospice before, and both Diane and Peter volunteer for the hospice’s outdoor events.
Winner Colette Saville, of Pembroke Avenue in Woodbridge, chose to donate her £500 to Families in Need (FIND) Ipswich – a cause which is close to her heart.
“It is personal to me as I have had to use food banks in the past,” said Colette. “It was a really hard time, and a lot of people go through it.”
Her partner Ashley has been putting up Christmas lights every year for the last 10 years in memory of his late father.
Mercedes Woollard, from the sales team at Collins Skip Hire, presented the cheque to Colette last Friday.
James Shelley of Collins Skip Hire said: “We would like to thank everyone involved, for the hard work they did decorating their houses and all the voters who took their time to submit their favourite displays.
“We are proud to be able to help towards raising money for their efforts and to be a part of this wonderful initiative contributing to their charities of choice. “Hearing the reasons for their choices was heart-warming and something we hope will carry on for the future.”
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