Thursday 10 November 2022
Father of three Ryan Amies has been drawing crowds to his home in Stamford, Lincolnshire with a Halloween light show to raise money for children harmed by crime.
The display of over 15,000 LED Halloween lights outside his home on Empingham Road, Stamford saw crowds of up to 50 people attend each night throughout the week in the run-up to Halloween.
Ryan asked for donations to Embrace Child Victims of Crime and impressed visitors helped him raise £500 to support children and young people whose lives have been devastated by crime.
Ryan, who runs a software company, first had the idea two years ago after seeing a video on YouTube about a light show at a home in the US.
He said: “I saw this video and showed it to my wife Jess and she thought it was really cool so I decided to have a go myself. We started small in 2020 and then we decided to make it bigger and better for the following year. We had families travelling all over to see the light show last Christmas and at times attracted crowds of up to 200 people.
“This year, so we do not cause as much disruption to our neighbours, I decided not to do just one show at a specific time each night but to have the lightshow running on a loop from 5pm to 8pm each night for a week in the run-up to Halloween. We also added a big red button out the front to started the show which was a bit hit with the kids.
“Because the lights are all LEDs they’re very efficient. The total cost for Halloween was about £15 in electricity and the way we see it is that everyone who is out watching our show isn’t at home, watching TV, boiling kettles of having their lights on so it’s more than likely a net saving for the planet!
“Our three boys loved it and it was lovely so see so many children and families coming along to watch. I can’t wait now to start setting up our Christmas display. We take down all the Halloween props in November, and change them over for Christmas ones, including our ‘Mega Tree’ which is over five metres tall and has over 7,000 lights.”
Last year Ryan’s display, which has its own Facebook Page called The Stamford Lights, raised over £2,300 for Mind from the Halloween and Christmas event.
Ryan said: “We chose Embrace this year because we wanted to support a local children’s charity and we heard about the fantastic work Embrace does to support young victims of crime. We know how much children and families love coming to see the lights. So it seemed fitting to support a children’s charity. We will continue our fundraising for Embrace with our Christmas display.”
Embrace Child Victims of Crime Chief Executive Anne Campbell said: “I’d like to thank Ryan and Jess for choosing to support Embrace and to all the visitors who have donated so far. We know Christmas is going to be tougher for a lot of people so we are especially grateful to those who choose to donate to Embrace and help support some of the most vulnerable children in the area.”
We support young victims and witnesses of crime to recover from their trauma and rebuild their lives. We help all victims but our team has particular expertise in supporting those affected by all kinds of abuse, violence and exploitation. We provide emotional support and counselling and practical support including food and school uniform vouchers to help families harmed by crime and struggling because of the cost of living crisis. To find out more visit www.embracecvoc.org.uk.
