Festive fundraiser on way to record

THIS year’s Henley Living Advent Calendar is on course to break its record for donations.

The nightly shows have already raised more than £7,000 for good causes around the town.

Organiser Richard Rodway, of THP Solicitors, is confident that the final total will top £8,500, which was the amount made in 2022 and the highest since the initiative began in 2011.

He said: “I’ve got my sights on £10,000. Normally we see an uptick in the last days as people are home for the holidays and off school. We can only strive to do better than ever before.

“I’m really pleased with how this year has gone so far, with the quality of the performances and some of the settings and experiences we’ve managed to create.

“Night after night we’ve been getting good crowds and packed venues.”

Mr Rodway said that the atmosphere of each venue and performance was important and he picked out the Mike Rowbottom ensemble at Leander Club on Saturday and the Sax Bandits in Market Place on Monday as two of his highlights.

He said: “Those stand out but the quality of all the performances has been so high. Every night is different.”

On Tuesday last week Blue Magoos performed a set of jazz standards and Christmas songs at their namesake bar, Magoos in Hart Street.

Revellers heard covers of Alligator Boogaloo by Lou Donaldson, Sunshower by Kenny Barron, Comin’ Home Baby by Mel Torme and the carol God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. The ensemble comprised two saxophonists, a flautist, a keyboard player, three guitarists, a violinist and a drummer.

Violinist Anna Del Nevo said: “We mostly performed jazz standards. We were all kind of improvising and doing our own things with them and making them our own songs.”

The night’s refreshments were sponsored by the Chocolate Café in Thames Side, which handed out mince pies.

There was raffle in aid of Henley Festival’s charity RISE, which gives opportunities to up-and-coming musicians.

The following night, children from Divas & Dudes and the Stagecoach Performing Arts School teamed up to perform at the Christ Church Centre in Reading Road.

Stagecoach’s six- to 12-year-olds opened with a dance to Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree. Soloist Isabella Kingston, who has been training at Stagecoach for 11 years, sang Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

All the Divas & Dudes children joined for their final performance of Jingle Bells.

Stagecoach principal Clare Gosling, 42, said: “They have all been working on their lunchtime breaks, so they can get everyone in the Christmas spirit. I am really proud of them.”

Divas & Dudes, comprising three- to 14-year-olds, danced to songs including One More Sleep by Leona Lewis and Ariana Grande’s Santa Tell Me.

Dance teacher Sarah Emmonds, 27, said: “It’s nice to have something to work towards and get everyone in the Christmas spirit.”

The performance was in aid of the Henley Youth Festival, which will return in March.

On Thursday last week, guitarist and singer George Campbell performed at the Chiltern House business centre.

He encouraged audience participation with his first song Any Dream Will Do by Andrew Lloyd Webber and continued with I’m a Believer by the Monkees and Jingle Bells.

Refreshments were provided by estate agent Philip Booth Esq. There was a raffle in aid of Parkinson’s UK.

On Friday, WotJam, a group of musicians from Whitchurch, performed at the Eyot Centre, off Wargrave Road.

The band played a number of jazz standards including Blues Walk by Lou Donaldson, Stompin’ at the Savoy by Edgar Sampson, Take the A Train by Billy Strayhorn and Five Spot After Dark by Benny Golson before finishing with a jazz twist on Winter Wonderland.

The group consisted of three saxophonists, a violinist, a guitarist, a bassist and a clarinet player.

Leslie Meynerd, who played saxophone, said: “It’s a great group. We go every single week to this beautiful venue, the Stables in Whitchurch, and we have been going for nearly nine years. It’s like therapy. We love it.”

Ms Meynerd said tenor sax player Ruth Jolly saved the day at the last minute after their trumpeter came down with covid. She said: “Ruth had just come back from her son’s wedding in Asia. I said. ‘Please can you play?’ and she was amazing.”

A raffle was held in aid of the Eyot Centre, which provides access to social and river-based activities for young people. Prizes included a bell boating experience for 10 people.

Sue Perry-Whitehead, manager of the centre, said: “The centre is so important because the river is not just for posh people with fancy hats on.

“We are a charity that is dedicated to getting kids of all backgrounds out on the river to foster a love of paddle sports, so one day they may well be rowing at Henley Royal Regatta.”

Guests were served hot pakoras and spring rolls by the Happy Gurkha, a Nepalese catering company run by retired Gurkhas and their families.

On Saturday, the Scourge of the Thames performed in the garden at Leander Club, which had been floodlit in cerise, the club’s colour.

About eight Santas were dotted around the audience, some of whom could be heard laughing about “elf and safety”.

The group, who wore lace-trimmed tricorns, comprised guitarist Mike Rowbottom, Samantha Riley on maracas, and Samantha Fields and Julie Huntington on tambourine.

Their first song, Pirates Ahoy, recounted the original tale of the “office workers who go on a river cruiser dressed up as pirates”.

Their all-original repertoire continued with tales of a hopeless husband unable to carry out the festive shopping, unsatisfying one-night stands and the midlife crisis experienced by a 45-year-old man who had yet to meet Father Christmas, interspersed with “extended fart choruses” and regular parental guidance warnings.

The band finished with a rousing ode to the Christmas lunch.

The night was in aid of the Thames Valley Animal Welfare.

On Sunday the five-piece band Highly Strung, led by frontman Ian Desmond, performed at Henley Cricket Club.

Their set included Coldplay’s Yellow, the Mamas & The Papas’ California Dreamin’ and the Rolling Stones’ Paint It Black.

They opened with Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah and, in tribute to the late Shane McGowan, concluded with Fairytale of New York.

Mr Desmond wished band member Bill Ford, who was in the audience, a speedy recovery and return to playing.

The pavilion was packed by a jubilant audience who were treated to refreshments by the night’s partner, local baker Nicola “Baker Bakes” Taylor. Donations were for Henley YMCA.

On Monday, more than 100 saxophone players performed for a large crowd in Market Place.

Members of the Sax Bandits wore Santa hats and had tinsel and lights wrapped around their music stands and instruments as they performed.

The set included I Wish It Could be Christmas Everyday by Wizzard, Santa Tell Me by Ariana Grande, Baby One More Time by Britney Spears, Wonderful Christmas Time by Paul McCartney and a saxophone medley of Christmas hits. People danced to the music under the giant Christmas tree.

The evening was sponsored by THP Solicitors and was in aid of Headway Thames Valley, a brain injury charity based in Greys Road.

Jamie Higgins, general manager of Headway, said: “The band were amazing. There was an amazing turnout and people were very generous, so I’m very pleased.”

On Tuesday singer Daisy Smith performed from an actual window on the top floor of Simmons & Sons’s offices in Bell Street.

She began with Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, while the lights behind her changed colour.

This was followed by Defying Gravity from Wicked the Musical, Truly Scrumptious from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Let it Snow while her eight-year-old son Joe operated a machine that blasted snowflakes from the window.

Ms Smith finished with Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

The evening was sponsored by the estate agents, which provided mulled wine and mince pies in the garden.

The night was in aid for Riverside Counselling Service. There was an auction of a prize donated by Hobbs of Henley of a day’s hire of a 12-person self-drive Olympic class motor launch.

The remaining venues are as follows: tonight (Friday) — the Bull on Bell Street; December 23 — the Anchor, Friday Street; Christmas Eve — St Mary’s Church, Hart Street.

For more information, visit www.livingadventcalendar.co.uk