Couple transform garden into Christmas lights spectacle for just over a grand

A thrifty couple have managed to create a spectacular Christmas lights display outside their home on a budget for 25 years running - by buying decorations in the summer. Mick and Norma Gale spend two days each year transforming their garden into an amazing winter wonderland outside their home in Rushwick, Worcs. The property is adorned with 10,000 lights, giant inflatable Santa’s, snowmen and reindeer which tower over visitors who come from as far as America, Japan and Canada. The Crimbo-mad pair have raised more then £31,000 for charity opening their garden to the public since 1998 - spending little over a grand in the process. Mick, 74, and Norma, 75, have been able to keep the eye-catching display running for so long despite soaring energy bills with a few savvy cost-cutting measures. They spend just £50 a year on decorations which they purchase in the summer months when they are considerably cheaper and have recycled others for 20 years. And thanks to a smart meter it only cost the couple £4 a night to light up 'Santa's Garden' for the whole of December. The pensioners have been opening up their home to strangers for 25 years and have been giving any donations to the Midlands Air Ambulance charity for 21 years. Dad-of-one Mick said: "This is the 21st year for the Air Ambulance, we’ve been doing decorations for 25 years and it has just grown and grown. “We’ve had people from America, Canada and Japan. Some people drive up from Cornwall. We’ve got quite a following on the Facebook page. “We raise about between £1,500 to £1,800 each year and I only spend about £50 a year on decorations. We recycle them too, some are 20 years old. "'I tend to go and buy decorations in the summer. They're all new but they can be cheaper when you buy them in the warmer months. We're good at making them last. 'We had a smart meter installed so I could check how much it was costing us. "It was only £4 a day for the lights and pump, which worked out at £40 on top of the bill. When I started doing it, Christmas lights were just a bulb now they’re all LED’s "It doesn't really matter how much it costs as it's for a good cause but we have managed to keep prices down I think with a bit of forward planning." Former construction worker Mick, says it would originally take several weekends to put up over 10,000 lights but he can do it in two days now he’s retired. They even provide a bubble and snow machine to create a Lapland-style effect for families to get pictures with at their semi-detached property on Christine Avenue. He added: "I’ll do it for as long as I can. While I can still get up the ladder I'll do it. It’s for a good cause and it’s great to see the smiles on the children's faces. “We normally open the back and the front, people can't believe it when they come here. “We try to change bits and pieces every year, I try to get something unusual. I've got a plane with Santa in and a snow machine in the back, plus a bubble machine. "We do it so people can take photos in the snow. There’s reindeers, there’s lights all over the house. "There’s that many now we just stick them all up. We’ve got an 8ft Santa, an 8ft snowman and a 10ft reindeer. “I can be sat in the living room watching TV, they’ll walk in, take some pics, put some money in and walk out. I dress up as Father Christmas on the opening night. “We don’t charge, we just do the donations. The feedback we get is fabulous. We meet a lot of different people. "The last two years the Air Ambulance sent the paramedics and we had a paramedic car here on the drive. "Last Christmas we thought we wouldn't do the lights anymore, but people said we can’t stop now. They all just keep asking 'when are you going to do the lights?' "So we thought we better keep in going as people really seem to enjoy it."