A Bumper Yuletide week 6th-12th December
No excuse for festive fomo here. Keep up to date with our Henley At Christmas page, full of Christmas news, what’s on and our Christmas Crackers for this year. Get your sparkles, spangles and dancing shoes out, it’s party season! Here’s our next pick of a few things to do this week in and around Henley as well as enjoying our fabulous shops, restaurants and bars.
Get in the festive spirit with live music this December.
Steph Willis has a long history with Coppa Club, playing at the opening of Henley & Streatley and bringing joy to party go-ers and wedding guests throughout the year.
Steph is a highly accomplished professional musician, who has been sharing her talent with audiences in the UK and overseas since 2010. She has a great natural voice and either accompanying herself skilfully on guitar or with her band, she is hugely engaging and entertaining.
7.30-9.30pm Free entry
A Victorian family prepares a paper theatre for a performance of A Christmas Carol. The audience enters the imagination of one of the children and quickly, the cardboard stage transforms to reveal a magical world containing real dancers and stylised sets.
The classic tale unfolds in a rich tapestry of highly absorbing, theatrical drama featuring sumptuous visual effects inspired by the techniques of early cinema. In a daring twist of format, characters are portrayed by dancers and voiced by an eclectic cast of the world’s most recognisable actors. The mix of danced action and spoken narration brings fresh dimension to Dickens’ characters and poetic language, whilst remaining true to the beauty of the author’s original narrative.
This December, join GLOW at Henley’s Leander Club for a series of festive parties. From an evening with EAST 17, an apres ski night and a contemporary orchestra blasting out the biggest hits to a community singalong, Bavarian Beer Fest, Jazz night and a family fun day, there’s something for everyone within our calendar of events,
GLOW will also have a miniature Christmas market with food, drink and gift stalls!
Follow The Star, Holy Trinity Church – 8th-11th dec
Travel with Magi as they follow a star. Meet characters from the Nativity. Pick up clues that lead to the answer in the most unexpected place.
Walk through our transformed church building guided by a wiseman to where Christmas began. A magical interactive journey for the whole family.
“After such positive feedback from last year’s inaugural ‘Follow the Star’, we’re excited to be running it again this year! It provides a unique opportunity for families to have a personal tour of the original Christmas story, with plenty for all ages. The evening sessions are especially magical with the atmospheric lighting outside and inside the church. The Saturday morning session has the added attraction of live animals! Its all free of charge, though booking is required. We hope this will be another special event for our local community.”
Judie Tzuke, Crooked Billet – 8th dec
Fresh from the highly acclaimed, sell-out Woman To Woman UK tour with fellow artistes Beverley Craven and Julia Fordham, Judie Tzuke makes a welcome return to the stage.
The Heart, Soul & Piano tour sees Judie performing some of her classic back catalogue with stunning new piano arrangements and accompanied by some of her favourite musicians.
Judie is one of the UK’s most beloved Singer/Songwriters having burst onto the music scene in 1979 with her evergreen standard ‘Stay With Me Till Dawn’. Having released 21 albums, Judie is very much looking forward to performing a selection of deep cuts and fan favourites from throughout her career including “Ladies Night”, “For You”, “Come Hell Or Waters High” and the haunting “Bring The Rain”.
Stick Man lives in the family tree with his Stick Lady Love and their stick children three, and he’s heading on an epic adventure across the seasons. Will he get back to his family in time for Christmas?
This wonderful animation made by Magic Light, creators of The Gruffalo, The Gruffalos Child and Room On The Broom comes to Toddler Time for the first time. Don’t miss your chance to see it on the big screen.
What a cracker this will be! The Henley Artisan Fair is at Henley Town Hall on Friday 10th December with over 25 local artisans.
Make sure you drop in to pick up some fabulous, unique pressies (or something for yourself) from some really cool Henley businesses.
Doors open at 5pm and there are free mince pies and mulled wine plus a raffle and collection for Sue Ryder Charity.
Join Pipsticks Walks for a festive Nordic Walk in the Chiltern Hills near Henley-on-Thames. There is still plenty of interest in the countryside at this time of year, including mistletoe – perfect for Christmas!
The walk, which starts in the south Oxfordshire village of Binfield Heath, is one which we are familiar with. From the village playground, where mistletoe can be seen high up in the lime trees (Tilia), we head out to the Bottle and Glass Inn and follow Bones Lane into the woods. The open parkland of Crowsley Park draws us in and here we find tall stands of lime trees burdened with many large clumps of mistletoe, some just within reach.
In collaboration with renowned and respected producers, Bear in the Air Productions, The Kenton Theatre is excited to present this wonderful love story full of magic, wonder, and silly jokes.
Cinderella lives under the calloused and gnarly thumbs of her family, until chance encounters with a magical fairy and a handsome prince change everything, allowing her to believe in a life outside of her daily grind.
The road to true love is never smooth, and Cinderella’s family will do everything possible to stand in her way. But with belief in her dreams, a pure heart, and a little sprinkling of fairy magic, Cinders will go to the ball!
A Christmas Concert, St Mary’s Church – 11th dec
Henley Choral Society and Henley Youth Choirs come together to get your Christmas off to the most festive start possible!
With a programme including Handel’s Zadok the Priest, Christmas Cantata by Daniel Pinkham, music by Onyx Brass, described as “the classiest Brass ensemble in Britain”, award-winning organist Henry Metcalfe, the opportunity to sing your favourite carols…and as if all this were not enough, there will also be mince pies!
Henley Choral Society’s ever-popular Christmas Concert is bound to send you out into the December night with a spring in your step.
Woodlands Lodge Gin tasting – 11th & 12th dec
The tree-lined woodland drive on the Culden Faw Estate leads somewhere deliciously festive this December. Time For Tea Vintage have used their magic to create a cosy oasis, the perfect space for gathering with friends and sampling some Henley Gin!
Think candlelight and holly, twinkly lights and a crackling fire and maybe, just maybe, a sprinkling of snow. With locally-sourced charcuterie boards, Christmassy cocktails and gifts available, come and settle in for the evening and soak up the festive spirit
Henley Farmers Market – 11th dec
Shop local and pick up some scrummy goodies for Christmas at Henley Farmers Market in Market Place, with the best producers including coffee, meat, fish, charcuterie, cheese, gin, wine, chilli sauce, jams and chutneys, honey, Portuguese treats, biltong, speciality mushrooms, chocolate, fresh Italian sauces and more!
8.30am – 2.00pm
Christmas Wreath Making at Henley School of Art – 12th dec
Make your own, unique and joyous Christmas Wreath with the Jo Wise of Floral Circus.
Spend some time in the studio, messing about with festive foliage and creating a beautiful, utterly unique wreath, all of your own design. Jo is an excellent tutor, fun, unflappable and inspiring – she can make even the most uncreative person produce something beautiful.
Jo’s own wreath designs are well-known for their extraordinary artistic flair, imagination and often colour – she’ll bring all her glorious knowledge, ideas and most importantly a treasure trove of fabulous foliage to the Studio to play with!
Home alone, regal picturehouse – 12th dec
Eight-year-old Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) is spending his Christmas at home. Only problem is, he’s the only one at home: his chaotic family, helmed by his mother Kate (Catherine O’Hara), have flown to France leaving Kevin as the head of the household.
He’s happy to be ruling the roost – until a pair of burglars attempt to break in…
Plus check out what’s on at The Regal Picture House for their Christmas line up and listings.
