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This year’s Living Advent Calendar finally ran out of luck with the weather on day 9, but the drizzle did not dampen Christmas spirits or prompt any ‘bah humbug down on the terrace at (Shaun) Dickens’ restaurant (recently crowned Oxfordshire’s restaurant of the year) at the Boathouse by the Thames.

After a few technical hitches and blown fuses (as the tech initially could not take the power of the ‘No Direction’ boys) which threatened a gloomy acoustic set, the nutty boys from Henley entertained another large crowd in ‘Olaf’ outfits (promptly ruining ‘Frozen’ for a generation of Henley children), with instruments including a Stylophone (front man Peter McConnell making the hitherto out of favour gadget of yester-year the surprise ‘must have’ of the season) and with an eclectic and sometimes zany set ranging from Delilah, via David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’, to Kraftwerk v. The Wheels on the Bus.

Shaun Dickens and partner for the evening Niki Schafer Interior Designs provided warm mulled wine and scrumptious yule log for audience.
Living Advent Chair Richard Rodway and the Niki Schafer drew the raffle after the performance with prizes kindly donated by the Humphries of Henley (cup & saucer), Niki Shafer (champagne) and Helen Maynard at Henley Photography School (a day long photography workshop).

Big thanks to Helen Maynard (www.thehenleyphotoschool.com) also for looking after the photography for us on this occasion.

Next up and it’s on to the Regal Picturehouse for the screening of the winning entries in this year’s film competition, with Strada partnering at 6:15pm, on Wednesday 10^th December. Everyone is entitled to attend early, given that capacity is limited to 150 people, and tickets will be distributed on a first come first served basis.

Night 10 represents the first of 3 nights in a row indoors for those in search of somewhere dry and warm!