By Monica Chard
Well, it’s all coming together nicely. The Lower Sunbury Business Community Christ-mas market on December 9th is proving pop-ular and stalls are almost sold out. If you want a stall please email John Carey: johncar-ey@active-edge.co.uk. There will be food, gifts, a roving Santa, the village raffle and the Salvation Army. It runs from 5-8pm on Ave-nue Parade and the road outside the shops will be closed. See ad opposite for full infor-mation and put it in your diary!
Elsewhere we are finding out about other Christmas ideas. Nauticalia in Ferry Lane, Shepperton will be running two Christmas markets and will be open until 8pm. The first is on November 13th and the second on December 11th. It gives you the chance to visit the new retail courtyard and we can promise, it looks splendid!
And you may have seen notices of a Water-side Wonderland on social media. This event runs at the Liquid Leisure site. More details on p11. It is the brain child of two local young ladies. Niamh Brennan in fact used to deliver Sunbury Matters, and has latterly graduated from Aberystwyth university. She and friend Emma Christmas (yes, this really is her name!!) have worked at the Liquid Leisure aqua park on New Road, Shepperton, during their summer breaks. This summer the girls noticed the new focus on sustainability and approached their employers with the idea of a community event at Christmas. Emma says “Our main goal was to create an event for the community featuring a Christmas market and inviting local small businesses seemed fitting. Interacting and working with these businesses who have a real passion for their products and services has been a personal favourite of ours whilst planning this event”.
Alongside the Christmas market, the girls also wanted to attract families with affordable activities that they can enjoy at this magical time of year, but at the same time keeping the cost relatively lower than the cost of a funfair ride at a sizeable event. There will be a Santa’s Grotto, donkey rides, ice-skating on a synthetic rink, lanterns on the lake, game stalls and other festive attractions to provide a magical experience.
To encourage people to spread their visits, and conscious of social distancing, the decision was made to run this as a Christmas festival over several days. Opening times of Waterside Wonderland as follows throughout December:
Thursday 2nd, Friday 3rd, Thursday 9th, Friday 10th: 16.00-21.00
Saturday 4th, Sunday 5th, Saturday 11th, Sunday 12th: 14.00-21.00