Katrina Harte was gutted her £1,000 lights only lasted for five days (Picture: NCJ Media)

An electrical engineer who fulfilled her life-long dream of decorating her house with Christmas lights has been left devastated after the wind blew them down.

Katrina Harte has been searching for the perfect decorations since February and wanted to cheer up the people of North Shields after a difficult year.

But the 59-year-old was left devastated after a gust of wind sent the whole display tumbling down last week.

The £1,000 worth of lights lasted a mere five days in total.

She told the Chronicle Live ‘it broke her heart when they came down’.

‘I was really hurt’, she said. ‘The amount of time and money I spent to get them up there and then the damn wind came along and destroyed everything.’

Katrina was so dedicated to the cause, she had researched light manufacturers to find the perfect ones, rather than simply walking into a shop and buying some.

‘I got myself really upset over it but I thought I can’t let this beat me so when the wind calmed down I made a start on fixing them back up’, she said.

‘I’m just trying to cheer the whole area up because everything has been such a mess in the country. I haven’t just done this for me, I’ve done it for everybody.’

Katrina spent £1,000 on the specially chosen lights (Picture: NCJ Media)

Thankfully, most of the lights could be saved, and they are back in business after being fitted with stronger fixtures.

Katrina said: ‘I’m getting old and I thought it’s about time I finally put the decorations up.

‘I did the switch on early because everyone seems so saddened at the moment with everything that’s going on so I wanted to cheer myself and other people up.

‘So I put some Christmas music on and people came along for the switch on and it was a really lovely atmosphere.’

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The lights cost £1,000 but only lasted five days.