'Halloween House' raising spirits in Derry

‘Halloween House’ is located in Woodburn Park, with the front garden covered in spooky lights, cobwebs and creatures brought back from the dead – and it’s all for a good cause.

‘Jack’ said: “I do this every year and I chose a different charity each time to give them a bit of publicity. I suffer from MS and you don’t hear a lot of things about that, so I understand the need to raise awareness and fundraise for different charities. Last year I did it for the Sperrin Unit and I did it for Children in Crossfire the year before that. I know that so many charities are really underfunded and there’s just no money for anyone so, I want to do whatever I can to help.

"It takes me a week to put up the decorations. I make all the webs by hand with a piece of string - which also makes it easier when I’m taking it down because I can just cut it up! I made a box, which I sit in and scare adults when they walk past! I love scaring the adults and making them laugh and I have sweets for the kids too. We can get talking, then, about the charity and show people the box for donations. I just really love doing it, I’m a big wain so I really enjoy putting it all up. It’s good for your mental health, too. I love seeing people laugh and enjoy themselves and have that connection with people.”

‘Jack’s house is decorated with a plethora of lights, inflatable characters and a projector. With the cost of electricity and other household bills on the rise, the question must be asked – how can he afford it?

"I bought new LED lights this year to replace the ones I used before,” ‘Jack’ said. “They’re very low on the electricity and a lot of the other things are battery powered. The inflatables and projector aren’t as cheap but it’s all for charity. Also, the cost of living is getting people down now and we all really need a pick-me-up so I’m not going to stop doing it just because it has become more expensive this year. I do get the odd comment of people asking if I’ve won the lotto, though!”

Michael Poole and his dad live in the same street as ‘Jack’ and one day they got talking about vasculitis. ‘Jack’ wasn’t aware of the disease before but wanted to dedicate this years ‘Halloween House’ to a vasculitis charity.

Michael said: “In 2014, my sister passed away from vasculitis. She had contracted the disease and then, a year later, she passed away from not recovering from it. Since then, we had planned to do something for the charity. Myself and my friend Gavin Webb walked the length of Ireland in June this year in aid of Vasculitis Ireland Awareness (VIA) and Air Ambulance NI in memory of Aisling and our good friend Chris Doherty, who was from Derry and had suffered a fatal heart attack in his home in Omagh recently.

"Vasculitis is an autoimmune disease that affects the blood vessels – so that’s your capillaries, arteries and veins. It causes the white blood cells to attack healthy cells which can be painful. It’s something you can manage and live with but you have to live with it for the rest of you life. It’s very rare, it came out of the blue for Aisling. It can be caused by anything and some of the causes are still unknown so any awareness to it is really great and any money raised will go into researching more about the disease.”

The ‘Halloween House’ is located on Woodburn Park, near Tesco in the Waterside.