A creative Coatbridge resident is decking out his home in spooky style for Halloween and preparing to welcome hundreds of neighbours to his biggest-ever display.
Kieran Smyth is working on the transformation of his garden at Kelso Quadrant into a spectacular and haunting display featuring dozens of skeletons and skulls, an array of hand-crafted decorations, lighting and home-grown pumpkins from his nearby Blairhill allotment.
He has been staging the display since first moving to the town in 2016 and last year welcomed more than 200 visitors; and is this year using the popular community attraction to raise funds for local counselling charities.
Kieran told Lanarkshire Live how he loves to “go all out for Halloween”, and his display even has a dedicated Facebook page featuring its skeleton characters overseeing the preparations for the display at his Summerlee address.
He said: “I’ve always liked Halloween and it’s a great chance to be creative; I enjoy making things and seeing something fun and being in my element making it real.
“What I do has just expanded over the years and got bigger and bigger – at first it was just the front garden but now we have a walk through the close and into the back garden for a bigger display.
“There are about 30 life-size models, animatronics and holograms, pumpkins which I’ve grown at the allotment with the biggest being about six feet, and all sorts of decorations and other bits and pieces.
“For this year I’ve made some Stranger Things decorations plus new monsters and dragons; every year I do a wee bit more and start making models in September so I have things stored all over the house and shed in the run-up to Halloween.
“Last year I made 250 candy apples and prepared 100 bags of sweets and gave them all out – all the local kids love it and are running about screaming, and I think everybody likes things happening that give a sense of community.”
Kieran works as a therapist and is this year inviting visitors to the haunted garden to make a donation to his chosen charity, Lanarkshire counselling and CBT centre.
The Coatbridge organisation provides valuable therapy sessions, including an affordable programme of free or low-cost sessions thanks to generous counsellors and students to ensure that people who may otherwise struggle to afford help can still access it.
Kieran said: “The centre provides counselling to some of the most vulnerable members of our community so I wanted to try to support them; we know times are tough for everyone, but we usually have a couple of hundred people through the garden every year so a pound or two here and there will hopefully add up.”
All are welcome to attend the haunting display at Kelso Quadrant from 5pm to 8pm on Monday’s Halloween night.
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