The Haslemere Christmas Market drew the crowds to the town once again last Sunday (December 4).

This year’s event was the 21st staging of the popular festive market. It featured more than 100 stalls in West Street, High Street and Haslemere Educational Museum offering gifts, food and refreshments.

Joint organiser of the market, and chairman of Haslemere Events, Councillor Melanie Odell said: “This year was one of the slickest markets ever, helped by the dry weather.

“We had more than 10,000 people over the day – the museum clicked people in and had more than 4,500 visitors alone.

“Hoppa did more than 1,000 journeys over the day.

“You never know these days how well an event is going to be supported after Covid – some events are very hard to put on and have really struggled.

“Thankfully, Sunday was a great day for everyone.

“If you’re getting 10,000 people on one day that’s a tremendous boost for the businesses, and it does help support the town as people will see all the shops there and maybe visit those shops next time they’re in Haslemere.

“It was also a great day for charities. The museum had a bottle stall for £1 a go on West Street – we had more than 100 bottles and they all went.

“The RNLI also had a great day on its stall.

“Father Christmas was visited by 140 children in the museum and was kept very busy.

“A special thank you to Iain Lynch, my joint-organiser, for all his help and support.

“Thank you also to all the volunteers who helped set up and take everything down, St John Ambulance and the traffic management team.

“Hoppa were fantastic, and thank you of course to all the stallholders, the visitors, the Herald and our photographer.

“I would also like to thank the businesses for providing their car parks on the day.”