Twinkle twinkle little heart Christmas lights with a difference in Seven Dials

London’s unique village, Seven Dials which is located in the heart of the West End will celebrate Christmas Lights with a difference this December. 

Working with children’s heart charityTiny Tickers, Seven Dials willlaunchTwinkle Twinkle Little Heart’ lights from 4pm on Thursday 20 December, controlled by the heartbeat of Billy, a 2 year-old heart patient who is unable to visit the ‘Merry Christmas from Seven Dials’ lights this season. 

The result will be magical and moving and are set to be seen by thousands of shoppers visiting Seven Dials hunting for Christmas presents and festive dining experiences.

Currently, the lights in Seven Dialsare static, however with the help from Billy and his heartbeat, the Christmas lights surrounding the Dial momument in the heart of the village, will pulse in time to Billy’s heartbeat from 4pm - midnight, to help shine a light on the plight of babies and children who miss Christmas due to serious heart conditions. 

This year, the Seven DialsChristmas installation sees bespoke lights and decorations adorning the seven streets which feature over 200 recycled milk bottlesto fashionthe ‘Merry Christmas from Seven Dials’signage and 300 white snowflakesthat create a traditional winter wonderland to be enjoyed until January 2019.

Tiny Tickers, a small charity dedicated to helping improve the detection, care and treatment of babies with serious heart conditions, is highlighting thatwhilst everyone else is admiring the Christmas lights, many babies and young children face a very different Christmas; in hospital waiting for, or recovering from, open heart surgery.

Young Billy was diagnosed with Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA) at his mum's 20 week scan. TGA is a condition where the two main blood vessels leaving the heart are swapped overand affects 1 in 10,000 babies. After a traumatic 13-hour operation at just 7 days old, Billy has come on in leaps and bounds and is starting to find his feet at 2 years old. 

Katie Lawson, from Tiny Tickerssays: “At Christmas, many children suffering heart conditions like Billy miss out on the lights and magic due to operations or recovery. We work to keep the lights on for these little stars, so any donations would be an amazing Christmas present”.

Karen Baines, Head of Group Marketing & Communications, Shaftesburysays: “It’s a shame any child should miss the magic of Christmas. Seven Dials is about as festive as Christmas shopping gets, and with thousands of visitors set to admire our Christmas lights in the run up to Christmas day, we were delighted to use their power to shine a light on such a powerful cause” 

Those wishing to donate to Tiny Tickers should visit www.tinytickers.orgor text TINY22 £5 to 70070 to donate to Tiny Tickers and help give tiny hearts a better start in life.

 

Below is a link to a film surrounding the activity:

https://we.tl/t-zWlAAo0XGe

ENDS

Notes to Editors

·     Billy was born 9th May 2016, and had heart surgery on 16thMay 2016

·     312 UK babies with a serious heart condition will be born over the Christmas period

·     1 in every 125 babies born in the UK has a heart defect

·     1,000 babies leave hospitals in the UK every year with an undetected heart condition

·     Charity Tiny Tickers calls for people to give the ‘gift of hope’ to a sick child by donating at Christmas

 

For further information please contact Klodena Sulejmani at Sister London

Klodena.Sulejmani@SisterLondon.com/ 020 7287 9601

 

About Tiny Tickers 

Tiny Tickers helps babies with congenital heart disease (CHD), their families and the health professionals who look after them.We want every baby with a serious heart condition to have the best chance of survival and quality of life.

Tiny Tickers aims to:

Improve detection and diagnosis of CHD

Fund vital life-saving equipment

Educate and support health professionals

Advance treatment and care of patients 

Improve experience of families affected by CHD

Text TINY22 £5 to 70070 or visit https://www.tinytickers.org to donate

Twitter @tinytickers

Facebook @tinytickers

Instagram /tinytickers

 

Seven Dials 

Seven Dials is home to 95 shops, including international flagships and concept stores, renowned beauty and grooming salons as well as over 90 award-winning cafes, restaurants, bars and pubs. The area comprises of Monmouth Street, Earlham Street, Neal Street, Shorts Gardens, Neal’s Yard, Endell Street, Shelton Street, Mercer Street and the Seven Dials monument. Combined with two luxury hotels, five theatres, two private members clubs, a large number of apartments and offices, Seven Dials is a unique retail and leisure destination in the heart of London. 

Sevendials.co.uk 
@7DialsLondon

About Shaftesbury

Shaftesbury owns and manages a 15-acre property portfolio in the liveliest parts of London's West End.  Focused on restaurants, leisure and retail in the highly popular, sought-after and prosperous locations of Carnaby, Seven Dials and Chinatown, it also includes substantial ownerships in East and West Covent Garden, Soho and Fitzrovia.   

The portfolio comprises nearly 600 shops, restaurants, cafés and pubs, extending to 1.1 million sq. ft., 593 apartments and 0.5 million sq. ft. of offices.  All our properties are close to the main West End Underground stations, which currently handle c 228m passenger’s p.a., and are within ten minutes’ walk of the two West End transport hubs for the Elizabeth Line, at Tottenham Court Road and Bond Street, which projections indicate could be handling 200 million passengers annually by the mid-2020s.