Two Okehampton families have jointly decorated their houses with Christmas lights for the third year running to raise money for charity.

The Robb family, along with their next-door neighbours are aiming to raise at least £500 for the Gilead Foundations, which provides sheltered accommodation to vulnerable women, and the Healthcare Workers’ Foundation, which supporters NHS workers.

Niki Robb said: ’My neighbour put up a Facebook page and asked people to write down ideas [for charities to support]. She wrote them all down and we pulled them out of a hat (or rather a tub).’

Last year, the families raised a huge £2,225 for Devon Mind, the county’s mental health charity and hope to beat it this year.

Ms Robbs said: ’If we could beat [£2,225) it would be fantastic but with covid, it has had an impact on people’s bank accounts. Some can only give a bit, others nothing at all, so we’re not asking for huge donations.’

It was Ms Robb’s son, Charly, who started the Christmas lights tradition when the family moved into the Okehampton area.

Charly Robb has a passion for Christmas lights and collects them throughout the year, so when a neighbour suggested that the Robbs could decorate the house for charity, he leapt at the chance.

Together with their neighbour, the family started the well-known annual tradition.

Since then, the lights have only got ’bigger and better’ in Ms Robb’s words

’It’s a bit mad,’she added. ’But at the end of the day, it’s also about the children coming past and seeing their faces.’

This year Charly Robb has entered the lights into the Illumination Street challenge, a British Garden Centres sponsored competition which awards families for the inventiveness of their Christmas light displays.

The lights are turned on at the beginning of December and will remain lit between five and 10pm until January 4.

The lights can be found on Oak Road in Okehampton and a collection box is stationed outside the houses for donations.