A BENDIGO man is not letting a cancer diagnosis stand in the way of him spreading plenty of Christmas cheer.
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Alec Ryan, 77, is wowing passers-by with a spectacular Christmas lights display at his Ellis Street home.
This is the third year he has lit up his house, but fears it might be the last.
His astonishing presentation features about 40,000 flashing lights and a growing assortment of animals, all hand-made by Mr Ryan using three quarter inch square tubing.
The cast includes 11 moving reindeers, three emus, a crocodile, kangaroo, deer and butterfly and of course the piece de resistance – an eight feet high, 21 feet long elephant.
Some take as little as one hour to piece together, others take more than three hours.
Mr Ryan says the motivation for decorating his house is simple.
“It’s all for the kids,” he says.
“All I want is to make people happy, especially the kids.
“To see the kids smile when they look at it is an amazing feeling.”
Mr Ryan says the display takes about an hour each night to set up and another hour to pull down.
All I want is to make people happy, especially the kids.
- Alec Ryan
Perhaps surprisingly, given the high volume of lights, he says the size of his December power bill was never as exorbitant as most would think.
“Last year it cost me about $30 to light up,” Mr Ryan says.
“The cost isn’t a consideration, I put it up for the children.
“It looks great at night.”
More than 100 children and families turn out to see Mr Ryan’s creation each night. He expects numbers to grow as Christmas Eve draws nearer.
Diagnosed recently with prostate cancer, Mr Ryan says future Christmas lights displays would be dependent on his health.
Appreciative admirers hope it is not the last they have seen of Mr Ryan’s impressive handiwork.
They include Melbourne woman Lauren Hancock and her sons Sam and Lenny, who made an impromptu stop in Ellis Street on Thursday night.
“We are in the process of moving to Bendigo and were driving past and the kids just yelled ‘we’ve gotta stop, we’ve gotta stop’,” Mrs Hancock said.
“Our eldest son Sam said it was the best lights he had ever seen.
“I thought it was fantastic too."