A man from Buckinghamshire who has held a festive lights show at his house for over two decades said he is glad for ‘all the good’ that has come out of the event, which raises thousands of pounds for charity every year.

Tony and Jancis Shepherd, who live on Hill Farm Road in Marlow Bottom, have become well-known and loved in their hometown for the illuminative and impressive Christmas light shows staged outside their property each year.

Beginning as a fun way to ring in the millennium back in 1999, the annual show, which includes covering their house in around 25,000 white lights, synchronised to festive music, took on a greater resonance after a family tragedy saw Jancis lose both her father and mother around the Christmas period, the latter of whom had a great love for the holiday.

Fast forward two decades and the Shepherds’ Christmas lights show has become a crucial event in Marlow’s winter calendar, so much so that Tony, who, like his wife, is now in his sixties, feels obliged to carry on the tradition even when the arduous physical work required – climbing up on the roof for one! – makes having a year off look like an appealing option.

The last twenty years have seen the town, and the Shepherds, through a great deal of change – Tony and Jancis’s three daughters are all grown up, with one welcoming a child of her own last year. The family also recognised the town’s effort to provide homes for hundreds of displaced Ukrainians fleeing the conflict in Eastern Europe by including a Ukrainian rendition of Carol of the Bells last December, a nod Tony said he is planning to repeat in this year's display. 

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The lights show has also become part of many residents' yearly traditions - Tony said there is one family who stops by the house each year on Christmas Eve, “never at any other time”.

“We always go out and have mulled wine with them and look at the lights. It means so much to so many people and provokes memories for so many, too.”

The fundraising component of the event is also very important to both Tony and Jancis, with a GoFundMe page and donation box both helping to raise awareness about mental health through the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust, a charity set up in 1997 by the family of Charlie Waller, a young man who took his own life while suffering from depression.

The couple has worked with the trust many times before, and Tony said its impact spreads beyond financial support for the work carried out by the charity.

Bucks Free Press:

“Donating can be difficult for some people financially, but our goal is really to spread awareness. We talk to lots of people on the drive, and Jancis has spoken to people about their mental health struggles and traumas. You can see all the good that is coming out of it.

“We just want to do all that we can to make people feel welcome. The best time to come is later in the evening because the kids have stopped running around and it’s very quiet and peaceful.

“It’s lovely, every year, to see all the community support and generosity.”

The Shepherds' Christmas lights show will take place from December 4 to January 1, open between 5pm to 10:30pm from Monday to Thursday, with music between 6pm and 9pm and between 4pm and 10:30pm on Friday to Sunday, with music between 5pm and 9pm.