US couple fund new octopus Christmas light in Mousehole

A donation from an American couple has seen their own Christmas lights display constructed in a village in Cornwall.

Joe Murray and Susan Kirby, jugglers from Connecticut, in the US, came on holiday to Cornwall in 2017 and visited the Christmas lights in Mousehole.

Since then they have enjoyed them via the organisers' webcam every year.

This year they have had their own lights created - in the form of a light up juggling octopus.

Mrs Kirby said: "Being jugglers, the idea of having more arms would be helpful - that's why he's able to do twelve balls on this Christmas light!

"Imagine if you could juggle with that many hands? That would be amazing."

Mr Murray added: "The Octopus is a native sea creature to us in Connecticut and we wanted to bring a bit of us to Cornwall."

He said last year they saw the village's Crowdfunding campaign to fund the lights, and made a large donation.

They then decided to opt for a juggling octopus to be constructed as part of the display.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Mousehole Harbour Christmas lights, which first began in 1963.

The festive display is put on by unpaid volunteers and is funded through community fundraising.

Peter Taylor, chairman of Mousehole Harbour Lights, created the lights.

He said: "Candidly I thought 'oh no!'.

"I went back to them and said 'couldn't you find something a bit simpler?'.

"It was constructed on my patio through the summer. I've been on tenterhooks for a few months!"

Follow BBC News South West on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected]