Praise in Commons for fundraiser Derek

A DAD-of-two who has raised almost £50,000 for charity by lighting up his Mirfield home for Christmas has been praised in Parliament.

Dewsbury MP Paula Sherriff brought festive cheer to the Brexit-stricken House of Commons when she told MPs about fundraiser Derek Highe.

Derek, of Robin Royd Avenue, has turned his semi-detached house and front garden into a Christmas wonderland every year bar one since 2002.

In that time he has raised more than £48,000 in donations, most of it for Kirkwood Hospice.

In the Commons on Thursday, Ms Sherriff congratulated Derek on his hard work and dedication.

She told MPs: “Frankly we can all do with a little bit of Christmas cheer in this place this week so I would just like very briefly to tell you about Derek Highe from Robin Royd Avenue in Mirfield.

“He lights up his house every year and he has raised over £40,000 for charity including for Kirkwood Hospice.

“It seems seeing really is believing in this case and I would encourage people to visit the website robinroyd-xmaslights.co.uk in order to see for themselves if they don’t want to, or they can’t, visit Mirfield.

“But can we have a debate on how our local communities contribute so much whether it be donating to food banks or raising money for charity at this time of year?”

To chuckles in the house, Leader of the Commons, Andrea Leadsom, responded: “I am grateful to the honourable lady for cheering us all up and certainly I also love to see those houses where people have gone to enormous lengths to make them bright and friendly for the whole community.

“I do encourage colleagues to pop round to my office.

“We do have a few Christmas decorations up there as well but probably nothing like as good as the ones in Robin Road (sic) and I pay tribute to her constituent for the excellent work they are doing for charity.”

Mrs Leadsom inadvertently got the name of the street wrong then later the Leader’s Office tweeted a video clip but also got confused about Derek’s name saying: “Today in Business Qs @paulasherriff praised constituent Robin Royd, who decorates his house at Christmas to raise money for @KirkwoodHospice.

“She asked @CommonsLeader for a debate on how local communities contribute during the festive season.”

Derek was proud and delighted and said even the mix-up over his name didn’t take the gloss off his mention in Parliament.