Norwich: 'Mr Christmas' installs 16,000 lights on his house

A man is using his more than 16,000 Christmas lights to raise money for a charity that helped him when he was homeless 15 years ago.

Mark Abbott has been dubbed Mr Christmas by his neighbours in the Tuckswood area of Norwich.

This year he also has a sleigh which can seat up to four children and has an inbuilt snow machine.

Mr Abbott said when he moved house last year he was able to put up more lights, and had "upped it this year".

The dance academy owner had 11,000 lights on his house last year.

"Because the house was so bright last year I wanted to do the roof so I hired a cherry picker in October half term," he said.

Mr Abbott said he had had a positive reaction from the local community and his two next-door neighbours "have added lights as well".

People visiting the lights will be asked for a donation to homeless charity St Martins.

"I was registered homeless 15 years ago, through no fault of my own. I had a car, three jobs and I was sofa surfing," Mr Abbott said.

"I ended up in a hostel for nine months and built it up from there.

"With the pandemic you hear stories of families being made homeless. I've got three kids now and I couldn't imagine being homeless with children."

Mr Abbott is running more than 50 plug sockets to power the lights, but a friend, who worked with him when he was homeless, has offered to cover the cost of the electricity.

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