Tipping family from Cottam retain Christmas magic by raising over £18k for local charities

By Emma Downey
Published 14th Jan 2023, 15:45 BST
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A family of five from Cottam, who annually decorate the outside of their home, front garden and garden sheds with thousands of Christmas lights from the start of Advent until early January, have raised over £18,000 which will be split between four charities.

Mark Tipping, his wife Nicola and their children Sam, Joe, and Isaac are renowned for switching on the lights at their home at Valentine’s Meadow in Cottam with thousands turning up to view the spectacular show and throw what spare change they can afford into a wishing well collection bucket. For the 11th year, the money will go towards supporting Rosemere Cancer Foundation, Derian House Children’s Hospice, Headway Central Lancashire and the Jordan Grant 18 Memorial Fund in support of CRY – Cardiac Risk in the Young.

Mark said: “We would just like to say a big thank you so much to everyone this year who came and supported us with our Christmas charity lights. We raised £18,316.25 (with gift aid), which will be split between our four charities. This brings our grand total to £142,237.40 over the past 11 years.

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The Tipping family from Cottam have thanked everyone for helping them raise over £18k from their popular Christmas lights switch on. The proceeds of which will be divided between four charities including Derian House Children's HospiceThe Tipping family from Cottam have thanked everyone for helping them raise over £18k from their popular Christmas lights switch on. The proceeds of which will be divided between four charities including Derian House Children's Hospice
The Tipping family from Cottam have thanked everyone for helping them raise over £18k from their popular Christmas lights switch on. The proceeds of which will be divided between four charities including Derian House Children's Hospice

"We would just like to thank all our family and friends and for their help and support with putting on the Christmas lights display, Santa parade and the Christmas raffles. We would also like to thank every business and person who donated prizes to our raffle. Finally we would like to thank our neighbours for being understanding with the amount of traffic and parking our lights bring to the neighbourhood. We hope you have a great year, take care, look after yourself and hopefully see you in December 2023."

The family's Christmas charity lights, which take about four weeks to put up, remained bright until Monday, January 2.

Speaking over the Christmas period, Mark had said: “Over the last 10 years we have raised over £123,000 for the charities and I think it will be a lot more after this one. The reaction to the crowd has been brilliant. It has took us about four weeks to put up. It is a lot of work, but it is worth it in the end.”