'Really special' town enters culture competition

A second Oxfordshire town has thrown its hat into the ring to become the UK's first ever Town of Culture.

Henley-on-Thames has joined Banbury in the hunt to become the inaugural winner of the title, which was launched by the government last year.

The successful town will have to prove it can design and deliver a year-long cultural programme - and show how it'll develop its cultural offerings in the future.

Daisy Smith, from Henley Town Council, said there was "so much that we can bring to the table in terms of culture".

"People know Henley because of the big events, the Henley Royal Regatta and Henley Festival, but I think what makes Henley actually really special is just the range of local creativity," she explained.

"Whether that's community theatre, or music, or arts groups, or school productions, or heritage projects."

"There's so much going on and the people of the town are absolutely magical."

As well as the honour of being named the first UK Town of Culture, the winner of the competition will receive £3m to be spent on arts and culture locally.

"That kind of money would mean we can encourage you know more people different ages to take part in creativity and culture," Daisy said.

She added that it would also "bring some of the things that maybe are underrepresented out into the front".

But among those standing in Henley's way to the prize are Woodley and Slough in Berkshire, as well as Banbury - which announced it would be taking part in the competition last year.

Daisy explained that there was already a bit of rivalry between the towns at the opposite ends of Oxfordshire over their annual Christmas light displays.

"So we can give it a go with culture as well," she added.

You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.