23-year-old Gowrie friends, Ben Walker and James Crowther, have been decorating their family homes since they were in primary school.

“We always enjoyed just going around and seeing the other displays, particularly in Tuggeranong,” says Ben.

“There were quite a few at the time, so we started with just a few lights around the house… and that quickly turned into an addiction that grew into a big light display,” says James.

With significant help from their parents and the support of their neighbours, Ben and James’ Christmas light displays became more popular each year.

Both say that what started it all was the joy of Christmas and wanting to create for other families what they had enjoyed as kids.

“It’s amazing to see the same families that have come back now for years…and the kids have grown up, and they’ve had more kids. It’s just crazy,” says Ben.

In 2017, the two then Gowrie teenagers realised that it wasn’t only the spirit of Christmas they had to share.

“We decided that since we had a bit of a platform and there were a lot of people driving past and coming back each year, that it would be worth doing something for a good cause”, says Ben.

Mr Crowther adds that they were inspired by other locals, like Roger and Kay of Middleton Circuit, who continue to use their light display to raise money for various charities.

“And my grandmother has MS, so we settled on fundraising for multiple sclerosis,” says Ben.

Christmas Lights for MS was born.

Since then, Christmas Lights for MS has raised $125,000. Something Ben and James say they feel privileged to have been able to facilitate.

Both of them reinforce the huge commitment of their parents, families and neighbours in setting up, supervising and putting up with all that has been required.

“We start setting up in October …open the display 1 December and it runs every night until the end of December,” says James.

“So, I don’t think we could be doing what we’re doing without the support we’ve had”, he says.

This year, however, will be the last year that their homes in Stacey and Ruthven Streets will be fundraising as Christmas Lights for MS, as the two take a break for a while.

Ben and James would like to say a special thank you to their home suburb of Gowrie, which according to them both, ‘punches above its weight’.

To this end, Ben and James have partnered with St John’s Ambulance ACT to also install a publicly accessible defibrillator at Gowrie shops, which will be added to their MS fundraising effort.

And what about the lights?

James says his home in Ruthven Street will continue to put up lights each year for now.

And will Ben be back?

“Maybe, we’ll see!” he says.

You can support Christmas Lights for MS, via their Facebook page or when you visit Stacey and Ruthven Streets in Gowrie. Lights are on every night until New Year.