REMINDING YOU
TO LOVE LOCAL

A BIG Congratulations to this year’s ‘Best High Street Christmas Window’ winner.

Drum roll……………………….

The award, kindly judged by RAF Station Commander, Group Captain Roberts goes to……………..

THE RED LION

Group Captain Roberts, took the task very very seriously, also deploying his family to help him decide, alongside inOdiham Chair Jon Hale. Group Captain Roberts commented that the High Street looked amazing with a wonderful community Christmas feel that really makes Odiham a special place to live / be stationed.

He particularly found it hard to decide between the Frame (last year’s winner which had a superb display once again), Moutan (which just looks stunning) and the Red Lion. The Red Lion clinched it for Group Captain Roberts based on the display being wonderfully handmade, with a great Christmas vibe, that then kind of pulls the eye into the warmth of the pub inside (see he did take it very seriously).

He also wanted to acknowledge the Chinook incorporated into the display at Strutt and Parker. And enjoyed the ‘live display’ at Le Creperie………..which was in fact the great team there installing their decorations at the time of judging and made a bit of a show of it.

Thanks again Group Captain. And thanks to everyone who took part.

The much coveted trophy will be presented in due course. ... See MoreSee Less

We wanted to say thank you.

With today’s Extravaganza now open, we wanted to say a quick (well as it happens quite a long) thank you to all involved. While every event needs its generals and here are some our super organisers (led by the brilliant Sarah) in action this morning, we really couldn’t do it without all the help we get.

- All our inOdiham planners, volunteers and helpers who are awesome (if we do say so ourselves).
- The financial support of OPC, Hadley Simmons, Westport Grey, King Street Dentists, the Odiham & Greywell Cricket Club and all of you who donated via our Tombola. The event costs over £5k to put on and we couldn’t do it without your support.
- The brilliant marshals of RJA. They do such an amazing job keeping us all safe and managing the traffic. Friendly but firm – so professional.
- Team Medic’s first aiders
- Hooke Highways for dealing with the road diversions.
- Robert Mays School, King Street Dental and Spectro for providing vital parking.
- Mayhill School for hosting our stallholders vehicles (so important to find somewhere to stow 80 stallholders vehicles and reduce the impact to our other limited parking).
- John Searle Fairgrounds, Cove Brass band, the Military Wives choir, Boogie Magic, Basingstoke Community Radio – and our lovely Mayhill School choir for keeping us entertained.
- Tom Janaway at Ford Farm for the hay bales to provide some rustic seating.
- Shane Avery for the storage, trailer and time.
- The Rotary for coordinating with Father Christmas and the Bel and the Dragon again for hosting him and his elves.

- The Red Lion for providing refreshments for our marshals
- The third mention for the Bel – providing refreshments and a room for Cove Brass band
- Hart Council for the extra bins and Rup for tomorrow's litter pick
- And lastly but extremely importantly, our local residents for dealing with the disruption.

Have a great Extravaganza everyone
(And we really hope we haven’t missed any thank yous) ... See MoreSee Less

Just 24hrs to go until this year’s Extravaganza!!

Attached is a list of all the stalls we have organised for you.

And this year we have responded to your feedback and doubled the Christmas market part of the event.

We really hope you support these local businesses by kicking off your Christmas shopping, alongside our wonderful High Street retailers and eateries. And if you want to support this and future events, provided by our volunteer inOdiham team, please do visit our stand and take a turn on our tombola – thank you to all that have donated bottles. All funds are vital in helping underpin events like this, or projects like funding our ever-expanding Christmas light display that line the High Street (and what an amazing job our awesome volunteers Jim and Amanda have done this year).

We usually see a flurry of questions on the day, so here are some answers to the classics we are asked every year:
- The event starts at 2pm and finishes at 7pm.
- Father Christmas will be joining us – the Bel and the Dragon host him and you can book your appointment with help of the Rotary at the side entrance to the Bel (towards their car park).
- The High Street will be fully closed from the London Road junction to Church Street 10am to 10pm.
- We really encourage you to come on foot if you can, however there is limited parking kindly provided by Robert Mays school.
- There is a small disabled parking provision kindly provided by King Street Dental Practice.
- There will be music performances throughout – but the school choir will be on at 3pm.
- Toilets are on King Street.
- We do our best to promote the event – this year we have had banners, flyers posted through letter boxes, posters in shops and upped our social media. We’ve tried our best!
- Yes, many of our High Street shops and eateries will be open. We’ve engaged with all of them and do our best to accommodate their input. Please do visit them too!
- and lastly why Sunday? We agonised over the best day and time (and know we can’t please everyone), but have settled on Sunday to cause the minimum disruption to local businesses that rely on ‘appointments’, whilst elevating another trading day, and start the event early enough for families with young children to enjoy it. ... See MoreSee Less