🎄 Get Your Jingle On at the Lower Sunbury Christmas Street Market!

Gareth Davies: 00:00:47

Welcome to the Sheppertonian.

In this episode, we're heading just down the river to Lower Sunbury, where fairy lights, mulled wine and community spirit come together for one of the most charming nights of the year. The annual Lower Sunbury Christmas Street Market is back, bringing the avenue alive with food stalls and festive cheer.

And while we're on the subject, Shepperton's own Big Tree Night team are also looking for volunteers to help off on the night. So if you can spare a little time to lend a hand, they'd really appreciate it.

If you haven't already, make sure you're signed up to the newsletter at thesheppertonian.uk it's where you'll find more local stories, events and ways to get involved.

So I caught up with Jackie from Avenue Opticians and Dennis from Van Wonderen Flowers, two of the main organisers, to hear how the Lower Sunbury Christmas Street Market began and what's in store for this year. Let's set the scene. How did the Sunbury Christmas Street Market first come about?

Dennis van Wonderen: 00:01:47

shop on the avenue parade in: 2007

And I became a part of the Lower Sunbury business community, which was at that point, the 12 shops that are on the parade here, and a few other businesses round and about. And it sort of soon dawned on me that not a lot was going on.

And having come from a very busy town where there's lots of hustle and bustle, I thought, we need to create some hustle and bustle here, because, you know, I'm new into this parade. I want my business to flourish and bloom, excuse the pun. And I want to get customers to come and use me.

So what better way to promote not only your own business, but all the other businesses by organizing the market. So my second or third meeting, I put it to the then committee and I said, I think we should have a market. A market?

I said, yes, you know, where we close the road, close the road and we put some stalls out the front, put some stalls where the car's going to go. I said, it's not going to be all day, it's just going to be a few hours and we'll theme it around Christmas. Christmas.

Honestly, I thought I just landed on another planet, so that'll never happen. The council will never approve that. I mean, it's a ridiculous idea. Anyway.

I had just met Roberto Tambini, who was the then chief executive of Spelthorne Borough Council, at one of the Spelthorne business forum, you know, meetings, breakfast meetings. He gave me his card. So I thought, well, I'll just ring him. Hello there, Roberto. It's Dennis vanmondren from the Lower Sunbury business community.

Oh, hi, Dennis. Yes, what can I do for you? Well, we met last week at the breakfast. He said, yes, yes, yes.

I said, I'm trying to put together a street market, Christmas themed one in the Lower Sunbury. He went, oh, fantastic. He said, what do you need? I said, well, I need the road closed for about five hours.

I said, I'd like some cones and some signs and a few other bits and pieces. Says, not a problem, we'll make it happen.

So I then went back at our next meeting, which was monthly at the time, and I said, right, good news, everyone. I've got the road closure. We're going to get some street furniture and we're going to have a Christmas market.

Well, I think the chairman, who was Laurie Maskell from the menswear shop, nearly fell of his chair and I'm sort of. I'm a bit of a go getter. So I just went and got. We hired some stalls from a company in Birmingham.

All the stalls were identical in, you know, shape and size and color. We lit them up with lots of fluorescent lighting. Cost us a fair bit of money.

we got around, I don't know,: 1200

And we got a relatively good turnout and the event kind of just grew from there. We got bigger. We had a summer market as well as a Christmas market and it's sort of grown to what it is now, basically.

Gareth Davies: 00:05:28

So thinking back to that original market that you put on and going through the years, what makes the Avenue in particular such a special setting for it?

Jackie McAteer: 00:05:40

I think it's probably just the very villagey atmosphere. I mean, I've only been here two years and I've never worked anywhere like it.

You could be in the middle of the Cotswolds and it's a proper little village. Everybody seems to know each other.

It's very doggy, there's loads of kids and everybody's just so friendly and they look after each other, which I Love.

And I think that's what makes the Christmas market quite special, is that you get a lot of people coming in who have been coming here since they were tiny. They're now in their 30s.

They remember when the market started up and it's just lovely to watch the little kids faces when they're decorating biscuits and all that kind of thing. It's just lovely.

Gareth Davies: 00:06:19

You mentioned kids decorating biscuits. How would you describe the atmosphere on the night to someone who's never been.

Jackie McAteer: 00:06:26

I think it's very open and friendly here. I think there's generally quite a lot to look at. When we're blessed with good weather, it's brilliant.

We tend to get a lot more people here, but even when it's wet, we've still got the canopy. Most of the shops stay open so people can come and shelter, but it's just a warm, friendly atmosphere and people do get really involved.

They like to talk to sort of local businesses about what they're doing there. We quite often have people like the Lower Sunbury Residents association come and represent. This year we're going to have the police.

We're going to have a little thing so you can sort of come and talk to the local police, voice what's bothering you? And they have said that they will try and address any concerns that we have.

So I think it's just really nice that it's good representation of local businesses as well, in terms of crafts and things too.

Gareth Davies: 00:07:18

That's brilliant. So what goes into planning and you mentioned closing the road, which is obviously a big part for the local community.

What goes into that planning for the event every year?

Dennis van Wonderen: 00:07:29

When it started, it was relatively innocent, you know, it was a small thing. And the council in the last 20 years has had to deal with a lot of health and safety, you know, public groups, concerns since, you know, a few years.

We've now got this terrorist threat that, you know, Christmas markets are under attack. So last year we actually had armed police here, which we're going to have again this year, which in lower Sunbury, a sleepy little village.

It just sounds a ridiculous concept to even take in, but it's what we need to, you know, the hoops we need to jump through. Jackie and myself are part of a small team.

There are four, four others on that team that do the selling of the stalls, the organizing, the advertising and promotion of the event. And then we ask for volunteers, you know, that come and help on the night.

And usually the volunteers come early on because it's easy, because it's between 3 and 5 in the afternoon, the market starts at 5, finishes about 9 usually. And then it's the tidying up afterwards. The stallholders are told to take their rubbish with them and the majority of them is pretty good.

But we still need to return the street scene into, you know, an acceptable environment. So there's bins, we make sure that all the rubbish is taken away.

So from start to finish, you know, two o' clock is when we start putting the cones out and probably 10 o' clock is when we can declare the road open again. It's a small army of people that, that comes together and we found out in our early years that Shepperton does Big Tree Night.

So what can we learn from Shepperton? So we got ourselves, you know, into the Shepperton business group and we sort of met with them as a sort of a very open round the table discussion.

Like, guys, how do you do yours and how do you get your road closed and how do you get.

Because they seem to get more than what we got, you know, so we started combining the support that we received from the council and then made it a joint attempt, you know, so the two villages were sort of joining each other in, in forces. And I think sometimes, you know, we, we feel a bit, we're a bit left out here in Sunbury, us.

Shepperton feels left out in Shepperton on lots of different things, you know, when it comes to the council. So we do have a voice and the louder we shout, the more, the more we tend to get. So.

Gareth Davies: 00:10:02

Yeah, yeah. And part of that shouting is for volunteers, isn't it?

Because I know Big Tree Night are always calling for volunteers and especially for the day or the evening. You mentioned putting cones out, tidying up afterwards. What are the kind of things that volunteers could do and how perhaps could they get involved?

Who would they need to contact? How would they do that?

Dennis van Wonderen: 00:10:25

So Monica, who does most of our PR from Sunbury Matters, is also the same editor as the Shepperton Matters. So you can contact monica monica@villagematters.co.uk and she will put you in touch with the relevant person that, you know is looking for help.

We've got a Facebook page and that you can look at Lower Sunbury business community. So there are ways that you can reach, you know, the organising team.

But it's things like putting cones out, it's stewarding, because when people turn up in mass, you know, you need to have a certain number of stewards that makes sure everything goes okay. We've got a police presence here.

So if it does get out of hand, you know, the police is here to sort of stand by and it's just making sure that the event goes smoothly throughout the evening. We're lucky to have a pharmacy here on the parade.

And she stays open and she becomes our sort of first aid point if somebody, you know, sprains their ankle or falls over or whatever you know, might occur. And that's very helpful.

Jackie McAteer: 00:11:35

It is very helpful. And of course, we've got the new defibrillator here as well, which was partly funded by the Lower Sunbury business community.

And basically neca's given up her wall and they take my electricity, so that's absolutely fine. But it does mean that we've got one of these outside, rather than having to wait and try and enter a building, we can use it straight away.

So we've got codes, et cetera, on there. And I think you're right. I think the setting up is not normally a problem. We've usually got plenty of volunteers for that.

It's often they kind of fade away when it comes to the end of the evening because everyone's exhausted. But that's as much as anything where you could do with help. It's all about things like the licenses.

It's all those nitty gritty things in the background. You have to get all these special licences to keep the roads open.

It's becoming more and more expensive because of all the insurances and things that you have to have now. So there's a lot of chasing around and there's a lot of background stuff.

But we've got a lovely lady who's dealing with at the moment and she's liaising with John Kerry, Mary, who's. Who's the other chap that does it.

But it's just a really enjoyable evening and more and more of the shops now staying open, which is good because that encourages even more.

And we've got a slight change in format this year in that we did used to have sort of two rows of stalls facing each other across the middle of the road. But what was happening was it was then excluding the shops that did stay open.

So this year we're taking it further up the actual Avenue Parade and having one row just facing, so that it's more inclusive for both sides. We're having a really nice little children's area, so they're a bit more separate, so they can go down there and enjoy themselves safely.

But, yeah, we're hoping it'll be a really good event this year with a slightly different format.

Gareth Davies: 00:14:26

I was about to ask, what new elements are you bringing this year to keep things fresh? Are there any additional elements other than what you mentioned?

Jackie McAteer: 00:14:33

We've got some few more rides for the children. Cavan are doing a big involvement with decorating biscuits.

You've got Laura, who's now gone completely crazy with her Santa's grotto, so she does that all herself. So there's a lot really, to sort of keep the kids interested.

There's a children's tombola, you know, the usual things, candy floss, hooker duck balloons. And I think we've got a. A children's ride as well. I think it's like a teacup ride coming this year and candy floss, that kind of thing.

So hopefully there's plenty to bring them along. But in addition to that, this year, what we're trying to promote is to get the kids to dress up.

So what we're asking is that they come either in a funky Christmas jumper or an ugly one, or they can go full Christmas dress, whatever they'd like to do.

And if they come in to myself, I will give them a raffle ticket, which they put their name and address or name and telephone number on the back of the. And then we'll have a draw at the end to just offer one big prize.

So each child coming down is going to get some chocolate, they pop in with their jumper on, that will be given out to them and then there'll be one big prize which will draw at the end of the market.

Gareth Davies: 00:15:40

How exciting.

Jackie McAteer: 00:15:41

Yeah, I think they'll enjoy that. We just want to get more kids down, basically make it more family inclusive.

Gareth Davies: 00:15:47

Absolutely. So that's elements you're changing. Is there anything about the market that you would never dream of changing? On the flip side, I think it's.

Dennis van Wonderen: 00:15:57

Probably the time that it runs at. Because like Shepperton High street, you know, you've got much more areas where you can pull up in your car.

We can only pull up literally outside the front of our shops.

And whilst we take pride in organizing this event and bringing the community together and making it a fun afternoon stroke, early evening for everyone, we're still trying to run a business at the same time. And by closing the road from 2 o', clock, you know, that's we're sort of saying goodbye to our afternoon trade.

So the time frame is what we really can't change. We like to choose what we get so that each and every craft has got representation in one, because that's really what we're here to do.

We're not going to have five of the same.

Gareth Davies: 00:16:47

You want the value.

Dennis van Wonderen: 00:16:47

It makes the market really boring and also it makes it really difficult for the people who are selling those particular elements, you know, to, to do a reasonable trade for them to be here.

Gareth Davies: 00:16:58

Yeah, yeah.

Jackie McAteer: 00:16:59

I mean, we have huge variety this year. We've got things like sunglass suncatchers, candles, diffusers, got a cheese stall. Quite looking forward to that one.

Donuts, crepes and waffles, a rum and wet bar that could be quite interesting. Biltong, obviously, Cavern Bakery. We've got cupcakes, Christmas gifts, gift boxes, dog craft gifts.

So I'm assuming it will be fancy leads and little kerchiefs and things like that. Handmade soaps, plenty of chocolate and crocheted earrings, knitted toys, scarves and hats and things like that.

So there's quite big variety in the actual stores. But then in addition to that, we've got food, so we've got German sausages, we've got a really nice Thai curry which is coming along.

Brazilian empanadas, not quite sure what they are, but looking forward to giving those a try. All the normal things like curries, Mac and cheese, sausage, just about everything that you want for a nice hot warming thing.

While you're wandering around looking at stalls and things.

Gareth Davies: 00:18:01

Over the last 18 years, are there any favourite stories or moments that really capture the community spirit?

Dennis van Wonderen: 00:18:09

I think that the most memorable one was when we had one of the estate agents that was sort of trying to make their mark in the community as they opened their office and they sponsored for two years running some real life reindeer. And the kids and the parents are still talking about that now.

They cost an absolute arm and a leg, so hence the reason it was only sponsored for two years. But they were outside Laura the Hairdresser's Grotto, where Santa was inside and the reindeer were outside.

And they're quite funky creatures, aren't they?

I mean, you see them in films and you see them in, you know, postcards and books and stories, but watching them and observing them in real life, I, I stroked one of them because they said, oh, can you pet them? Yeah, yeah, you can pet them. The hair on them is really coarse. You know, you stroke a horse and a horse is quite smooth and, you know.

But a reindeer, it was almost like stroking a hedgehog.

Jackie McAteer: 00:19:14

Yeah, it's quite wiry.

Dennis van Wonderen: 00:19:15

Yeah, definitely quite wiry. But that I think was probably one of the. One of the biggest highlights that people to this day still talk about.

Gareth Davies: 00:19:24

Excellent. So just to round off, remind everyone of the timings, perhaps, where they can park if they're driving, things like that.

Things that people might need to know.

Jackie McAteer: 00:19:35

So basically, the road will be closing from 2pm onwards and will reopen again, as Dennis said, around about 10 o' clock in the evening.

The actual party itself, if you like, gets going at around about 5 o' clock and we'll run through up until definitely 8, but it tends to carry on till about 9 o'. Clock.

There is a small car park just across the way there, so there are side roads that people can park in, but there is a small car park just across, so people are very welcome to park in there. What else do we need to know?

Dennis van Wonderen: 00:20:04

It's Thursday. It is 4th of December.

Jackie McAteer: 00:20:07

Indeed.

Dennis van Wonderen: 00:20:08

It's always the first Thursday in the month of December. And usually we're either a day before the Shepperton Big Tree night or a week before the Shepperton Big Tree Night.

We don't do that on purpose, it's just how it happens, unfortunately. But ours is always the first Thursday of December, so we look forward to seeing you all. Bring a brolly with you in case it rains.

Wrap up warm in case it's cold.

Jackie McAteer: 00:20:36

Absolutely.

Dennis van Wonderen: 00:20:37

But there's some fun to be had here from. From 5 till 8.

Jackie McAteer: 00:20:40

The other thing as well, which everybody absolutely, absolutely loves and adores and the children just go berserk over it, is that Dennis usually unveils his Christmas window on the night of the Christmas market. So it's all. Lots of little houses and trains and things like that. It's absolutely beautiful, children.

Dennis van Wonderen: 00:20:58

It's a festive miniature village with trains running through it and lots of little houses all lit up. When you're a child, you remember stuff, you know, and you remember it being massive. And I didn't really think about it until.

I mean, I'm 6 foot 7, so I'm rather tall. I look down at what I've created.

But when you actually sit down in front of the window and you squat and you look up, you can see how impressive it is for a child.

Gareth Davies: 00:21:28

Beautiful.

Jackie McAteer: 00:21:28

It's absolutely lovely.

Dennis van Wonderen: 00:21:30

Yeah, the kids love it. So that will be there on the night for people to come and watch as well.

Gareth Davies: 00:21:36

Magic. Someone likes Christmas.

Jackie McAteer: 00:21:38

Well, you wait. You wait until we see the costume because we usually go full elf on the Christmas market.

Gareth Davies: 00:21:43

Go full elf? Not half elf?

Jackie McAteer: 00:21:45

Yep, Full elf?

Dennis van Wonderen: 00:21:46

Yeah, full elf. The tallest elf known to mankind. Yeah. Full on festive.

Jackie McAteer: 00:21:53

Full on festive.

Gareth Davies: 00:21:54

Lovely. Jackie of Avenue Opticians and Dennis from Van Wonderen Flowers, thank you so much.

Jackie McAteer: 00:22:00

You're very welcome. Lovely to have you here.

Dennis van Wonderen: 00:22:02

Thank you. Okay.

Gareth Davies: 00:22:08

You can really hear the pride that goes into making this market happen and how much of a fixture it's become for the community. It's always the first Thursday in December, so this year that's Thursday the 4th of December.

Things kick off at 5pm with the road closed from 2 and the whole evening wrapped up around 9. If you're local and fancy helping out even for part of the day, Dennis and Jackie would love an extra pair of hands.

You can get in touch through the Lower Sunbury Business Community Facebook page or email monica@villagematters.co.uk to volunteer. And if you're just going to soak up the atmosphere, wrap up warm, bring the family and look out for Dennis, famous Christmas window display.

Apparently he's the tallest elf in Surrey. That's all for this episode of the Sheppertonian.

Don't forget to sign up for the newsletter at thesheppertonian.uk for local stories, event updates and behind the scenes extras. If you run a local business and want to advertise on the podcast or in the newsletter, head to the website and click Advertise.

The best way to reach people who actually live here. And a quick reminder, the Big Tree Night team in Shepperton are still looking for volunteers too.

So if you can give even an hour, it really does make a difference. Thanks again to Jackie and Dennis and to everyone helping bring the Lower Sunbury Christmas Street Market to life. This year.

This has been the Sheppertonian. I'm Gareth. See you around.