Residents in two Leamington streets create a 'living' advent calendar with their homes, bringing much-need cheer to the town

Residents in two Leamington streets have created a 'living' advent calendar with their homes.

As each day in the month passes, neighbours in Lonsdale Road, Lillington, and Arlington Avenue are revealing decorated windows, like the windows of an advent calendar, to bring a smile to faces at the end of a difficult year.

The idea in Longsdale Road came after a WhatsApp group was formed with the advent of Covid by Clare Darby, where people living in the road helped each other with shopping, ideas for activities to keep children occupied and to ensure everyone had support in any way they needed.

It brought residents closer together and last month neighbour Jude Baum suggested they should do something to help make the street one of the most festive in the town.

Now numbers are displayed prominently in windows for those homes taking part and, as the date is reached, families are revealing their festive creations.

Jude said: “It has been a tough year for everyone and we just thought this was a nice idea to bring a smile to the faces of those passing and to continue the new friendships that have been created as a result of the Coronavirus challenges.

“We certainly do not claim to be the most festive street in the town, but we just wanted to do something creative to ensure people have a Merry Christmas.”

In Arlington Avenue, passers-by have been enjoying the festive displays.

Resident Catherine Kilgour said: “Milli Buckingham suggested we all came together on Arlington Avenue to celebrate the countdown to Christmas.

“We all felt that illuminating our windows and decorating our houses would help spread some Christmas cheer.

“It’s been tough for lots of us this year and with Christmas feeling very different, it is nice to be able to walk down Arlington Avenue and feel festive.”

We hope that people walking down our avenue enjoy it as much as we do.”