Murray sticks it out for one year to build home

AN ANGUS man is set to auction a house he built with his own hands for charity.

However, the house isn’t a holiday home made from bricks and mortar — it is a model house made entirely from ice lolly sticks.

Murray Crichton, 28, has spent the past year constructing the house using 3,500 sticks and painstaking attention to detail.

Having initially planned to give the house to his partner’s daughter, Murray has now decided to raffle it off to raise money for Tayside Children’s Hospital.

Murray, who is a carer, is selling 59 numbered tickets for £5 each, with the winning ticket the one which matches the bonus ball in that week’s National Lottery draw.

He said: “It was just a project I decided to take on. It was something to do at nights.

“Initially I was going to give it to my partner’s daughter Madison but we’re moving house and she doesn’t really have room for it so I thought it would be a better idea to help sick children.

“I was hoping to sell it off before Christmas so I could make a donation then, but I didn’t get it all organised in time.”

The house has two floors and includes a staircase, windows, doors and chimneys.

It also has furniture including tables, chairs and bunk beds and even has a toilet.

There are two turrets at one side of the model, each with pentagonal roofs.

Murray has also illuminated the inside of the unique abode with Christmas lights and put in details including a mirror and pictures on the walls.

Murray, of Arbroath, added: “I bought the sticks online, 3,500 of them, along with the glue and other stuff.

“The materials cost more than £100 in total.

“Thankfully I didn’t have to eat 3,500 ice lollies. I’ve spent more than 100 hours on it too, so it was quite a relief to finally get it finished.”

He said he was hopeful of selling all the numbers.

Murray, who stays with partner Jade, and her children Madison, eight, and Sean, six, said as much as he enjoyed building it, he won’t be doing anything similar any time soon.

Anyone who would like to buy a ticket should contact Murray online via his Facebook page.

Murray spent the past year building a house made entirely out of ice lolly sticks.