FATHER Christmas never has trouble finding the home of at least one Swindon grandmother.

Carole Pellatt, 58, festoons her home and garden in Arun Road, Greenmeadow, with lights every year.

She began the annual display as a tribute to her late husband, Richard, who died five years ago, aged 52.

Like Carole, 58, Richard always loved Christmas, and she decided the lights would be the best way to remember him.

And for the last two Christmases, passing admirers of the scene have been asked to make donations to the Prospect Hospice in Wroughton.

Carole said: "I've got Santas, sleighs, snowmen, reindeer, igloos and thousands of lights.

"I bought some of them at the Christmas Lights Warehouse in Blackpool, but I've also been to shops in Swindon, Northampton and Gloucester.

"This is my fifth year, I went into it in a big way after I lost my husband.

"I just love everything about Christmas, and he did, too.

"Last year, I started doing it for the Prospect Hospice and I'm doing the same this year."

Carole's husband, who had heart trouble, was not a patient at the hospice, but Carole chose it for its work with some of the area's most seriously ill people and their loved ones.

She added: "I chose the Prospect Hospice because I think it does a brilliant job.

"It does a lot of work for the community."

Carole has five children and 15 grandchildren.

Family members, sometimes dressed as Father Christmas, collected £81 for the hospice last year.

They also help to put up the decorations, which are usually up until Twelfth Night.

But this year they will be packed away early, as Carole is going on a holiday to Lapland.

n Have you got the best Christmas lights display in Swindon? If so, let us know on Swindon 528144 ext 262.

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