a TAVISTOCK couple who threw open their garden gates this Christmas for everyone to enjoy their festive lights have raised more than £3,800 for two charities close to their hearts.

Irene and John Gillett said they wanted to thank everyone who generously donated to their two charities, Cancer Research UK and Diabetes UK, after enjoying the nocturnal light display in their garden at The Sheiling, Down Road. The lights went up in the second week in December and were switched on nightly until January 3.

Irene said: ‘We just wanted to say thank you to everyone who came to see our lights and shared them with us. We had some lovely comments from people saying how lovely they were. We wanted to thank people for giving so generously to our little collection for Diabetes UK and Cancer Research UK. We raised £3,833, which was brilliant.’

‘We chose these charities because I lost a son when he was 24 years old, he had a car accident but it was actually related to diabetes, and then my husband lost a son seven years ago in May, he was 51 years old and had cancer.’

Interest was boosted when the lights featured on BBC TV regional news programme Spotlight. ‘For a few days after that it was extremely busy,’ said Irene. ‘There were 50 to 60 people in the garden at any one time. After Christmas it was what I would call a steady trickle. We had several people put cards through our letterbox, thanking us for letting them come into our garden. This is the third year we have put the lights up. This year we thought we would put them up for a charity and that is what we did. Now it is just a case of getting them down!’