Welcome to Henley wallpaper

WALLPAPER has been created to celebrate Henley.

It features more than 130 images and has been pasted on a wall at the information centre at the town hall to welcome and highlight places to see and events to visit.

The collage-style piece measures 1m by 62cm and was designed and printed by Henley Scan, a specialist photographic company, after being commissioned by the town council.

The photographs, which were supplied by the public in response to an appeal, feature iconic buildings and major events, including Henley Royal Regatta, the Henley Festival and the Henley Literary Festival.

The majority are colour but there are some black and white ones from decades ago.

There are also aerial photographs, shots of Henley Bridge and images of activities on the River Thames during the day and at night.

Eva and Graham Rickett, who run Henley Scan from their home in King’s Road, spent about 25 hours working on the wallpaper. Mrs Rickett said she was first contacted about the idea by the council’s communications manager Daisy Smith a year ago.

She said: “In the summer we were able to push for photographs from people on social media and we gathered some momentum.

“In October and November, I had the images sent through. There were about 130 in all, which we collaged as a statement wall.

“With wallpaper you have repeats so there was a discussion as to whether older ones would work because we didn’t want there to be a lot of white lines running through it.

“We had so many beautiful pictures of the river but were quite keen to make sure these were not the only ones used.

“Daisy and I worked together on it. At one point we saw there were no pictures of Phyllis Court Club so we got a picture of that.”

Mrs Rickett said that they had deliberately decided not to feature people, apart from those in the background of photos, in order not to date the wallpaper.

She said: “There are very few people in them, a few with crowds in, but there isn’t one of a mayor because we didn’t want it to be associated with a specific time.

“There are a few black and white pictures, like the one of Gabriel Machin butchers and one with a horse and cart.

“There is one picture that is more than 100 years old but the majority of images show Henley in the present day.”

The majority of the images were supplied digitally but some of them had to be scanned first.

Mrs Rickett also had to ensure that strips of wallpaper would match up when pasted on the wall.

She said: “If you have a repeat flower print, it will run from the top to the bottom and where you cut the paper at the bottom, usually where the skirting board is, you might have a partial flower.

“We have had to make sure you should never get a half-picture and that they match from left to right. This is about the sixth wallpaper we have done and took us about 25 hours over three days. I am proud to say that I have some of my photographs in it. I am quite a prolific photographer and to know mine are there makes me happy and I hope that others who have contributed will feel the same way.

“I hope people think that the pictures reflect how they feel about Henley.”

Ms Smith thanked all the photographers who contributed, in particular Julian Sansum, Keith Knight, Attila Bakos, Annabel Vere, Roger Smith and Jose Bandeira.

She said: “It has been such a lovely project to work on. So many local photographers and businesses reached out to be involved and the final wallpaper gives a fantastic taste of what our gorgeous town has to offer.

“It has been lovely to feature both old and new images and this will be a real asset to the information centre.”

Mr Sansum, who lives in Harpsden Way, Henley, provided two images that were used.

One shows Temple Island with a runner on the towpath in the foreground. The other shows the royal regatta course during last year’s qualifying races for the Wargrave Challenge Cup for women’s eights.

Mr Sansum said: “I like to take pictures from a different perspective, that no one else has ever taken, which is why I think the race pictured was picked up and used.

“It’s really cool and a fantastic initiative to showcase the town in this way and I am really looking forward to seeing it and how everything looks.”

Ms Vere, who lives in Friday Street, said the wallpaper celebrated the town.

She said: “I contributed pictures of the river — I walk along it quite a lot and I like it when it is misty. I live really close to the river and sometimes when it is misty, I will see it from my window and run down with my camera. I used to do a bit of photography for the council and one of my photos along the towpath is blown up. They wanted to show Mill Meadows when it was clear of rubbish and there’s information under it about keeping it clean and tidy.

“I also have a photo by the Henley FC ground in Mill Lane.”

She finds inspiration from nature in Henley.

Ms Vere said: “I love Mary Oliver’s poetry and have been inspired by her because she does a lot of amazing poetry about nature and woodland — I always have her in my head.”

She called the wallpaper a “lovely idea”, adding: “I think visitors will come and look at it and think: ‘What’s that? Where can I see that?’ and go have a look.

“The wooden bridge by the lock is really beautiful and I think if people see a picture of that, they might think: ‘Let’s walk to that’ and it would take them past the River & Rowing Museum, which they might have missed otherwise. Henley is such a stunning town.”