Mayor chooses Christmas tree for the town centre

THE Christmas tree that will be installed in Henley market place this year has been chosen by Mayor Tom Buckley.

Councillor Buckley picked a 32ft Nordmann fir on a visit to Greenfield Farm in Christmas Common, which has given a tree to Henley for free for more than 10 years.

He was helped by his wife Claire and they were accompanied on the trip by their mixed-breed Chihuahua Luna.

The trio were taken by William Hepworth-Smith, the farm manager, in his truck down to the field where they made their selection.

The tree has been growing on the land for more than 25 years and is estimated to cost £1,500. It will be decorated with warm white lights and hundreds of baubles.

It will be installed in the square on Friday, November 28, by the town council’s parks services team ahead of the annual Christmas Festival and late-night shopping event, which will be held later that day.

Cllr Buckley said: “Look at it, it’s wonderful. This one is straight and it actually looks like a Christmas tree. Some of them are a bit sparse and aren’t quite full and puffy out to the sides.

“There is a nice big green one further down [the field], but you have to look all the way around the tree and think ‘What’s it going to look like in the market place?’.”

A tag was attached to the branches so it could be easily found again when it is ready to be chopped down.

The tree will be transported by a haulage company on the 10-mile journey to the town hall.

The bottom 3ft of the tree will not be visible as it will be sunk into a pipe in the ground to stabilise it.

Farm owner Andrew Ingram, who provided a tree for Number 10 Downing Street in 2011, 2013 and 2015, planted his first Christmas tree in 1970.

He has more than 120,000 trees on the land and sells about 15,000 a year.

There is a continuous turnover of trees as up to 17,000 are planted each year.

The Tree Barn Christmas Shop is open from Saturday, November 8 from 9am to 5.30pm every day with late nights on Thursdays and Fridays until 7.30pm. It will close at noon on Christmas Eve.

The shop will take a smaller format than in previous years and will focus on more eco-friendly ranges of decorations and gifts.

Jane Ingram is currently in negotiations with a catering company to have a small coffee bar, which will serve locally produced snacks and provide more seating for customers.

She said: “It’s going to be a bit of a learning curve but it’s very exciting and we hope to evolve this format in the coming years.”

Christmas tree sales will start from Saturday, November 23, with the same opening times.

In Henley, the town council is holding a Christmas Market, which is set within festive alpine chalets around the Christmas tree, for a second year. It starts on Thursday, December 4 and runs to December 14 from 10am to 5pm.

In a report to the town council’s recreation and amenities committee on Tuesday, Paul Carey, the town centre manager, said that all of the huts had now been allocated to stallholders.

It will also be the first year that the council will run the annual Living Advent Calendar, which takes place in various venues every night from December 1 to Christmas Eve.

Like an Advent calendar, the identity of the acts remain a secret until their performance.

Each night is in aid of a different charity and about 50 charities and good causes have been supported since the calendar was first launched in 2008.

The calendar was previously organised by Richard Rodway, solicitor at The Head Partnership, who stepped down after 10 years. Last year, the calendar raised a record £11,000.