Efforts to capture the festive sparkle of a Perthshire village on camera have been met with delight by locals.
Liz Kay, an auxiliary minister for the Church of Scotland, has spent the past few days recording the Christmas lights in Inchture and posting the edited “walkaround” videos to Facebook – much to the pleasure of the village’s residents.
The 65-year-old, whose filmed walks with her dog Buddy during lockdown earlier this year were met with a great reception, was keen to add to her video series and show off the locals have going the extra mile with their displays this year.
“I made a few videos, two or three minutes long, of Buddy throughout lockdown just to cheer folks up a bit. Since I started doing that there’s been about 25,000 views on all the different videos,” Liz explained.
“The reason I went out for the Christmas lights was just as another video in that series. That’s really what it was – just an extension of the wee series of videos that I started off at the beginning of lockdown.
“The feedback from it was amazing, so much so that people were saying ‘you’ve missed me out’ and ‘I didn’t have my lights finished’.
“It’s a place for people to see what’s been going on and, also, there are a lot of people – particularly older people – who don’t like to go out at night and wander around. There’s a few of them that have seen it and enjoyed it.”
Liz thinks that people are making a particular effort to put a smile on the faces of locals after such a difficult year.
She said: “It’s been really good. I think people have just gone the extra mile this year to make the place nice.
“You’re aware that people are a bit down, they’re beginning to get a bit frayed at the edges.
“I’ve lived in the village for over 40 years and I know so many people that are struggling – and others that are trying to make their gardens lovely and their houses lovely, with all the lights and everything.
“I get as much out of filming it as the folks that are watching them.”
In response to Liz’s videos – which have been viewed more than 2,000 times – one woman wrote on Facebook: “Enjoy all your posts of your walks with Buddy and was lovely to see the lights in the village – brings a much-needed boost and smile to folk.”
