By Rafael Salido

Once again the night of the 31th of October, the night of witches and pumpkins, arrived in South Hinksey. Even though, out of a kind of magic, it arrived in our lovely village just a few days earlier, on Friday the 26th. And with a little help from the residents, the Village Hall became the Hall of Horrors… or, better said, a true Hall of Fun.

Blood painted messages, skeleton images and spiders decorated the walls, while not very friendly looking Jack o’ lanterns stared in shock with their flaming eyes at what was going on in the chamber. Dozens of dressed up kids and their parents, from both Hinkseys, (mostly) not scared at all, but having a great time, surrounded by food, booze and games.

Adrian was the craftsman of the party and witches, batmen, skeletons, spidermen and tiny little pumpkins did just what he said. If he said jump, they would all jump; if he said time to dance they would all dance to the rhythm of YMCA, The Ghostbusters and some other pop hymns.

This brought the perfect mood for the kids to join in all the classic games, such as the pass the pumpkin, apple bobbing and slimy unlucky dip.

To sum up, let’s only say that thanks to the kindness of the witches, all the enthusiastic volunteers (Angela Kinnings, Carolyn Porter, Clare Broome-Saunders, Polly Blay, Ruth Vaughan, Vicki Nash, Hannah Porter, Neil Warland, Phyllis Barron and Sarah Gray) and the energetic parents, the Hinksey children had great fun and enjoyed another unforgettable night in our friendly village.

PS: If anyone wants copies of the photos, please contact me on 0744 9808745 or via e-mail: rsalidoortiz@yahoo.es.