Welcome to the Lights for Bites website.

We are a house in WD186QE West Watford, that have displayed a charity light show for 8 years this year, run by Family and Friends. 

We are not a business.

Your donations go directly to the chosen charity.

All the display components are bought by Mark himself, who grows the show year after year for all to enjoy.

Our History

The show became a Charity light show in 2016 when Mark had the idea to use his Christmas lights to help others in need.

From 2016-2021, the chosen charity was the Essex & Herts Air Ambulance, which is an emergency service that Mark has worked alongside on the Highways, and has seen their struggles first-hand.

In 2022, we hit the cost-of-living crisis, that saw people turning off their heating, choosing to heat or eat, and relying on food banks to eat.

We came up with the name 'LightsForBites' and our show made just over £800 for our local foodbank, from donations via our JustGiving and our Facebook donation pages. 

Technical 

Mark, aka Sparky, has had a love for electronics all his life, and has been an Electro/Mechanical Inventor since the age of 14!

He is an Electronics & Communications Engineer by trade, so everything is programmed and designed by himself.

Pamela, Mark’s wife, and friends decorate the props you see light up to give them character in daylight.

Over the years as technology expands, so has the light show. From standard bulbs to LEDs and now using Electronic Smart Pixels.

The show is run from batteries that are charged in the daytime by Solar Panels making it energy efficient to run the 69,000 smart LEDs all individually programmed by Mark, to dance along to the selected song tracks. 

Each year, Mark uses his 4 weeks holiday to design and decorate props, then to put everything up outside the front of the house at the end of November. Also creating the sequences after work and at weekends all year round.

When the lights go up, the next year's show is already being planned.

Mark puts in the time and effort each year, to grow the show to make it bigger and better for all to enjoy, all we ask is that you donate to the charity if you can.

Summary

Whilst we stand and enjoy these lights, someone is deciding to heat their home or eat a meal, nobody should be in that situation.

Our show runs daily, between 4 pm to 10 pm on low volume out of respect for our neighbours, however, if we see you outside, we can come out, have a chat and turn up the music if requested.

We thank you for reading this, we hope you are able to come and see our show, if you are not able to, all our sequences will be up on YouTube and this website for you to enjoy later in December.

Stay up to date with our Instagram, Facebook & TikTok pages.

If you can donate, our donation pages will also be linked below. 

For any further enquiries, email us at lightsforbitesuk@gmail.com

Thank you all, stay well, look after each other and have a great Christmas 

The Lights For Bites Team