Helen & Douglas House Win Christmas Window Display Competition
Helen & Douglas House have won this year’s Henley Christmas Window Display Competition for their interpretation of “Willy Wonka’s Christmas Festival” in their window. Their display included a wide-range of sweets, marshmallows, candy canes, toy dogs and a smiling photo of Gene Wilder to greet onlookers at the window.
A panel of judges viewed many shops throughout Henley during the day and in the end decided Helen & Douglas House to be a worthy winner. As tradition, the Helen & Douglas House team were presented with a trophy, a certificate and a bottle of champagne by a judging panel including: Mayoress Dorothy Arlett, Estate Agent Phil Booth, Henley Living Advent Calendar founder Richard Rodway, and Town Centre Manager, Helen Barnett.
Dorothy Arlett was very impressed with the efforts made by Helen & Douglas House, she said, “It was just so bright, absolutely brilliant, you can see everything has been made by hand. It was very difficult to decide a winner this year, it was very close but this one is absolutely beautiful.”
Richard Rodway was also a big fan of the window and added, “With Gene Wilder’s photo, I was automatically on board. The different interpretation of Christmas and the attention to detail is just fantastic.”
When asked about the judging process for the window displays, Richard said, “We all pick our top four, if I nominated a shop that would get four points so it’s very democratic, it was a very difficult choice.”
Rachel Barnes, a member of the Helen & Douglas team said, “I am so happy, it was a lot of hard work and it was all done with my daughter Francesca. You can see that we used our dogs winter coats and we stuck the sweets on all the water bottles. We wanted to do something that children would like as we are a children’s charity at the end of the day.”
Helen & Douglas House fought off some tough competition this year. In 4th place was Berries Coffee, 3rd place was Frost Borneo Optometrists and the runner-up was Cannelle Medispa’s Beauty Salon all on Hart Street.
It’s proved to be another successful year for the competition and the judges wish to thank their excellent sponsors: Milton Gordon & Co, IBS Office Solutions, The Head Partnership, Phillip Booth Esq & Delegate Office and Conference Services.
This was Helen & Douglas House’s first victory and the staff have promised to give the trophy a new home in the shop.
Look out for the other festive window displays around Henley including Laurence Menswear, Vinegar Hill, Ways Rare & Secondhand Bookshop, The Kiln Cafe, Henley Police Station, Sue Ryder, Rudi Kartal, Oxfam, Crew Clothing and The Catherine Wheel.
