Town clerk takes centre stage at calendar

HENLEY Town Council’s clerk took centre stage during week two of this year’s Living Advent Calendar.

Former professional singer Sheridan Jacklin-Edward performed at the Christ Church Centre in Reading Road on Monday.

He appeared alongside string group “String Beans”, which was supported by members of Henley Symphony Orchestra.

The group performed several mash-ups they had devised, which entailed setting traditional carols and Christmas songs against unconventional tunes.

This included O Little Town of Bethlehem, set to the tune of Amazing Grace, All I Want for Christmas Is You, to the tune of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town to O Holy Night.

Mr Jacklin-Edward, who has served as town clerk since September 2019, previously worked as a classical tenor and with touring theatre companies around Britain.

He initially started working part-time in a local government role to support his singing. As a tribute to his role at the council, Mr Jacklin-Edward appeared for the penultimate song, “When a clerk is much engaged in his employment” which was set to the tune from Pirates of Penzance in his council robes and wig.

The night was held in aid of Henley Music School and was sponsored by Simon Mack architects, which provided parchments and was supported by Henley Playing Cards.

Speaking after the performance, Mr Jacklin-Edward joked that he was not planning on giving up his desk job but added that it was nice to be performing again.

“It was brilliant to be singing again,” he said. “I haven’t really sung for the last couple of years, so to sing again with Sting Beans was brilliant.”

Revellers returned to the town hall for the seventh night of the calendar, on Sunday, which featured a performance from the band “Spin-Off”.

Comprising Liz Howard, Marcio Pizzeghello, Trevor Barstow and Nigel Paice, the band performed to an audience of more than 70 people in the Queen Elizabeth II hall.

They sang tunes including I Wanna Hold Your Hand by the Beatle, Proud Mary by Tina Turner, and Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee.

The event was in support of the Bell Surgery Charitable Trust, which raises funds for services at the surgery which aren’t funded by the NHS.

Liz James, chair of the trustees, said that since being set up three years ago, they have raised money to provide additional consultation space at the surgery.

She said: “We’re almost entirely dependent on donations from our patients. Since we were set up, we’ve raised money to change the meeting room at the surgery to divide into two and provide additional consultation space.”

A raffle to raise money for the charity included prizes donated by Tesco, as well as some patients, friends and some businesses. Nicola Taylor provided festive cakes and volunteers also served mulled wine.

On Saturday, crowds gathered at Trinity Church the surprise performance was from the Rupert House School choir.

More than 30 children, wearing school blazers and Christmas jumpers, filled the stage to perform a variety of carols, including Silent Night, Away in a Manger and Deck the Halls before ending with We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

The children, who wore festive headbands and Santa hats, were accompanied at times by Polly Armitage, wife of the school’s headmaster Nick Armitage, on saxophone.

Refreshments were provided by the church and included a mulled apple drink and mince pies.

The night was held in aid of the Henley Debt Centre, which is based at the d:two centre in Market Place and run by Christians Against Poverty.

Mr Armitage said it was “so special” to be involved. He said: “The Living Advent is such a wonderful idea, and the children are all so excited to perform. Rupert House pupils love to sing and it’s fantastic to support the centre.”

Last Friday three performers from the British theatre academy performed a number of showtunes.

Hayden Stevens, 17, Shalom-Mia Madzingira, 16 and Charlotte Kinch, 18, who are all performing in Ragtime at Hampton Hill theatre, performed to about 80 people in the Hart Street Tavern.

The teenagers, who wore Santa hat headbands, performed songs from Ragtime, Miss Saigon, Les Misérables and Camelot.

Unfortunately, due to a technical error, the sound system kept cutting out and despite the support of the crowd, they had to end the performance early.

The night’s sponsors were Sika Inns who provided refreshments and the evening’s beneficiary was the Henley Youth Festival.

Michaela Clarke, who chairs the festival, said she was “delighted” at the turnout in support of the cause.

She said “The synergy and the idea of having youngsters perform here for the Henley Youth Festival is incredible and they are so incredibly talented. They did really well in terms of the technical glitch and they carried on. They couldn’t finish the set but I just think good on them.”

On Thursday last week, jazz singer Rebecca Poole was hosted at the Henley Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society (HAODS) studio next to the Kenton theatre in New Street.

Julie Huntington, who chairs the group, said the night made around £200 for the group. She said: “It was a great evening at the studio, we ran out of mulled wine within about 15 minutes.”

Abbey

Additional reporting by Terry Grourk