Frosty relations as neighbours fall out over Kingsclere lights display
Currently, visitors to Garrett Close are met by a giant blow-up Father Christmas, a huge Merry Christmas sign, a polar bear and several reindeer grazing in the front garden, edged by a row of Christmas trees illuminated by LED lights. The display also contains 150m of fake snow, another Santa hanging from the guttering, rope lights, Christmas parcels, a sleigh pulled by reindeer on the porch roof, and an illuminated lamppost.
Tenants, 31-year-old Darren McKie, an interior designer, and his partner, Donna Lawrence, a kitchen assistant at the Crown pub in the village, said that they had gained permission to erect the display from their landlords, Sentinel Housing Association.
However, they have now been asked to remove some of the decorations, after a neighbour complained.
“It took two weeks to put it all out and cost approximately £2,000,” said Mr McKie, who moved to the village in July. “The Merry Christmas sign alone was £500 and fake snow £250.”
The display, he continued, was aimed at raising funds for Naomi House, a children’s hospice in Sutton Scotney, and he is refusing to take any of it down.
Lifelong Kingsclere villager, Miss Lawrence, said that her son, Baydon, aged seven, and his friends, thought the display was great fun.
“It cost loads and we are thinking of legal action,” she said.
Sentinel’s assistant director for neighbourhood services, Kari Tourle, said that permission had been granted for a small Christmas display at the property.
However, she continued, because it had spread on to the road and a complaint had been received, the tenants had been asked to remove some of the decorations.
“We don’t want them to take everything down, only the bits that people could easily trip over in the public spaces, such as live electrical cables and ornaments.
“We certainly don’t want to stop people from decorating their homes at Christmas but it should be safe for everyone.”
Naomi House spokesman Keith Wilson said: “We love people to fundraise for us, but their fundraising activity needs to be done in a safe manner and with full consent from all relevant parties, in this case, Sentinel.”