A couple in Bicester are using the opportunity of Halloween to help raise money for a charity which has helped one of their close friends.

Jonathan and Andrea Calix have decorated the front of their home in Elmsbrook with pumpkins, skeletons and a gravestone for Dobby the house elf, with the addition of a QR code which visitors to the ‘haunted house’ can scan.

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On scanning the QR code, trick or treaters are taken to a fundraising site taking donations for The Brain Tumour Charity, a UK-based organisation dedicated to funding research and raising awareness of brain tumours and brain cancer.

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Mrs Calix, 35, said: “We wanted to raise money for this charity because we have a female friend in Oxford who is battling brain cancer.

“She introduced us to the charity and has been raising money for it too. It’s been a great help to her throughout her journey.

“It’s a smaller charity, which is expected because not as many people suffer from brain cancer as say, breast cancer, so there aren’t as many donors.”

The husband-and-wife team – who moved to Bicester two years ago – invited the public to join them at their house from October 26 to the night of Halloween, any time between 6pm and 11pm.

Mr Calix, 36, said: “It’s been amazing, especially Halloween night. We had a tonne of neighbours come round. Elmsbrook is big enough now that we see lots of people going for walks, and lots of kids stopped to check out our Halloween displays.

“Its’ a very nice atmosphere and the community is very nice here.”

The couple said their main mission with the QR code was to raise awareness of the charity.

Mrs Calix said: “Jonathan designed the QR code to sit at the front of the display and catch people’s attention. It would take visitors to the website and they could donate if they felt like it.

“It was just a way of getting the charity into peoples’ minds. Sometimes people think of Halloween as a dark holiday, and we wanted to bring something positive for the community.”

Mr Calix added: “Halloween gave us the opportunity of the date to highlight an issue that’s close to us.”

The fearfully fun philanthropists managed to raise £120 over the course of the five days, and have said they will keep the QR code up until the end of the month in case anyone else wants to donate.

Mr Calix said: “People were very generous. We would love to be able to do this again next year, and maybe other people will do it too.

“It would be great to see a few houses with charity signage collections next Halloween.”

Here is the couple's JustGiving page: Jonathan Calix is fundraising for The Brain Tumour Charity (justgiving.com)

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1