Yes you’ve guessed it, there will be an Alternative Henley Christmas this year. With the main Christmas event cancelled due to Coronavirus, there will be other ways to celebrate and enjoy the festivities in and around Henley.

Henley Town Council who normally organise the late night shopping event gave a shout out for ideas to enable Henley to be festive and enjoy the yuletide whilst keeping with the current government guidelines. Experience Henley‘s Philippa Ratcliffe, who is also the organiser of Henley’s Eat Food Festival, put forward an idea of an ‘Alternative Advent Calendar‘ in the absence of the Living Advent Calendar this year, using shop windows as advent windows to replace what would normally be live performances.

Philippa said, ‘As Henley’s Living Advent Calendar is unable to take place this year due to COVID-19 restrictions, this is a suggested alternative to keep the spirit of the Living Advent Calendar alive and brighten up the town, whilst being able to raise some funds for the charities who are normally supported by this hugely popular annual community Christmas event.’

The idea is to have Christmassy shop and business windows around the town running from 1st-24th December to act as advent windows, with a trail map to follow, find the windows and have the opportunity to win prizes by shopping and supporting the town’s businesses, with ‘advent selfies’ and collections for charities.

Along with this, the Council’s planned Christmas festivities will include Late Night Shopping on Thursdays starting on 19th November, Christmas lights and lighting of the Christmas Tree in Market Place, festive markets, additional Craft Market plus live music playing around the town & festive chestnuts and other small stalls every Saturday, Sunday and Thursday evening from 26th November.

EXPERIENCE HENLEY will have a dedicated Christmas One Stop Shop page, for all things Christmas happening in and around Henley. Go to ‘Experience Henley at Christmas’ and make sure you bookmark the page. Keep your eyes peeled for all our Christmassy news