Allan Spencer turns 100 after decade lighting up Newcastle
Allan Spencer turned 100 after a decade creating Gracelands, raising over $350,000 for Hunter charities.
Allan Spencer turned 100 last Saturday, a decade after he and his wife Margaret transformed their Belmont North home into Gracelands each December. The house featured more than 60,000 lights, model train sets, a 3.5-metre Santa, and a skateboarding snowman.
Hundreds of visitors came every night and threw money into bins for local charities. Across ten years the Spencers raised more than $350,000 for the Hunter region.
Margaret, who just loved Christmas, started the tradition. She died in 2013 at age 80.
Spencer had built several businesses: milk runs, a motel, and a cricket centre. He and Margaret took more than 80 overseas holidays, visiting America many times to buy Christmas lights.
Spencer says: "I married the most beautiful girl in the world and got my kids, can't do any better mate."
- More than 60,000
- Lights on display
- More than 350,000 dollars
- Charity funds raised
- Ten
- Years of displays
- October 24, 1926
- Birth date
Why it mattersA man who spent a decade bringing joy to thousands of strangers now marks his centennial, showing how one person's generosity shapes a community for years.
AustraliaNewcastle locals who grew up seeing Gracelands have lost the display that defined their childhood Christmases, but Spencer's legacy of giving remains part of the Hunter's story.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 1 h ago
