ABOUT US
a LITTLE About us
My name is Harrison, and if you couldn’t have guessed, I love Christmas lights. I’ve always liked to stand out and be different, and with my love for lights, I decided to put together our own display. Since a young age, my favourite time of year has been when we’d decorate the house for Christmas. My favourite decorations were always the outdoor ones. Every year, we’d put up a few lights on the house for Christmas until, in 2018, when I was 15 years old, I decided to go big. I wanted to make a name for myself and started Baker’s Lights.
WHY ST. WILFRID'S HOSPICE
In 2019, my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. As a result, she was referred to St. Wilfrid’s Hospice in Eastbourne for end-of-life care and support. We wanted to show our appreciation to St. Wilfrid’s and decided to start raising money for charity through our display. We also liked the idea of supporting this charity, as 100% of the money raised goes directly to the hospice here in Eastbourne and helps keep the facility open and operational.
Donations for our display are completely voluntary. Any and all donations help St. Wilfrid’s support people in end-of-life care, while also motivating us to keep this display going. Donations can be made on-site via the donation box or online via our JustGiving page. It doesn’t matter if you have 10p or £10 — every little donation counts.
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In 2018, I invested over £300 in new lights and equipment to decorate the outside of our house, and at the time, it was the best thing I’d ever created. However, I knew it wouldn’t end there.
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In 2019, the addiction took over. After seeing videos of synchronised light displays on YouTube, I knew I had to give it a try. After a couple of years of learning basic electrical engineering, coding, and investing just under £1,000 in more lights and equipment, our synchronised display was underway. It took me three months to plan, program, and set up the display using an Arduino computer and relays to control the lights on the house. The display was exactly what I’d hoped for, something new and different, but it didn’t come without its issues. The display had to end early due to endless technical and hardware problems, and sadly, that would be the last year the display was synchronised... for now?
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In 2020, I was struggling Financially. I was unemployed and, having suffered a big loss of lights following the previous year’s display, I wasn’t sure what I could do. At first, I decided not to do the display that year, but due to the pandemic, I realised the display was exactly what people needed. We used everything we had, along with some donations from the community, to put together the best display we could, and the result was the best year I’d ever had.
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In 2021, I was still struggling for money and was only able to invest in a few small additions to the display. Overall, the year wasn’t overly successful, however, that only motivated me more for the next year.
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In 2022, after such a disappointing previous year, I wanted to redeem myself. I invested around £600 into the display with lots of new lights and began working on an even bigger plan in the background for the future. That year, we raised more than we ever had before, making over £100 in donations on the First day alone. After such a great year, I knew I was ready to move forward with the big plan.
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In 2023, I got started early, in March, on my mission to turn our light display into a full mini attraction. I completely renovated our front garden, landscaping it with astroturf, decking, and concrete supports to mount our newly planned walk-through attraction, a pathway running around the garden through a framework covered in lights all around you, to be built up over the next few years. The renovations, costing around £1,500, were Finished around the end of October, just in time for the lights to go up. After cutting it very close and finishing the setup on the day of the switch-on, we were sure this was the best year we’d ever had, and all the hard work paid off. It was, yet again, our most successful year ever.
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In 2024, after another amazing year, I wanted to continue outdoing myself, as always. So I carried on with my venture to turn the Christmas lights into a mini attraction. However, I knew I could no longer do it alone, so I enlisted the help of some of my friends and family. Together, we created the most amazing display we’ve ever put together. We opened the walk-around path, had Santa make an appearance for the switch-on, and even partnered with Ravenview Photography, who captured some incredible photos and produced our promotional video.