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Christmas Shopping at the Parade
posted 7 December 2007
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| When she heard that the High Street were not doing their afternoon shopping evening this year, Cookham resident Liz Kwantes thought that it was such a shame and so suggested that there should be a mini one in the Parade in Cookham Rise. | ||
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Setting Up at Manzanos |
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The shopkeepers were interested, a
roundabout for children, candy floss, Father Christmas grotto, stalls,
food tastings, barbecues, mulled wine and wine tastings were planned.
Mike Hutt from Bait and Tackle organised Christmas lights. Pike Smith
and Kemp with help from Alison Melon put up advertising boards around
the village. Alison had been the driving force behind the High Street
shopping afternoon for many years and so was of great assistance.
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Do You Want to See Father Christmas? |
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| The day of the shopping was wet and got wetter, the roundabout supplier phoned to say he felt he should pull out as there was no way to hold down the roundabout against the wind. Some of the stalls pulled out due to illness and other problems. Steve from the Social Club had been taken into hospital for a back operation, so it seemed that things were looking black for the evening. However in spite of the weather it was decided to go ahead. | ||
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Joanna Yates of Figitti |
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| Manzano's had a wonderful spread of salmon smoked on the premises, a wonderful paella, which smelt delicious along with nibbles and an amazing elderberry mulled wine. | ||
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Paella mmmmmmmmmm |
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| There was live music at Santa's Grotto with two of Santa's little helpers on the accordian. Also the Rotary had brought along their sled which was covered in bright lights and played traditional Christmas carols. | ||
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It's Christmas Time |
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| There were stalls for Christmas presents and cards from the RNLI, the Cookham Society and Fidgitti. Fidgitti which is run by Joanna Yates, who is caretaker at the Pinder Hall, sells the most beautiful cards and pictures done by Joanna herself. | ||
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Must Adjust my Antlers |
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| Deliciozo's had mulled wine with wine donated by Stratfords. This was in competition with the elderberry mulled wine at Manzano's and the wine tasting at Deliciously French along with Cookham Twinning. Chrissie Rosenthal from the Spencer Gallery had chosen to be in front of Deliciozo's with a selection of books on Spencer, but had to move in the end as she was getting rather wet. | ||
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Di Benson Caught with TWO Mulled Wines |
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| The Scouts were there with their barbecue and the smell of cooking sausages spread across the car park, along with a South African barbecue from Tony at Cookham Hardware and hot chestnuts prepared by Maliks and looked after by Alison Mellon. The Fire Brigade had parked their engine in front of the Scout Barbecue, was this just in case? | ||
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Fancy a Hot Dog? |
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A Treasure Hunt for the children had been organised by Sue le Page, Lilian Dubois and Janet Wheeler, which seemed as popular with the adults as with the children. |
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In spite of the weather lots of people had come along, the Cubs were all there with Akela and had even put back their meeting so they could enjoy the evening. Donations for the evening are going to Elizabeth House and the Cookham Youth Project. There were even suggestions that there should be another one next year. |
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