TONY Noonan and his family in Templeglantine are again about to throw the switch on thousands of little and large lights for love at their home.
Every Christmas for the last 23 years – including during the Covid pandemic – the Noonans have set the hills ablaze and invited all comers to visit their home and contribute to the charities they support.
This year’s official lighting ceremony takes place this coming Sunday (November 19) and Limerick’s All-Ireland winning goalkeeper Nickie Quaid will press the switch and start the fundraising.
Santa will also be present greeting all the children and taking their letters back to the North Pole, while Mike Solo, the man with the golden trumpet, will provide entertainment.
Also a host of special sporting heroes will join the celebrations and everyone is invited to the kick-off.
Anyone who can’t make the lighting ceremony is welcome to visit any time on the run up to Christmas to enjoy the spectacle and leave an anonymous donation in one of the collection buckets around the yard.
This year the chosen light charities include Limerick Suicide Watch, Milford Care Centre, Recovery Haven Tralee, and Sile Eile in Churchtown, County Cork.
For the Noonan family, it takes months of climbing up and down ladders with thousands of LEDs and wiring up hundreds of glowing Santas, reindeer, and snowmen at Tullig North to stage the Christmas light show.
Last year, the family generously donated a sum of €30,180, the final count on the money raised at the 2022 lights event.
Visitors to the house and donors over the years have raised €250,000 for charities.
“We’ve tens of thousands of LED lights wrapped all around the house and the front. It’s looking fantastic. They say the International Space Station can see it when it’s all lit up,” Mr Noonan said proudly.
