A Leeds gran has been left 'devastated' as her and her husband aren't able to run their well-known Christmas lights display this year due to increasing costs.
May and Rod Proctor, 72 and 74, are the owners of the house dubbed 'the most Christmassy' in Leeds for their incredible light display that turns their entire garden and house into a candy cane wonderland. But this year, they've not been able to put on their usual show at their home in Garforth.
With the cost of energy bills so high this year, May and Rod have made the difficult decision that it's too expensive this year to light up the garden.
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May told LeedsLive: "We just can't afford it with the cost of bills. It's been devastating, but it's far too expensive for us this year.
"All the lights are just in the shed this year. We make it all ourselves. Everybody is absolutely devastated. It's sad - it's all quiet down our lane this year.
"I'm used to it being really busy round here - I'm so sad for the kids. I love seeing how much they enjoy coming down here - I just wish we could do it this year."
May and Rod usually deck their garden out in thousands of lights that includes an entire light up Christmas doll house, a lifesize gingerbread house, a Santa's Grotto and thousands of candy canes and sculptures. Families from all over the local area visit their lights setup over the Christmas period usually to enjoy the garden.
May added that it was sort of lucky they hadn't decked the whole place out this year, as a doctor's appointment at the GPs last week led to an emergency referral to get a pacemaker fitted for her heart. She's now recovering, and is hoping to spend her time building up their fairy garden even if they can't have lights.
"I've had hundreds of messages just today from people asking about whether we're doing the lights," May said.
"We've still got out fairy garden up because that doesn't use lights other than some solar ones - we have that year round. Nursery children love to come and see that - they go mental.
"So that is very much still here if parents are wanting to bring their children up. I make all the toadstool houses myself and my grandson has his full-sized Hobbit house in the garden too that they can see."
May and Rod have been doing Christmas lights for 30 years, but really racketed up their Christmas display to 100 during Covid. They've become something of a local landmark at the festive time of year, and were even on stage one year at their local Christmas lights switch on.
You can visit May and Rod's fairy garden at their home on the Crescent in Garforth.
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