Sparkling boats light up the Thames

THOUSANDS of spectators lined the banks of the River Thames in Henley to watch the town’s third annual Illuminated Boat Parade.

Motorboats of different sizes, paddleboarders, kayakers, sailing boats and pedalos were all decorated with lights for the display on Saturday night.

They travelled on the water from Fawley Meadows to Henley Bridge as darkness fell, completing two circuits as the crowds looked on.

Many boats were decorated with different themes, including Yellow Brick Road, Jurassic Park, Ratatouille and Popeye.

Houses in Wharfe Lane, where parade founders Chris Taylor and Penny Palmano live, were also lit up to help lines the parade route and add extra colour. The judges were based at Leander Club, which was open to the public for food and drink.

Once the parade had ended, many of the participants went to the club to celebrate and this was where the list of winners were announced.

Winner Luke Breen, who lives on Friday Street, won best in parade with his Popeye-themed boat, which was the idea of his son, Rupert, five.

He said: “He’s quite into the Popeye cartoon so it was his idea to theme the boat along those lines. He also has a picture of a traditional sailing boat that we were trying to replicate.”

Mr Breen and his son’s mother, Emma Breen, had teamed up with friends Alan Bell, Lydia Sayers, Sam Starr and Fionnula Welsh to illuminate their boat the E133 Shirley Ann.

He said: “A friend and I got more than 1,200 lights and built a series of wooden structures to make the sails and then covered those with all the lights. We had to go and find the masts from the boat builder who originally built our boat and we put that up. We had some other electrically controlled lights on the outside of the boat as well, so it was a bit of a project. It was probably two solid days to put it together and then half a day to pull it all apart again.

“We entered last year with something similar but not quite as big and we managed to get a runner-up prize, so that gave us the motivation to go a bit bigger this year. Especially because it’s something that our son really loves and wanted to do again.

“He managed to stay up with us until about 9pm and then it was off to bed but he was very happy dancing in front of all of the crowds and waving his little glow sticks. Yeah, he loved it.”

Down on the towpath crowds cheered and danced along to the songs including Greased Lightnin' and You’re the One That I Want as the Grease musical-themed boat sailed past, throwing glowsticks out to the crowd.

On board the Henley Pearl were Dawn and Trevor Greenaway, Sabre Barron-Johnston, Nicki and Tim O’Hare, Dee Hind and Caro Sims-Beggin, who dressed as Grease characters Danny Zuko, Sandra Dee and the Pink Ladies.

Mrs Greenaway said it was her first year entering the contest with their own boat after entering previous years on a friend’s boat.

“I just thought it would be fun to do something that everybody loves, it’s just such a feelgood movie. I did it with some friends a few years ago and we did ABBA, you need a theme that everybody knows.”

Mrs Barron-Johnston said: “It’s amazing how many people come out to watch it, it’s quite a popular thing. It’s a big effort to come out on a cold evening as well.”

Mrs O’Hare said: “The lights are a lot harder than they look, they get all tangled up. Being a small day boat, it’s hard to decorate, if you haven’t got the height. They worked so hard to get that boat organised and I hope we get some recognition.”

They came runners-up to an Alice in Wonderland boat for the best fancy dress prize.

The award for best lit spectator went to Ali St John Taylor, who posed for photos on the Leander deck with her illuminated butterfly cape.

The judging panel comprised Mayor Rory Hunt, television presenter Edd China, musician Dhani Harrison and Al Heathcote, the general manager of Leander.

They viewed the parade from the judge’s panel on the deck, deliberating on the evening's prizes which included best in parade, best fancy dress, best unpowered and a judge’s “special” award, given for the judge’s favourite.

Councillor Hunt said: “I was looking for quality of lighting, originality, inventiveness and costumes and themes. There were many worthy entries but the ones that won prizes were deserved winners.

“There was a splendid community spirit throughout the evening. I think my highlight was seeing the size of the crowd in attendance. We also had lovely weather and the atmosphere was excellent.”

China said that the task was not easy. He said: “It is really good fun and there’s some difficult competition. I love the amount of effort that’s gone into this and the sheer number of boats this year was brilliant. It certainly felt like there were more people than last year, it just felt like there was lots more, so I think that’s a good sign. It’s just trying to find some people who really put some mad effort into it.”

Mr Taylor introduced the show to Henley after he moved here, having first started the parade in Bourne End in 2015.

He said: “It was an amazing evening, I think we had more than 40 boats and it was just joyous, it was a magical evening, everyone who took part loved it.

“The level of competition was much better this year, the boats were better decorated but that’s really not the point, the point is you just show up, put some lights on your boat and just have fun, it doesn’t matter if you win a prize or not.

“It’s a really silly event because all of the competitors make an enormous effort.

“It’s celebratory of the river, and Henley, so I think everyone loved it. What everyone says when we get feedback is, that it’s so nice to have a free event in Henley where we can bring our kids to celebrate the town.”