Keith’s lifesaving lights

“I wanted to go large!” Keith explains. “I asked my neighbours if I could borrow their front gardens. They kindly said yes, so we had the front gardens of three houses for this year’s light display – over 60,000 lights in total!”

Keith planned for a lights switch-on event on 15 November, complete with a DJ, who played music to entertain the crowd for a couple of hours, and Santa – who arrived on a fire engine, plus food and drinks for those who attended. Over 400 people in all!

Our very own Dr Jim was also invited along to give a short speech about the work of East Anglian Air Ambulance, before the all-important button to switch on the lights following a countdown from the crowd.

It was a huge success with the switch-on event raising over £1,100!

Keith has a very special reason for supporting East Anglian Air Ambulance after a member of his family needed help from the crew in 2016.

“My niece’s husband was involved in a road accident,” Keith explains. “It was a life-or-death situation. East Anglian Air Ambulance attended and, thankfully, he survived.”

He adds, “There are so many worthy charities, but you never know when you might need the help of East Anglian Air Ambulance. It’s not government funded so I think it’s important we keep it going with voluntary donations.”

Keith also has more plans for fundraising in the lead up to Christmas. He has since added inflatable decorations to the current display, has another event on 6 December, and is hosting a garden and craft fayre on 13 December. Above everything, he is grateful for how much communities have come out to support his events and Christmas lights.

“It gives validation for what I’m doing and demonstrates just how much the community appreciate East Anglian Air Ambulance – and the money raised proves this point.”

Thank you to Keith, the community of Long Stratton, Norfolk and beyond for supporting Keith’s Christmas lights events.