Crowds fill the streets for Christmas Festival

THOUSANDS of people packed Henley town centre on Friday evening for the Christmas Festival.

Roads were closed and lined with stalls offering festive refreshments and hot food, as well as fairground rides, performers and music entertainment and main shops stayed open late.

The evening was chilly but dry, which helped boost the numbers in the crowd with many wearing festive jumpers and Christmas hats.

They heaved towards the stage just before 7pm when the festivities formally began with the switching on of the lights on the 30ft Nordmann fir in Market Place, supplied by the Tree Barn in Christmas Common.

This year’s celebrity guest, Dame Mary Berry, was accompanied by Mayor Rory Hunt and seven-year-old Clemmie O’Hanlon, the winner of his Christmas card design competition.

Dame Mary, who lives in Henley, greeted the cheering crowds and said she felt “lucky” they had good weather. She said: “I’ve never seen so many people here, we’ve recently come to Henley, and we love it.”

The crowd joined in a chorus counting down from 10 after which Dame Mary pushed down the switch, turning on the lights of all of the trees in Market Place, including the Christmas tree in front of the town hall.

Dame Mary greeted the crowds a final time before leaving the stage saying: “Thank you for the welcome and have a simply wonderful Christmas in this lovely town we have.”

Daisy Smith, the town council’s communications manager, said that she had honoured the special guest with her choice of shoes.

She said: “I have to point out that my shoes are covered in cakes and even your face is on here. How often do you get to wear shoes with Mary Berry’s face on them with the actual Mary Berry?”

Ms Smith then asked Clemmie, who attends Trinity Primary School, what she thought when she was chosen as the winner.

She said: “We have an amazing Clemmie here, Clemmie, who is our Christmas card designer for the Mayor’s Christmas card.

“How much did you really enjoy drawing your Christmas card? Were you really excited that Rory decided to choose it as his winner?”

Clemmie replied by saying “Yes”, to cheers from the crowd.

Cllr Hunt, who was joined on stage by his mother Lindsay Hunt, told the crowd: “What a great privilege to be the Mayor of this great town. We’ve had no end of rain so, if I have another term, I’ll have to run on the basis of sunnier weather.”

People remained huddled around the stage as the Woodley Concert Band led the first choir song, God Bless Ye Merry Gentlemen, which was followed by Ding Dong Merrily on High.

Earlier in the evening, performers from the Kenton Theatre, Blue Mic Choir, Henley Children’s Theatre, Divas & Dudes, Stagecoach Henley and Stageworks, had entertained crowds on the stage, beginning at 5pm.

Cast members of this year’s pantomime at the Kenton Theatre, Snow White, Lois Glenister, Dan Whitley and Brian Elrick dressed as Snow White, Muddle and Holly Honeybum respectively, waded through the crowds handing out goody bags which included sweets.

A lantern parade, which departed the River & Rowing Museum at 5pm, featured about 80 children with their families marched from Mill Meadows to Queen Street and along Duke Street towards Market Place carrying decorated lanterns made of recycled plastic.

Rachel and Jeff Ellison, from Henley, came with their daughter Poppy, seven, and friends Kateryna and Petro Kriachko and son Davyd, six, also from Henley.

Davyd, a pupil at Sacred Heart Primary School, made a jellyfish lantern for the parade. He said: “I made my lantern in school and I wanted to make it so people can see it and I also really like sea creatures.”

Mrs Ellison, who rows for Henley Rowing Club, said: “This really is the start of the Christmas festivities, and it gets the children all excited and also we’ve come to support Sacred Heart School who have a stand here as well.

“This year, it’s been really nice to see the new stands as well. We love seeing the festive spirit, the community and seeing everybody from the area and we know quite a lot of people here so it’s really lovely.” Shops in the town centre extended their usual hours for a special late night shopping event, and others set up stalls along Duke Street and Bell Street offering festive refreshments.

Laurence Morris, of Laurence Menswear in Duke Street, sold mulled wine and panettone from a stall in front of his shop.

He was assisted by fiancée Estelle Canazilles, sister Lesley Alfred and store manager Alex Cymbaluk, and they raised almost £1,000 for the Chiltern Centre for disabled young adults in Henley.

Mr Morris said he would roundup the total himself. He said: “The Chiltern Centre does a fantastic job so we’re very happy to support them. The cake has very kindly been given by Imma the Bakery in Stoke Row.

“It’s dry, the weather’s nice and brings the town out. It’s fun and it’s the start of Christmas, so we always look forward to it.”

Husband and wife Jan and Anthea Mirkowski, who own Fairmile Vineyard in Henley, attended the festival for their fifth year. They held a stall in Duke Street selling a selection of their sparkling wines.

Mrs Mirkowski said: “It’s lovely meeting residents of Henley and it’s just a really joyous evening. It’s a nice way of meeting people we’ve met before and meeting new people.

“Being a Henley business, you want to support Henley. The stages of getting to this can be a bit nerve-wracking but once we’re set up, it’s a lovely evening.”

Henley Rugby Club had a stall raising money for the club by selling raffle tickets for a luxury hamper worth more than £500. It had been filled with items donated by club members.

Max Tilney, the chairman of the minis and juniors section, said that he was counting on a last-minute purchase to lift the Christmas spirit.

He said: “I’ve had to go and buy a karaoke machine to get some music to bring us to life. We thought we needed a bit more energy and entertainment in Duke Street, so we’re playing some Christmas hits.

“We’ve got people from the rugby club who are coming down in shifts to run the stall. The money will go towards helping the minis and juniors but also ongoing club activities.”

He added: “We are also giving free chocolates to any of our minis and juniors players who come down wearing Henley Hawks rugby tops.”

Sally Daniells ran a stall selling toys which had been donated, accompanied by other members of the Henley branch of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

They included her husband Norman and members Peter Herbert and Terry Bass, the vice-chairman. Mr and Mrs Daniells have been involved with the RNLI for nearly 50 years.

Mrs Daniells said: “You are giving to the community and it gives you a buzz as well and the money goes to save lives so it’s a win- win all the way.

“We’re very people- minded. We do this because we enjoy being with the people and raising the money. We don’t have to buy anything. Everything is donated from friends and people who have known us for so long.

“This event just gets Christmas going and we’re very grateful for whatever we get. This is to help run lifeboats and save lives at sea. That’s what it’s all about.”

Residents revelled in the Christmas spirit on display. Helen and David Mills attended their first festival after moving from Reading in June.

Mrs Mills said: “We just love the atmosphere. We’re so pleased that it was a sunny day and a lovely evening. We thought that if it was like last week, the weather would have been terrible.

“We only moved from Reading in the summer but we are absolutely loving Henley so far. There’s always so much going on.”

Linda Stokes, of King’s Close, took her son, Ted, four, and got involved in a variety of games and rides, including the fun house which was in Hart Street.

Mrs Stokes, who has lived in Henley for 18 years, said: “What I love is the atmosphere and the games that the children can play because you get the Christmas vibe just before Christmas.

“We come here every year because we’re close to town so it’s so convenient. It’s very special every year and it’s very exciting. We’ve just been to the fun house and it’s the first time my son has been old enough to get it so it’s just overwhelming for him. He’s so excited.”

Autumn Belgers and Nicky Foxley, who both work at Invesco in Perpetual Park, attended the festival with four other colleagues. Both said that they usually come every year.

Ms Belgers said that she had been dubbed the “Mary Berry” of the office when they host their own version of bake-off among their colleagues.

Ms Foxley said she was also a fan of the author’s cookbooks: “It’s a real community spirit, where everyone can walk in and there is something for everyone, something for kids and families.

“It was a massive draw having Mary Berry here, I’ve got her baking books and I bake every weekend. I love doing her recipes, her Victoria sponge is really good.”

At the town hall, special guests joined the Mayor for refreshments in the council chamber.Lady Judy McAlpine said that she had loved seeing the town so busy.

She said: “I came at 5.30pm and the place was rammed already – isn’t that fantastic? It was just wonderful to see people having fun.” Cllr Hunt said that he thought the council had done “exceptionally well” with this year’s decorations.

He said: “We have done exceptionally well with the tree this year and there are so many people here and it’s such a beautiful night that it should be a real highlight of the year.

“We’re very lucky in this town in the sense that we do celebrate year-round. I always very much look forward to seeing the bunting go up in the summer and this is the equivalent of that for the winter.”

Dame Mary Berry said she was “honoured” to turn on this year’s Christmas lights in Henley.

She said: “We’ve only recently moved to Henley and we absolutely love it. It’s wonderful to be able to walk into town. The tree looks magnificent, it’s absolutely huge and beautifully decorated and I think it’s going to give a lot of pleasure.

“I bought the Christmas card winner, Clemmie, who was thrilled to win the card competition, a little book because she loves cooking.”

Dame Mary added: “This is my first time being a part of the festival. If you live in a town, especially one as lovely as Henley, it’s a wonderful thing that one can take part in.”