A festive treat for all of Hoddesdon!

Friday 5th December 4pm

Sunday 30th November we celebrated Hoddesdon Loves Christmas. The event was a huge triumph, with an estimated 14,000 people coming into the town centre to enjoy a day filled with festive fun and activities.

Organised by Love Hoddesdon BID in conjunction with our partners at Broxbourne Council, the day again showcased our town’s incredible community spirit.

The Father Christmas Parade, organised brilliantly once again by Love Hoddesdon volunteer Tony Corrigan, was praised by many as “the best ever” with 22 imaginative floats taking part featuring a wide variety of local groups and organisations.

Hoddesdon Library, which kindly hosted Santa’s Grotto, saw 400 visitors in its three-hour window of opening, whilst the Snow Globe, generously sponsored and run this year by solicitors Duffield Harrison LLP, proved popular throughout the day, with around 1,000 people either taking part or watching their children, friends and family enjoying the snow!

There was great live entertainment on the stage near the Clock Tower all day long, kindly sponsored by Nonna’s Kitchen, which was headlined at the end of the afternoon by the hugely popular Ultimate Boyband, who had people of all ages dancing as they belted out hit after hit. Compering the whole day of acts from the stage in his usual brilliant fashion was Dean Martin, who then introduced the Mayor of Broxbourne Cllr Patsy Spears and local legend and EastEnders star Gillian Taylforth to switch on the Christmas lights before a fireworks display rounded off the day.

Dean even persuaded Gillian to give us all a scoop when she confessed her favourite moment from 40 years of East Enders was hitting Cindy over the head with a shovel!

Our thanks to everyone who came into town to enjoy Hoddesdon Loves Christmas on Sunday, and support the stallholders and our great local businesses, who benefit from these large public events through increased footfall and recognition as well as, for many, sales on the day itself.

It is also both right and really important that we thank all those involved in putting on this event, without whose hard work, dedication and support it simply would not be possible.

We thank our partners at Broxbourne Council and their staff who gave up their time to act as marshals for part of the Father Christmas Parade too, as well as council officers who helped organise the day.

And we owe a huge thank-you and congratulations to Love Hoddesdon’s own Events & Promotions Chair Stephen Harris, whose tireless hard work for many, many weeks ahead of the event, as well as on the day itself and in its aftermath, is genuinely inspiring. Likewise, we thank Tony Corrigan, who worked so hard to put together a fabulous Father Christmas Parade – the highlight of the day for so many people, as we know. The team of Love Hoddesdon volunteers, many of whom worked in advance of the day and from the early hours of the morning to make this event happen, continue to be an inspiration, with their selfless devotion to working for the good of our town. We thank them all and hope you all had a brilliant day in Hoddesdon!