Friends step in to light up Westbury house for Christmas

The friends of a Westbury man whose house is renowned for its annual festive lights display have kept the tradition going while he recovers from a stroke in hospital.

Andy Burden’s home, located on the corner of Coach Road near the White Horse Country Park, has been transformed with dazzling lights and decorations over the Christmas period for years to raise funds for charity.

However, at the beginning of October, Andy suffered a large stroke and has had to remain in hospital for rehabilitation since.

His close friend, Ben Parrett, has been taking care of his house, animals and elements of his business during his recovery. Along with some friends, Ben decided to continue the tradition of lighting up Andy’s house in his absence.

“Every year he does a display up here for various charities and every year it gets bigger and bigger and bigger,” said Ben.

“A few of us thought, ‘you know what – he loves his Christmas lights, let’s just do it together!’

“The centrepiece is a big digital Christmas tree out in the front garden, that’s been a bit of an art form to do.

“Generally, it’s been quite hard work. He’s a bit of a perfectionist, is Andy, so it had to look right!”

This year, the display will raise money for the Stroke Association, a charity Andy chose to support in light of recent events.

Ben, along with three more of Andy’s friends, Kirsty Grant, Craig Faggetter and David Hide, worked hard to get the decorations ready for the switch-on on Sunday 30th November. Andy was able to briefly come home from hospital to switch on the lights himself.

“Andy was indeed overwhelmed with the turnout and how it all went,” said Ben. “I feel myself that I gave him the light switch-on he really wanted.

“He asked for lasers to be done by one of our friends, Tony Dunn, and fireworks to be supplied by Trevor at Distant Thunder and let off by his cousin Colin McCafferty.

“The addition of Santa, done by Lee James, was a nice idea for the kids we thought.

“It was a long week, but the end result made it worth all the hard work!”

To donate to the fundraiser, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/make-an-admirable-sight-happen