Northamptonshire Christmas display to raise money for charity who helped stroke survivor

A Northamptonshire Christmas display, which has been running for the past three years, will raise funds for the first time this year – in aid of a charity who helped a local stroke survivor.

The display is run by four houses in Larch Drive, a cul-de-sac in Daventry, and is visited by many people each year, which encouraged the homeowners to fundraise for a worthy cause.

The money will be donated to Reach for Health, which helped one of the Larch Drive residents to recover from a stroke. It is not just stroke survivors they help, but those who have overcome cancer and amputees too.

Tom Farrer, who is part of the team who sets up the decorations, said: “Raising anything would be nice, even if it is just £100, as we want to give back to this amazing charity.

“They allow people to get their quality of life back by helping them walk again and getting them using their limbs. It’s not just physical health they help with, but mental health too.”

It was during the pandemic that the houses decided to work together on the Christmas display, as people would come and visit on drive bys even before then as they all enjoyed decorating for the festive season.

Larch Drive is expecting a big turn out as even though it has never been advertised on social media before, there has always been lots of visitors to the estate.

All the houses are anticipated to be fully decorated by December 4 and if all goes to plan, they will do a simultaneous switch on that evening.

This fundraiser came after Tom and his group arranged a Halloween treasure hunt in Daventry this year, where a map was handed out of all houses who took part.

Between 100 and 200 people attended despite the pouring rain, and many questioned if they had ever thought of raising money through their extravagant decorating.

Donations can be made upon visits to Larch Drive and from December 1, you can text LARCH to 70085 to donate directly to Reach for Health. When you text, you will be asked how much you would like to donate.