Basket sales set record

A RECORD number of summer hanging baskets have been sold in Henley this year.

The 270 baskets bought by residents and businesses beat the previous highest total of 252, which was set last year.

The baskets are sold by Henley in Bloom, which is supported by the Henley Standard’s Buy a Basket campaign.

They will be installed next week by supplier Windowflowers, of Burnham, which will also maintain and water them all summer.

This year, the baskets will contain purple and gold flowering plants to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III.

These will be surfinia blue, verbena purple, Biden’s sun drop, lysimachia goldilocks and calibrachoa sunrise.

Miles Watson-Smyth, director of Windowflowers, said it was “amazing” to have set a record for the second year running.

He said: “After 17 years, I am thrilled to bits that the hanging baskets remain as popular as ever and that residents and businesses of Henley have embraced this initiative so strongly and continue to support the hanging baskets.

“It’s the continuing support of the Henley Standard that helps drive sales and increase awareness as well as people taking greater pride in their environment and paying more attention to the local streets.”

Councillor David Eggleton, who chaired Henley in Bloom when the campaign began, called the record “absolutely brilliant”.

He said: “It’s all good for the town and businesses. When there are flowers and the colours in town, it uplifts people. It is also welcoming for visitors.

“We all need cheering up after the doom and gloom of covid and everything else. We are now on our way to recovery and it’s only going to get better.

“People don’t want to spend money at the moment as we have all been hit with the financial crisis but you can’t put a price on the town looking nice and welcoming.”

Kellie Hinton, former vice-chairwoman of Henley in Bloom, said: “It’s really great that everyone has come together. With the added celebration this year of the King’s coronation there is an extra sense of civic pride in the town.

“The baskets make the town a lot more cheerful, especially with the bunting and shop windows competition too. It all comes together.

“It encourages visitors to come to the town, spend money and have fun. There is a real sense of celebration this year even though we are still coming through some really hard times.

“It feels like this summer, we are coming out again. As the Mayor Sarah Miller said in her speech at mayor-making there will be more events like the celebration of the new King.” The summer baskets are no longer available to buy. To buy a winter basket, which will be installed in October, email bookings@
henleytowncouncil.gov.uk

The buyers are as follows:

12 baskets: Badgemore Park Golf Club.

10: South Oxfordshire District Council (Greys Road car park).

Five: Maggie Wilkinson; Chiltern House, Station Road.

Four: Redmayne-Bentley, Market Place; Sue Ryan, Peppard; Courtiers Investment Services, Hart Street.

Three: Ian Desmond, Friday Street; Hof’s, Market Place; Blandy & Blandy, Thames Side.

Two: Savills estate agents, A Findlay, Aura Creative, Sarah Brady, all of Bell Street; Ballards, Hart Street; Hilary Trudeau, Market Place; Jennifer Seale, New Street; Wendy Spurling, Northfield End; Brenda Smith, Victoria Court; Nimmo; Villars Hayward, Boston Road; Sally Rippon, Friday Street; Putman Place Management Company, off Friday Street; Sue Vivian-Wright, Bird in Hand, both of Greys Road; Facy, Market Place; A B Walker & Son, Manning UK, both of Reading Road; Sue Johnson, St Mark’s Road; Higgs & Co, Kench & Co, Lemoy, Perpetual House, all of Station Road; Hegarty & Axford, West Street; Reids of Henley, Reading Road; Dominique Van Heerden, Greys Road; Lady Sew and Sew, Farm Road; Kay Hayes, Knight Frank, both of Thames Side.

One: Head Partnership, Bell Street; Shirley Lees, Boathouse Reach; Penny Bayliss, Peter Whitaker, Irene Fox, the Henley Larder, Annie Chapman, Jean Lowery, all of Bell Street; Sara Batting, Boathouse Reach; Michael Sharp, Gravel Hill; Hamilton Associates, Helen Prescot, Henley Scout Group, Sarah Barry, Screaming Frog, all of Greys Road; Anne Rayner, Hop Gardens; Lauren Butcher, King’s Road; Sue Budd, Niagara Road; Next Call, Queen Street; David Morris, Radnor Close; N Hall Taylor, Radnor Close; Artistry Gallery, Safebuy, Tomalin & Son, all of Reading Road; Jemma Meehan, Andrew Moberly, Claudia Klaver, Emma Dreike, Madeleine Probert, Richard Wyatt, all of St Mark’s Road; Mr and Mrs Freeman, Vicarage Road; MME Properties, Albert Road; Michael Spedding, Nigel Fox, Friday Street; Bryan Wrighton, Gravel Hill; d:two, Market Place; Jill Mellis Haigh, New Street; Barbara Cooper, Queen Street Mews Management, both of Queen’s Close; John Glen Films, Ravenscroft Road; McQueen Turner Solicitors, Royal House Dental Care, Kitovitz, Mella Waterhouse, all of Station Road; The Chocolate Café, Thames Side; Vleugels, Wharfe Lane; Veronica Lawson Smith, Fair Mile; Alison Kinna; Ivana Krupicka; Wilton; Calvert Jones, Judith Ingram, The Glow Medispa, Jonkers Rare Books, John Louth, Frost Borneo Optometrists, all of Hart Street.