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A couple from Armadale, West Lothian, spend 12 months preparing to transform their home into a high-tech Christmas light show. Gary and Anna Gray have more than 24,000 lights and about 150 props, including LED Christmas trees, candy canes and angel wings, which are all linked up and synchronised with music through Gary’s laptop. It takes 10 months of planning and another six weeks to build. Over the summer, Gary spends time building and repairing the props, and he uses his skills from his job as a computer programmer to light them up in time with the music.
The display has become known locally as the “Armadale illuminations” and more than 2,000 visitors from across Scotland are expected to turn up at the Grays’ house this year to watch the 30-minute light show. It plays every Thursday to Sunday night throughout December, and also Christmas Eve. The couple began inviting visitors to make a donation to charity, which is “at the heart” of why they put in so much effort. Over the past four years, they have raised thousands of pounds for Cancer Research, the British Heart Foundation and local charity, the Armadale Shed.
This year they are fundraising for Alzheimer Scotland, in memory of Anna’s grandmother who had dementia. They also invite local care-homes to watch the display and, this year, are running a quieter show for children with autism. However, this will be the final year the couple organise the light show. “We’ve done four good years when it was only meant to be a Covid project,” Gary says. “It’s time to do things that normal people do at Christmas.”
The couple say that the display has been welcomed by their neighbours, despite hundreds of people visiting the street each night. Some of the neighbours have even begun helping to organise the event. “The neighbours have been amazing, they’ve been really supportive,” Gary says. “A lot of them come to see it multiple times themselves.” It was the Covid lockdown in winter 2020 that inspired the couple to create their first light show. One neighbour posted about the display on a Facebook community group and, as word spread, people from the local area began standing outside to catch the show
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