A spectacular Christmas lights display, run by an Ipswich family, has returned to the town for the eighth year in a row to raise money.

James Aleksic is a sound and lighting engineer who started off running his own disco for his 10th birthday party.

Since then he’s spent time retraining to follow his passion, working with The New Wolsey Theatre and running his own company JLA Sound and Light.

The 23-year-old lives with his parents and sister in Lister Road – just off Norwich Road – and has been helping to run the light show since 2013 to raise funds for the St Elizabeth Hospice.

The show is inspired by several family and friends who have been helped by the hospice and in 2018 the display was crowned ‘Best Fundraiser’.

“I was always involved in the light shows from a young age, it’s become an Aleksic family tradition,” James explained.

“A lot of people have now made it part of their Christmas tradition to come and visit our show.

“Once we put the lights up on Tuesday it definitely felt a lot more like Christmas.

“It all started when my uncle’s wife died and he decided to set it up as a fundraiser, we just kept it going from there.”

The display can be started at any time between 4pm and 9pm every night in December by pressing the big red button on the front of the house – hand sanitiser at the ready.

Lasting nearly 10 minutes, the lights dance to different Christmas songs and involves over 1400 individually controlled channels.

James added: “In these crazy times where social distancing means big fundraising events just aren’t possible, I feel this is a great way to spread some Christmas spirit and support an amazing local charity, without compromising anyone’s safety.

“I always put a lot of time and resources into creating the light show, but with this year being especially quiet for my industry, I’ve been able to put even more time to it and hope to share the display with as many people as possible again this December.”

Since 2013, the shows have raised a total of £1234 – £187 of which has already been donated this year.

Donate to the fundraiser via the Just Giving page here.