Westhoughton: Christmas lights house back in style for great cause

Paul John Spann and his wife Lisa have been lighting up 1 Hemley Close for three years in a display which features 68,000 LED lights, singing displays, festive music and a new addition for this year, a snow cannon.

The Christmas lights display (Image: Public)

Paul, 58, described how he discovered the phenomenon online in America and Australia.

He said: “Three or four years ago I was looking at something on YouTube that caught my eye and it was basically this guy in America.

"He had put thousands of lights on his house and he basically does it as his job now for other people, so I thought ‘I can do that’.”

After consulting with Lisa, they decided to go ahead and put on their own dazzling display.

Paul John Spann and his wife Lisa (Image: Public)

The Christmas lights display at the home (Image: Public)

Paul added: “I just jumped onto the bandwagon and we said if we’re going to do it, let's raise some money for charity.”

Lisa has previously raised money for Derian House Children's Hospice in Chorley and they decided to help the cause again.

The charity provide specialist care and respite to children and young people with life-limiting or life-shortening conditions.

And through the kind donations of enamoured spectators, the couple have amassed around £7,500 for Derian House since their first show in 2021.

They are aiming to raise another £2,000 by the end of this year’s Christmas illuminations.

The Christmas lights display at the home (Image: Public)

Paul said: “Hopefully by the end of this year we'll have raised close to £10,000 for Derian House.”

The light shows at the home take place every Friday, Saturday and Sunday up until Christmas Eve.

Paul is expecting an upturn in footfall as Christmas edges closer.

He said: "On Christmas Eve last year we estimated about 300 people which is crazy.”

Normally the shows count eight or nine songs in a 35-minute format.

However, new for this year, Paul and Lisa are hosting a more casual repeat show on Sundays, which start at 4.30pm and finish at 7pm, allowing people to "just come and go as they want rather than being a fixed performance". 

Another new addition to this year’s schedule includes special education needs shows which will feature quieter music. 

The dates are not publicised for these shows and the Spanns encourage people to contact them for more information.

The Hemley Close Lights are a glowing marvel of mind-bending technology that work as a visual orchestra to bring to life Paul’s vision.

For the current version of the show, there is an ensemble of four small Raspberry Pi computers to control it.

He said: “All the lights are fully sequenced into the song so it's not random. It's all fully linked in so the lights will all dance.

“It just comes on ready from pre-programmed parts of the songs.

"When it gets to 'Frosty the Snowman', we turn the snow machine on to send all the snow out so it's all fully integrated.

“It's the same sort of technology that you'll see in a normal concert, but on a much smaller scale.”

Meanwhile the stats behind the display are almost as incredible as the show itself.

“There's something around 68,000 individual LED's”, Paul said.

“On the Christmas tree, there's 1,600 LEDs plus the star on the top and that’s just the tree.”

The lights take “a couple of weeks to put all up on the house" but some of them can be left up from October for the pair's Halloween-themed show.

One of the most humorous new additions to this year’s instalment is the involvement of the neighbours either side of the Tanns’ house placing large "ditto’" signs on their homes.

One of the ditto signs (Image: Public)

Bringing festive spirit and cheer to the people of Westhoughton comes with a cost, however.

Paul added: “The cost of running it has gone up slightly because every year we do this there'll be more and more stuff so it's probably costing us £4.50, £5 a night to run it.

“The snow machine increased the cost. The fluid that thing uses, I think we've probably used five litres of fluid over a weekend. Altogether it’s something like £30 worth of fluid over the whole period.

“The cost of doing this goes up slightly every year. I don't care, It's my It's my hobby. A lot of people go out drinking every night. I don’t, it’s more fun.”

Shows will be taking place at 6pm every Friday and Saturday while the shows will repeat from 4.30pm to 7pm on Sundays up until the Christmas Eve finale.

For enquiries about the special education needs shows, the couple can reached on their Facebook page Hemley Close Lights, or by contacting Paul at paul@spannfamily.net.

Their JustGiving crowdfunding page can be found by clicking here or spectators can donate to Derian House at the show.