A FAMILY in Kidderminster have been brightening people's days during the pandemic by decorating their fence to celebrate the different holiday seasons.
The Firths first painted their garden fence in St John's Avenue in rainbow colours last year as a tribute to the NHS, and after seeing how much joy it brought to their neighbours, have redecorated it for Halloween, Christmas and most recently to spread some love on Valentine's Day.
Husband and wife Keith and Bex and their daughters Eillithia, 7, and Serenity 3, painted more than 300 wooden hearts with inspirational quotes and hung them on the fence for passersby to take home.
Bex, 37, said: "It all started last year - we had been talking about doing something a bit crazy with the fence and then when the lockdown started we thought it would be pretty cool to paint it with rainbows to bring people some happiness.
"I was on furlough at the time so it was just a really fun thing to do at the time with the kids.
"It's a reversible fence so we decided to paint it an ordinary red colour on one side in case the neighbours didn't like it, because then we could have just flipped it and had the rainbow facing us, but people really loved it.
"We put some Easter egg pictures on it for Easter, then when October came around and it was clear we would be stuck inside for Halloween, we went crazy and painted it orange and purple and had spiders and things hanging off it.
"Then we had poppies for Remembrance Day and for Christmas we had lights and Christmas and bows and all sorts, it was super fun for the girls to do.
"In January, one of the local neighbourhood groups got in touch and asked if we wanted to be part of a walking safari and we suggested doing a Valentine's theme and they loved the idea.
"The girls wanted to do something to share some happiness and we had already been making Christmas decorations with affirmations written on them, so my seven-year-old suggested doing something similar for Valentine's Day.
"We've now done around 300 wooden hearts for people in the community and everyone has been so warm and friendly about it.
"People on social media have been saying how it gave their family something to go out and do for the day. We even had a card through the door from somebody saying how it made them smile.
"We started doing this because it made us feel happy, but we didn't realise it would bring so much joy to the community too."
Bex said the family are yet to decide on their next fence design, but are planning to redecorate it for Easter so "watch this space!"
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