THE Winsford business community has pulled together to ensure a resident’s charity Christmas lights display goes ahead, despite the soaring cost of energy.

David Robinson has been covering his house on Station Road with Christmas lights for 38 years, and his ‘switch on’ event has come to mark the beginning of Christmas for hundreds of Winsford families.  

Until this year, the Robinsons met the cost of the lights personally, but after calculating that the 2022 electricity costs would rise from £300 to £600, the family had to give serious thought to whether this year’s display could go ahead.

David’s daughter, Stephanie Banks, had the idea to approach local businesses for sponsorship via social media.   

She said: “We have been inundated with offers of support - those who contacted us said they just couldn’t see it not happening.

“We have been really surprised by how generous people have been.

“When we had reached the amount we needed, not wanting to turn sponsorship down, I went back and asked how they felt about adding all the extra sponsorship we get offered to the St Luke’s fund.

“Every one of them have said they’re more than happy with that.”

David Robinson’s Christmas lights have a long history.  

David said: “We started doing it for our own children, and it just escalated.

“We didn’t put a charity box out to begin with, but people were throwing money over the fence, so we donated it to the Salvation Army.

“After that, we started putting a box out. We’ve donated the money to quite a few different charities over the years – Guide Dogs, Prostate Cancer, a young lad who had bone cancer – before we started doing it for St Luke’s.”

David Hough's business, ChipX Mobile Body Repairs, is one of the sponsors, and he attends the Station Road switch-on event with his family every year. 

He said: “My kids are ten and six now, and we’ve been going ever since the eldest was born – we love it!

“He’s been doing it for years,  all at his own expense.

"It’s for a great cause - I’m sure most people who go and see the lights have got some sort of connection to St Luke’s, so they should get donating.”