Final Christmas display at Horsham home raises more than £8,000

Chris and Julie Clark transformed their Meadow Farm Lane home into a winter wonderland for the Make-A-Wish Foundation for the eighth time.

They raised £8,624.50 for the charity, more than double the figure from the 2012 display.

Chris said: “I’m amazed. I’ve got to be honest, when we did £4,000 last year I said to my wife ‘we are not going to double that’.

“There was a real steady flow of traffic and pedestrians outside the front of the house every night.

“Even on the stormy nights we raised a lot of money.”

However, despite the success of the lights, Chris confirmed the display will not be back this winter.

He said: “This year was our last year. It is just getting too much for us.

“We lost so many lights in storms over Christmas that we’ve had to throw a load away because they were damaged beyond repair.

“It would cost us a fortune, we can’t afford to keep doing it. It is basically taking over our lives.”

Chris and Julie have raised more than £17,000 for Cancer Research UK and Make-A-Wish over the last eight years.

Chris added: “We just want to thank everybody, from the bottom of our hearts.

“Julie and I are fully committed to carrying on the fundraising for Make-A-Wish through other events.”