No 'credit-crunch' Christmas for Gainsborough residents

As I am rusty with the fine art of blogging, having last blogged on LiveJournal when I was an angst-ridden teenager, I'm going to ease myself back into the online community gently.

To start with, here is an article I wrote back in December 2008 about how soaring energy bills and financial difficulty was affecting the traditon of outside Christmas decorations in my hometown Gainsborough.

No 'credit-crunch' Christmas for Gainsborough residents

Gainsborough homeowners are lighting up their houses in defiance of the ‘credit crunch’ this Christmas.

Residents seem determined to keep their Christmas cheer despite soaring energy bills and falling job security. Outside lights might be an unnecessary expense when money is tight, but houses all over town are decorated with electric angels, colourful festive messages and neon Santa figures waving at passersby.

Keith and Sharon Limb, both 49, live on Heapham Road South and have lit their house up for the last seven years. They budget an extra ten pounds per week for electricity during December, but say it is worth the money.

Mr Limb said: “We don’t believe in Bonfire Night because it wastes a lot of money for a few moments excitement. But doing the house brings a smile to kids faces.”

It took three days to decorate the house and their son Darren, 26, has made special brackets to hold the bigger decorations.

Mrs Limb said: “It’s amazing how many people come past and say how nice the lights look.”

Tony Chapman, 67, lives on Gainsborough Road in Lea and has decked out his entire house since he bought three sets of 65ft computerised lights on holiday in Florida in 1985. His vast collection includes three moving LED reindeer, a train, a dove, snowmen and Santa figures and nearly a mile of outdoor light strings.

He said higher energy bills this year did not change his annual transformation because he never thinks about the cost. “Life is too short to worry about bills. It’s not worth thinking about - I just pay it.”

Mr Chapman guessed the lights had cost over £1000 to gather, but he said he won’t buy any more as he spends money repairing his current decorations. Replacing blown bulbs on the stars adorning the chimney takes hours and he spends “two to three hours a day for about a week” assembling the decorations. The arrangement is meticulously designed, with symmetrical trees in the front windows and a customised spiral of lights made from drilling 144 holes into a Perspex sheet.

His reason for so much time, effort and expense is simple: “Sometimes I look out the window and see about 10 people and kids just standing on the drive looking at the lights. Someone once tried to give me money for charity but I do it for pleasure, not money.”

Money worries have not stopped residents with smaller budgets switching on either.

Kerry Shattell, 28, from Haldane Street, put lights around her windows. She said: “I’d like to have more but I can’t afford it.”

June Gordon, 73, puts an illuminated Father Christmas in the window and lights in the garden of her house on Fielding Way. She said: “We aren’t going to stop doing it because of bills; I don’t think they cost that much more. We do it for the grandchildren, they love it.”

Rosemarie Smith, who was visiting Gainsborough from Dorrington, said: “We put lights up on the cherry tree and the bushes in the front garden. I don’t think the higher bills have stopped many people – the houses are covered. In the end it’s Christmas and that’s what we do.”

Some people choose to keep their old outside decorations rather than buy new ones. Shawn Hooton, from Lea Road, works for a tool hire company hit by the construction slow-down. Although the energy bills for his outside decorations are acceptable, Mr Hooton said: “Every year we try to buy something new, but not this year because we have less money to spend on Christmas.”

However, Gainsborough retailers are quietly positive about Christmas decoration sales.

Paul Harrison, Store Manager of Focus on Lea Road, said: “Christmas time is a bit of relief from the humdrum of everyday life and people are happy to spend a bit more on it.”

Focus ran early promotions on decorations and trees to sell stock quickly. Mr Harrison said: “If the price is right people will always buy decorations, and they have more options as supermarkets now sell them.”

Smaller businesses have adapted differently. Bryon Foster, owner of Retford and Gainsborough Garden Centre, noticed more customers phoning ahead to check prices before buying.

He said: “A lot of people talk about doom and gloom but you have to speculate and get the stock in. You don’t know if people are going to leave it to the last minute and one day makes a lot of difference.”