Every December as the nights grow longer and the air gets colder, one Feltham street basks in the glow of a homemade Winter Wonderland like no other.
For 25 years, removal man Jason Hoban, 55 has been decorating the outside of his house with thousands of lights attracting hundreds of people every night.
And six years ago, Jason decided to use his annual tradition to do some good for a cause tragically close to his heart.
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Jason has always been into Christmas lights and admits to MyLondon it’s something he’s always done – but now the lights mark a special period of remembrance for the family.
Jason’s son Tommy tragically passed away when he was just five years old due to a rare disorder known as Multiple Sulfatase Deficiency.
Jason’s yearly deocarting is a labour of love
(Image: Grahame Larter)
Now Jason says, the lights continue in his honour.
He said: “I started doing this 25 years ago.
“My son Tommy really liked them when he was a kid and it’s just got bigger and bigger and bigger.
“Now it’s a tradition for everyone, we’ve been doing it here for 16 years, everyone comes here. We’ve seen kids come when they’re little and grow up a bit each year.”
Jason puts up over 40,000 lights a year
(Image: Grahame Larter)
Although Jason has been putting up Christmas lights for years, it wasn’t until relatively recently that he learned about the work of children’s hospice Shooting Stars.
Ever since, Jason has been raising money for the charity and tells us that the work they do would have been helpful to his family during Tommy’s illness.
He said: “We raise money for the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice, they weren’t open when Tommy was sick but we would have taken him there if they were.
“When I found out about shooting star I thought I’d raise money for them. Since we began we’ve raised £22,000 for them.”
‘I start decorating in June’
The house is split up into various festive displays
(Image: Grahame Larter)
As you can expect, good deeds on the scale of Jason’s don’t come easy.
Every June, Jason begins the painstaking process of assembling his Christmas House.
This begins with him strapping lights to the roof and repainting his colossal Disney inspired castle which looms over the festive proceedings.
The scale of the display is epic
(Image: Grahame Larter)
He admits to MyLondon he doesn’t know precisely how many there are, but reassures us it’s not too expensive to run.
He said: “There’s a thousand on the castle, a thousand on the roof – you’re probably looking at about 40,000 lights in total.
“It only costs about £10 a night in electricity amazingly – LED’s have made it cheaper.”
‘Nobody complains, it’s an institution’
The house is beloved by neighbours
(Image: Grahame Larter)
To look upon Jason’s creation is truly wonderful and its clear how much joy it brings to locals from all around Feltham.
But we’re curious, has he ever had any complaints?
He said: “This is part of people’s Christmas now, they come here Christmas Eve with their families and it’s great.
People come back every year
(Image: Grahame Larter)
“Every year the number of people visiting grows as the display grows.
“Nobody complains, a lot of them moved in after I did so they’re used to it and they all have kids.
“They make a lot of people happy, we’ve had more people here this year than ever before.”
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For more information on how to find Jason’s Christmas House, click here.
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