Henley Scan’s picture-perfect farewell

Eva and Graham Rickett, the husband-and-wife team behind Henley Scan, are preparing to say goodbye to Henley at the end of August as they retire to Sweden.

Eva will be returning to her homeland, where the couple will be closer to family and are looking forward to becoming grandparents in the new year.

The couple moved to Henley from Finchampstead in 2015 and quickly became part of the town’s independent business community.  The idea for Henley Scan came a few years later, in 2018, after Eva and Graham had spent years scanning photographs and documents for themselves, friends and family.

Eva explained, “We had been scanning for ourselves and friends and families for quite a few years. Graham said there must be a business here. He published a Facebook post on Henley Recommendations, and we had so many replies and positive response so that was it.”  The response was enough to convince them to take the idea forward, and Henley Scan was born.

The business grew quickly and, in August 2021, Eva and Graham moved from running it at home into a shop on Reading Road. At its peak, Henley Scan employed up to four part-time members of staff.  However, in 2023 the couple moved the business back home because of rising costs and following Graham’s diagnosis with pancreatic cancer.

Although looking forward to their move, the couple say there will be much about Henley that they will miss.  Eva comments, “I think it is the people, fellow business owners, the summer season, the community and the slightly bonkers thing of it all. It is a really creative community.”

Over the years, Eva has become a familiar face in the town, not only through Henley Scan but also as an enthusiastic champion of independent businesses and local causes.  Henley Scan have been a loyal supporter of sponsoring the Herald’s weekly cartoon for the last year.  Eva also earned herself the Herald’s title of the town’s “Bin Queen” after trying to tackle the issue of waste from Gail’s being left overnight in Market Place.

Asked what mark they felt they were leaving behind, Eva said, “Apart of being the Bin Queen.  I think the Henley Scan legacy is how many people we have helped. What a fantastic business it has been. The memories for us and all the memories we have helped people to access.”

Eva and Graham are now hoping that someone else may take on Henley Scan and continue the business they have built.  “We would love to sell and give it someone to continue the legacy. There are some discussions but if there is anyone who is interested please get in touch. It is a very flexible business.”

Eva has also been a passionate advocate for shopping locally and believes that small independent businesses are central to what makes Henley special.  Eva comments, “We’ve not championed local where we’ve lived before. It is because we are business owners here and it is so special and if we didn’t have the independent businesses we wouldn’t have the beating heart of the town. The nationals you struggle to phone and with an aging population we need a personal service in Henley. We have such a pride in giving our customers our services that do not fit in the box and not just ticking algorithms.”

She added, “Local businesses will always offer something, but people who work for the nationals have restrictions. Local businesses support charities, work experience and schools for example and they promote skills and excellence.”

As news of their retirement has spread, Eva says the response from the community has been brilliant.  Eva said “The response this month has been heartwarming and overwhelming. People have emailed, texted and stopped us on the square and wished us luck.”

During their years running Henley Scan, Eva and Graham have worked on countless personal projects, helping customers preserve, restore and access treasured memories. Eva said, “There having been so many memorable jobs but a couple that stand out are we restored a small photo of Grandfather from the war in a locket. We did the job during Covid and had to sit in the garden. It was the client’s Mother’s locket and it was only photo the family had of him. Life has moved on a lot in those 6 years and so has AI technology regarding photo enhancing since. The reaction was priceless and it came from someone who also owns her local business.”

Another particularly memorable project involved an international family based in London whose mother had been involved in the French Resistance during the Second World War and had survived several camps.  Eva recalled, “Another was from an international family who were London based where the mother had been in the French resistance in the World War and ended up in a few camps. She had medals from Charles De Gaulle. The difficult part of the job was to scan letters back to her Dad during the war in camp and were written on anything – cloth, napkins, greaseproof paper, very blotchy with very small writing. Scanning wise it was a challenge particularly on the greaseproof paper as you could see both sides. We produced 16 photo books which were distributed to the whole family. All the war projects are very humbling. The combination of personal history and social history is very powerful.”

The emotional connection to the work is something Eva says they have experienced time and again.  “Every project when we get involved and they are very special, legacies, get very emotional involved even though it is not our story.”

Henley Scan also expanded beyond scanning and restoring photographs, digitising old media into developing products including bespoke wallpaper. One example featuring old photographs of Henley can be seen in the Tourist Office, while Leander Club’s crew room features a wallpaper created from Olympic newspaper articles. Eva said, “Leander newspaper wallpaper was also very special because it was Henley.”

As they prepare to leave, Eva has one final message for the town that has supported both them and their business over the past eight years. “I would like to thank Henley for the love to us personally and to the business.”