Express & Star

Watch: Oldbury mum and son spread spooky spirit with charity Halloween display

Families eagerly waited in the street for their turn to walk around an Oldbury family home which was transformed into a Halloween house of horrors.

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Adam Rickards and his mum, Ellen Kendall, spend weeks every year putting up decorations - from mechanical clowns to gigantic spiders - to raise money for charity.

And this year was no exception, as their home on Poplar Avenue was overran by skeletons, cackling witches, cobwebs and even a 'body shop', where prop limbs dangled from the ceiling.

The pair flung open their doors to dozens of trick-or-treaters on Halloween night, who waited anxiously for their turn to walk around the spooky house.

A pirate-themed room awaited those visiting the home on Halloween night
A pirate-themed room awaited those visiting the home on Halloween night

Adam - who said he spent £1,800 on decorations last year - booked two weeks off work to start work on transforming the home in time for the event. 

The 26-year-old told the Express & Star: "We love doing it. It has been in my life since I was a kid. I have got bigger and it has got bigger with me.

"It is for the community, we do it for a good cause but obviously it is not everyday that you see something like this. For us it is normal but for everyone else it's not."

The family's home was transformed into a house of horrors
The family's home was transformed into a house of horrors

Last year, the Halloween-fanatics raised around £720 for mental health charity Mind but said they are hoping to beat the total this year, with the money set to be donated to the Midlands Air Ambulance charity.

With the event having continuously proven popular, Adam created a Facebook group, "The Haunted House in B69", in 2022, which has since attracted 1000 members.

Mum Ellen said people from as far as America have joined the social media page.

She said: "It is something we enjoy doing every year and it brings the community together. We do it for charity, we are doing it for the Air Ambulance this year.

One room was decorated with mechanical clowns
One room was decorated with mechanical clowns

"My partner did break his back in 2019 and he was air lifted to hospital so if we can raise a significant amount of money for them that would be fantastic.

"We have fun doing it but when we stand there and we see the reactions from them it's fantastic."

Samantha Proctor, who came to see the decorations with her 12-year-old daughter Lilly, said it is their favourite part of Halloween

She said: "We have come every single year and it just gets bigger every year. We base our route for trick or treating around this - every year it is the same.

"The atmosphere when you are queueing up is really good and just as you walk through it is amazing to think it is somebody's house as you go through it.

"The one year they did a circus part and there was a selfie booth in there next to some clowns, that was really cool."

The family were raising money for Midlands Air Ambulance charity this year
The family were raising money for Midlands Air Ambulance charity this year

Danielle Smith has also been coming along to the event for the past three years.

She said: "The first year we just happened to hear about it and that was it, the kids absolutely loved it.

"This is what the kids get excited for. It is really hard to remember that you are in actually in somebody's house. It is fantastic, we love it, the kids love it and it is always for a good cause."

Shelly Ryan, who lives nearby to Adam and Ellen, said she has more trick-or-treaters come along every year because of the display, which has cost her a "fortune" in sweets.

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