Tom and Jerry light up town in festive double act

JERRY Hall described Henley as the “friendliest” place she had ever lived at this year’s Christmas Festival.

The American model and actress was the guest of honour at the event and turned on the lights of the Christmas tree in Market Place with Mayor Tom Buckley.

Hall, who lives near Henley, told the crowd outside the town hall on Friday night that she was “such a big Christmas fan”.

“My favourite part of Christmas is having my children and grandchildren with me,” she said. “It’s all about family and having a wonderful time.”

Asked by compère Daisy Smith how Henley compared to other places she had celebrated the festive season, Hall said: “Henley is the prettiest town I’ve ever lived in and the friendliest,” which was met with cheers.

Parents had lifted their small children on to their shoulders to get a view of the action while lent out of upstairs shop windows around Market Place to get the best view of the switch-on.

Afterwards, Hall joined the crowd, Cllr Buckley and Ms Smith in singing carols, which were accompanied by the Woodley Concert Band.

This year’s festival, which is organised by the town council, saw the stage moved from the middle of Falaise Square to the right side of the town hall in a bid to reduce congestion.

It also allowed for more space for people to browse the stalls, which had been positioned to avoid blocking shops which had opened late for the event.

Members of the council staff wore hi-vis to help marshal the crowds, with some members of parks services department wearing Santa hats and beards.

Tractors were strategically placed at the end of certain roads into the town centre to block traffic.

There were a wide variety of attractions, including fairground rides, artisan crafts, food vendors and stalls run by charities and businesses.

Throughout the night, there was live music on the main stage and entertainment was provided by stilt walkers and bubble artists.

Children had the chance to explore a fire truck, which was brought down to the event by the crew at Henley fire station.

Katy Snoodyk, an on-call firefighter at the station in West Street, said: “The kids love it. It’s lovely to see their big eyes and shocked faces when they see the big real-life fire truck in person.”

Grace Goodson was at the event with her husband Nick and children, Barney, four, and Ottilie, two, who explored the fire truck. Ms Goodson, who lives in Henley, said that they attended the festival every year, even before having children.

“It’s a proper family experience for everyone,” she said. “It’s an opportunity to kick off the festive season.

“Henley’s has always had such a strong community — it feels like everyone just comes together and has a nice night.

“It’s even better now we’ve got kids because we never went on the funfair before.”

There was a long line stretching out of the King’s Arms Barn and down into Market Place with children waiting with their parents to visit Father Christmas. His appearance at the grotto was in aid of the Chiltern Centre for disabled young adults.

Grace Tanner from Crowmarsh took her sons, Jude and Noah Johnson, to visit.

Jude, three, asked for Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom-themed toys, while Noah, eight, asked for a new bike.

The brothers were some of around 180 children to visit the grotto that evening.

Father Christmas told the Henley Standard: “As always, I met wonderful children and their families. The wait was very long for some and one tiny one had to give up and go home to bed. His brother and I recorded a little video for him so that he didn’t miss out entirely.”

Millie Clements, eight, and her brother Charlie, five, both bought matching Labubu balloons. Labubus are collectable plush toys and a trending character based off a design by Hong Kong illustrator Kasing Lung.

They said that their highlight of the night had been playing hook-a-duck where they both won a prize. Millie won a slime ice cream and Charlie a miniature Labubu doll.

“It has been very fun,” Millie said. “I’ve enjoyed it very much.”

Jayne Soanes, from Caversham, said she had come a bit earlier than last year and found the festival easier to navigate.

She said: “It was much better than last year because it was much calmer and clearer to actually get a look around the stores and things.

“I think it’s a great atmosphere and a good mixture of stalls.”

In Duke Street, members of Henley Rotary Club ran a stall selling mulled wine.

The money raised by the branch will go towards the Rotary Benevolent Fund, which gives money to beneficiaries throughout the year.

The club’s president, Jeremy Gaunt, said that while the club runs the stall annually, this was the first year they had introduced a non-alcoholic spiced wine option.

He said: “The non-alcoholic mulled wine has been great and we’re doing very well. Much better this year than last year.”

Katrina Minoletti, one of the co-owners of the Scoop Room, was running a stall set up outside her shop. She had brought special festival ice cream flavours, including mince pie, Baileys and After Eight.

The recipes are all created by Ms Minoletti’s partner Ryan Barlow, with whom she runs the business.

She said: “We are doing homemade hot chocolate, which is my own recipe, made using Lindor chocolate. It’s really smooth and delicious. Ryan makes the ice cream all himself from his own recipes and people love them.”

Maggie Benson, whose daughter Becky runs the Cheesy Grape in Market Place, was selling mulled wine and Prosecco, with the help of friend Karen Womack.

The pair were also serving half a wheel of raclette. She said the wine had “flown off the shelves”.

Ms Benson said: “It has been wonderful and very busy and everyone’s been so friendly and everyone’s having a fabulous time, particularly the children.

“They seem to be having so much fun. It has been really festive.”

Jo and Nigel Eddon, who own Honeys of Henley, were running a stall selling honey, soap and beeswax candles made from the produce of their hives, which are based within a 12-mile radius of the town. Mrs Eddon said that while the festival didn’t seem as busy as usual, everyone appeared to be in good spirits.

She said: “It is slightly quieter but you can just see that a lot of people are really enjoying themselves. And we’re enjoying ourselves too.”

Town councillor Michelle Thomas said that she had been helping to set up the festival since about 3pm.

“All of the traders have been just great this year,” she said. “They’ve really got here on time, set up and got their vans and vehicles out of the way.

“We try to intersperse interesting food-related stalls with drink-related stalls and gifts and things like that.

“There are also some retailers here who do not want their frontages covered by stalls. So you have to take all of that into account as well.”

Councillor David Eggleton, who was a volunteer marshal, said that he was relieved that the weather managed to hold out after a sprinkling of rain at the start of the evening.

“We got everybody in on time,” he said. “There has been more people than I thought there would be given how the weather was looking in the beginning.

“I think we’ve been very lucky. No rain and the wind’s dropped so it’s quite mild.”

Cllr Eggleton said the new set up of the festival seemed to be working well. “The stage moving seems to have helped with the crowds,” he said.

“The way we’re doing it now gives more opportunity for people to go around the stalls, whereas before it was gridlocked and people weren’t selling as much.”

Dave and Suzi Hollamby, who had travelled from Tenterden in Kent for the evening, had a glass of wine outside the Three Tuns pub in Market Place. Mrs Hollamby said: “It’s very busy and very nice. I’m loving the music — it’s wonderful.” Mr Hollamby added: “They have put on a fantastic show tonight, honestly. Henley should be very proud of this.”

Today (Friday), the town will hold its first “Shop under the Stars” event, during which retailers will stay open until 8pm.

Christmas market huts, which opened in Market Place yesterday (Thursday), will remain open until next Sunday.

l Charlotte Vernon, 10, the winner of Mayor Buckley’s Christmas card competition, who had won the chance to turn on the town’s Christmas lights with the Cllr Buckley and Hall, was not available.

Instead, Cllr Buckley is set to congratulate her at the over-65s Christmas party held at the town hall on Tuesday, where she will be performing for the guests with the Rupert House Choir.