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Couple create 'Halloween Manor' hospice fundraiser

BBC A man stands outside next to two models of skeletons. The man is smiling and he has brown hair and a brown beard. He is wearing an orange t-shirt and grey trousers. The skeleton models are dressed as pirates, with red bandannas, and one has been put next to a ship's steering wheel.BBC
Tom Taylor hopes visitors will donate to the Stourbridge hospice that looked after his father

A couple have turned their home into a spooky “Halloween Manor” in order to raise money for the hospice that cared for their relative.

Tom and Amy Taylor have transformed their home on Brook Street, in Wall Heath near Kingswinford, into a spooky attraction that includes a pirate ship and a graveyard.

Mr Taylor hopes visitors will donate to Mary Stevens Hospice in Stourbridge, which looked after his father in the months before he died from cancer in May 2023.

“He loved a big event, he loved taking things too far, and that’s where my love of doing a big event has come from,” Mr Taylor said.

A woman stands in front of a model of a bandaged mummy. The woman has blonde hair and glasses, and she is wearing a black and red floral shirt. The mummy is decorated with fake cobwebs and has glowing yellow eyes.
Amy Taylor has worked on setting up the attraction with her husband

The Halloween creation, which features animatronic skeletons, ghouls, and scarecrows, will be open from 17:00 until 20:30 GMT on 29-31 October.

There will also be a pared-down session at 14:00-16:00 GMT on 31 October, where the animatronic models will be turned off for children who might find them overwhelming.

Mr Taylor, who runs a company with his wife that supplies and fits blinds, said they had 800-1,000 visitors when they put on the event for the first time last year.

He added that his father “would have loved it” as he always enjoyed going the extra mile when decorating his home for Christmas.

“It was always a lot bigger than everyone else’s, it was always a competition in his head,” Mr Taylor said.

Three statues of witches around a cauldron. The witches have tall black hats and glowing yellow eyes. They are standing against a backdrop made of shiny black sheets, with blue and green lighting.
The Halloween Manor includes witches, ghouls, mummies and pirates

Ruth Longville, corporate fundraiser at Mary Stevens Hospice, said local fundraising events such as the Halloween Manor were “massively” important for the hospice.

“We need members of our community to come up with wacky ideas - and this is surely one of the wackiest I’ve ever seen – to help us fundraise on behalf of our patients and their families,” she said.

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