Haunted house raises fang-tastic funds
This Halloween, local supporter, Michael, built a haunted house in his garden for trick or treaters to enjoy, to raise money for Naomi House & Jacksplace!
Michael, who lives in Winchester, has a real passion for Halloween and all things creepy and crawly. He has spent years slowly building his Halloween collection, from light up pumpkins, and skeletons, to spiders and ghouls. Built in his garden, the structure behind the haunted house is simply a couple of garden marques with timber panels surrounding the sides that can be changed each year. This year, he had some spare roofing felt, and along with hundreds of cobwebs, built an immersive experience for local trick or treaters, that replicated walking through the corridors of a haunted house – with ghouls jumping out, spiders hanging from the ceiling and even a fog machine, creating a very spooky experience!
This was all to celebrate his love of Halloween, to give something to the local community to enjoy and to raise vital funds for our hospices, via collection pots and buckets (presented by some of his ghoulish friends!)
Two Naomi House & Jacksplace fundraisers visited Michael’s haunted house and spoke to him about the experience:
Halloween is my favourite time of the year, and the annual haunted house is my labour of love. I love creating something for the local children and families to enjoy and being able to raise money for charity at the same time is fantastic. I’ve been creating Halloween displays at my home for years now and am proud to have done it to raise money for Naomi House & Jacksplace for three of those years now. A family member used the service at Naomi House and we value the support the children’s hospice gave to our family, so I’m glad I am able to give a little something back.
Each year, the haunted house takes weeks to setup, but with the help of Michael’s children and grandchildren, they bring his Halloween visions to life for the community to enjoy.
The experience has been perfected over the years and each year, there are new additions to the experience. Last year there was a river flowing through the middle that visitors had to cross via a wooden bridge, and this year, there was a waterfall that stretched across the back of the haunted house! Complete with water falling down over a rock face, there were skeletons, spiders and cobwebs and even long lost treasure in the water!
Louise Gough, Community Fundraiser at Naomi House & Jacksplace, said:
This is a great example of someone wanting to share their passion with their local community, and the local community sharing their love for his passion by donating to charity. Michael’s haunted house is incredible, and his annual support means so much to the hospices. We’d like to say a huge thank you to Michael and his family for your spooker-ific support, we can’t wait to see next year’s enchanting experience!
