MORE than 200 households have been busy decorating their windows to create a magical illuminated outdoor gallery around Neilston.

Mum-of-three Cat Train has been blown away by the response from fellow villagers after being inspired by similar events in the south side of Glasgow.

She used social media to enlist the help of other parents and along with Anna Kerr, Aaisha Pollock, Emma Murdoch and Jaynee McLaren set about making the event a reality. 

More than 100 people turned up to collect packs containing coloured tissue paper and black sugar paper from her driveway.

It is part of an effort to bring some festive cheer to the village, along with other events such as a Santa drive-by and an art trail led by children at St Thomas Primary, Neilston Primary and the Madras Family Centre that has seen their drawings placed in the windows of local businesses.

Barrhead News:

Cat, 38, told the Barrhead News: “We originally thought we would do a really small loop in the village, so we could get people interested and then the event would grow over the years but we ended up with 214 households taking part.

“It feels like the community has totally got behind it and some of the efforts have been phenomenal. It has made the village look magical.

“The idea was to run a project that brought the community together as much as possible and, next year, we hope to get even more people involved by running a buddy system for those who want their window decorated but don’t have the time to do so or don’t want to do it themselves.”

With three daughters, aged five, three and 17 months, at home, Cat has gone for a unicorn and Christmas tree design on her own windows and the family has enjoyed going for walks in the dark to follow the art trail at its best.

She understands that not everyone in the community will be able to get out and about to view the designs, so a TV production student has filmed the displays for a video which will be put online.

Cat added: “The initial plan was to run this until December 13, when Santa did his drive-by in Neilston, but there are so many kids self-isolating that we have asked people if they would be happy to keep their decorations up for longer.”