Canberra's Ben Walker and James Crowther recognised by MS Australia for Gowrie Christmas light fundraiser

The past four years have seen Ben Walker and James Crowther light up their Stacy Street and Ruthven Street houses, raising $30,000 for MS Australia in the process. And, while it's too early to start counting this year's efforts just yet, their fifth year is gearing up to be just as successful.

Still, the duo's charitable efforts have been recognised. This month MS Australia chief executive Rohan Greenland presented the two 20-year-olds with the 50th Anniversary President's Medal.

"It's pretty surreal," Crowther says.

"It shows us the impact of what we do and what that does for MS. And that we are helping people with MS themselves and the research side of things as well."

While the two friends began decorating their houses - fulfilling a childhood dream to live in one of the "lighthouses" - close to a decade ago, it was when they decided to raise money for charity that they started to get serious about it.

From there it grew to a place where they not only take donations from those who explore what the houses have on offer during the month of December, but they have included an online raffle, set to be drawn on Boxing Day, with $2500 worth of prizes.

But for the duo, there is a personal reason as to why they chose to support MS Australia in this way.

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"My grandmother was diagnosed with MS some time ago, so when we realised that we had a nice platform building after doing the lights for a few years, we had a conversation with each other and settled on MS for partly that reason," Walker said.

"But we also thought that it was a bit under-serviced and there wasn't as much awareness out there for multiple sclerosis. So we also set out on a mission to change that and do as much as we possibly could to raise awareness as well as the funds."

Over the years, the two displays have been designed to be complimentary. For example, if one decides to have a zone dedicated to reindeer, the other one won't.

The largest difference between the two displays, however, is that while Walker's Stacy Street house is powered by the mains, Crowther's Ruthven Street home is completely solar. It's at that house that there are more than 250 solar panels to power more than 100,000 lights.

There is, however, one key thing that links the two this year - aside from the charity work. And that's a pair of bananas in pyjamas, with one placed at each house.

"We just found them one day, up for sale," Walker says.

"They're quite old and they've been around for many years by the looks of it, so we got them secondhand. They could be the only B1 and B2 in Canberra - they could be original props for something.

"But we just thought it was awesome. When we saw them and they fit perfectly within our character lands.

"We try to have something for adults and kids to enjoy. And this year, they have been massively popular, and it's been great seeing everyone trying to find B1 and B2."

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