This Christmas, we asked our residents across the South West to capture in a photo what Christmas means to them. 

We are delighted to announce our winners, who will be receiving a voucher as a prize for their entries. 

Claire Flynn

Claire Flynn is one of the winners of our competition after sending us a picture of her cherished dog who sadly passed away this year.

Claire instantly thought of her beloved labradoodle, Mickey, who was 11 years old when he was diagnosed with cancer.

“He was a rescue dog that came to me 11 years ago and he was an absolute joy in the house. He was just the best.”

Lisa Hopwood

Lisa Hopwood, from Somerset, submitted a picture featuring her two children, 12-year-old, Jake, and seven-year-old Megan.

The image captures the children in a warm embrace in front of a Christmas scene including trees and a fireplace so Lisa thought it may be the ideal picture to enter because it represents the essence of what Christmas means to her, which is family.

“I decided on this photo because this picture is representing family and that’s what Christmas is all about for us.

We had the photos taken last year and we had quite a few different family photos taken but this is my favourite because it’s the one that captures two of my children, and we’ve had a few of them printed too.”  

Jayne Snape

Jayne Snape, from Truro, is a winner after entering a cheeky matching pyjamas photo taken with her loved ones. 

The family photo features the family all in red Christmas pyjamas with their names on them such as ‘Santa... Loves this Grandma’ and has Jayne’s two sons, her daughter-in-law, her grandson and her and her husband.

The family usually spend every Christmas together and Jayne’s daughter-in-law brings matching pyjamas for them to put on in the early evening to play games after tucking into a big roast lunch.

Jayne, 59, said: “It was taken last year when everybody came over, we all put them on that night. We all just got ready for bed, but they didn't stay, but we got ready to slouch and watch the Christmas films.

“To be perfectly honest, we were going to go away this year and my grandson, Joel, turned around and said, ‘Christmas isn't Christmas without my Grandma and Grandad’ because it’s so family orientated for us and that is the family we spend it with.”

Cara Woodman

Cara Woodman, from Falmouth, first thought was to enter of one of her son’s Christmas drawings. 

The mum entered her eight-year-old son Zachary’s Christmas drawing of a mouse dressed in a Santa outfit into the competition.

The creative eight-year-old loves to draw, and he has done quite a few Christmas drawings for fun this Christmas as he gets excited for Santa to arrive.

Zachary said: “It’s really exciting to win and the drawing is of one of my favourite toys, a Christmas mouse called Holly.” 

His mum Cara added: “My son loves drawing especially this time of year because he gets to do lots of Christmas pictures, so I wanted to enter him to spread a bit of Christmas joy. 

“Christmas means to me spending time with my little boy and seeing all the magical things that he does and how he enjoys creating things. It’s really lovely for him to win so thank you."