Christmas comes early for children of all ages around Tuam – thanks to a local homeowner who turns her house and garden into a festive winter wonderland.

Cars stop on the Galway Road out of Tuam, and children and parents get out of their vehicles to admire May Gibsey’s front garden light show, which she has continued to extend over the years.

“Sure this year alone, we could have added around a couple of hundred worth of decorations to the garden but at the end of the day, it is all worthwhile,” May told The Connacht Tribune.

However, she is in negotiations with the ESB to try and get the cost of electricity down as this could range from €2,000 to €3,000 over the festive period.

May is in her late seventies but she is has lost none of her enthusiasm for life and new projects.

A colourful character in every sense, at one stage in earlier years she even worked as a bouncer on the door of a local nightclub in Tuam.

More recently, her Christmas lights extravaganza in the front garden has become an integral part of Tuam’s festive season.

May has been decorating her garden for the past 25 years now with any donations she receives going to Croi, the Heart and Stroke Charity, for whom she has raised thousands over the past two and a half decades.

Her support for Croí has its foundations in the fact that May’s brother died of a heart attack in his early fifties which she said was an awful shock – and since then she has been doing her bit on the charity’s behalf.

That said, May was in two minds whether she would continue with the lights this Christmas given that her sister Patsy Murphy passed away through Covid a couple of months ago

However, Patsy’s family encouraged her to continue the Tuam and Galway tradition. Family members have also helped with new features this year, making magical arches for lights leading to the Santa house and crib.

“Each year we add more lights and features to the display. People have been very generous and stop to enjoy the lights and leave money,” she says.

Pictured: May Gibsey’s Christmas garden is a huge attraction for those coming into Tuam from the Galway direction. All proceeds going to Croí, Western Heart Foundation.