Tony Noonan’s Winter Wonderland in West Limerick

LIMERICK Rose Marie Hennessy was more than happy to take second place to Santa Claus  when he turned up at the Noonan home in Templeglantine at the weekend.

Marie’s job was to turn on the power for Tony Noonan’s Winter Wonderland of lights, which  has become one of the county’s best-loved Christmas traditions.

But Santa Claus also turned up to meet the children and to take their letters back to the North Pole with him.  

“I was in the queue with my letter too,” Marie joked.

The weather, she added, was “a small bit against them” but once the lights went on, nothing else mattered.

For almost 20 years, Tony Noonan has been decorating his home with Christmas lights and people have been travelling from all over the county and the province to see them. He has raised tens of thousands of euro for charity as a result, €19,800 last year alone.