A retired Glamorgan Vale dairy farmer’s Christmas decorations light up his neighbourhood in December.
Geoff Beattie goes all out and has over 400,000 lights that shine so brightly you can see them from outer space.
Well, maybe not outer space but his lights draw an audience like moths to a flame.
“My son Jason began decorating his house 22 years ago and I started 20 years ago with six rope lights,” he said.
“We used to do our two houses on Beattie Road, then decided to do one big one because [Jason] had problems with parking at his house.
“We’ve entered competitions held by television networks and won firsts, seconds and a third.
“We haven’t entered competitions for about eight years now and this year we entered the Somerset Regional Council Christmas Lights Competition in the rural section, and won.”
His lighting isn’t solar powered and he uses the electricity grid to make things glow.
When asked about the hit to his hip pocket he laughed and said, ‘we don’t talk about that’.
“It costs about $1200 to keep the lights on in December,” he conceded.
“We don’t just do it for the community or for us, we are collecting donations for the Leukemia Foundation because my wife Elaine died after being diagnosed with it.
“My son started [decorating] when his mum died and together we raise around $3,000 a year with the lights for the Leukemia Foundation.”
Competition accolades aside, the joy they get from seeing people’s faces light up when they see the displays make it worthwhile.
“I’ve been raising money for the Leukaemia Foundation for 38 years,” he said.
“Elaine passed away in 1987 and I joined the Leukemia Foundation the same year.”
He said Jason was the ’design guru’ and in charge of pulling off a stellar display year after year.
“He does it the way he wants it because I don’t do it right,” Geoff laughed.
“He also gets up on the ladder, I used to do that but he won’t let me climb up it anymore.
“I have grandchildren and they help me put the decorations up.”
The Beatties buy new decorations every year to add to an already impressive collection.
There are other skills Geoff brings out in December and like homemade Christmas fruit cake.
He sells his cakes to people who come to see the lights.
“I have 20 cakes cooking at the moment,” he said.
“I make iced and non iced cake in two sizes because some people dont like icing on their Christmas cake.
“My fruit cake holds a record at the Brisbane show and so does my plum pudding.
“I’ve won awards for my fruit cake at shows in Perth, Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne.
“I’ve been baking since my wife died because it was my therapy.”
