Thousands of people attend Spook Night, Hexham 2024

Hexham Spook Night was attended by thousands of happy ghouls and witches as Beaumont Street was filled with rides and stalls while family activities took place across the town centre.

Studio K dancers at the bandstand (Image: Hexham Community Partnership) Hexham Community Partnership (HCP) organises the community side of the event. Manager Deb Anderson said: “Spook Night is months in the making for our team - but it’s worth it when you see how much fun it is for families.”

The Abbey lit up during the event (Image: Hexham Community Partnership) HCP encourages businesses, venues and organisations around Hexham to get involved with Spook Night.

Gateway into the Community's Halloween window (Image: Hexham Community Partnership) Many of Hexham’s shop owners competed to create the Spookiest Window whilst free activities at the Queen’s Hall, Hexham Library, The Forum Cinema, Cogito Books, and Hexham Abbey were very busy on Saturday, October 26.

Lore of Hexham dressed its window for the Halloween season (Image: Hexham Community Partnership) Volunteers are a major part of the community programme for Spook Night. Dani Riach ran lantern-making workshops and the Witch’s Den was run by HCP board member Sarah Wilson.

Pure Plants' display (Image: Hexham Community Partnership) Jonathan and Joy Hill from Tynedale Lions ran the Best-Dressed Spooky Family Competition outside Hexham Abbey.

Fancy dressers with mayor Derek Kennedy (Image: Hexham Community Partnership) The Forum Cinema showed three spooky films and Hexham Youthy used the cinema’s café to fundraise through face painting.

A winner of one of the fancy dress categories (Image: Hexham Community Partnership) Hexham Community Centre ran a pumpkin trail, pumpkin carving and a Halloween Arty Party.

Mayor Derek Kennedy and HCP chair Neil Wilkinson (Image: Hexham Community Partnership) From mid-afternoon, Hexham’s Victorian bandstand was the venue for fancy dress competitions and dance displays. Town crier Joe Mills and mayor Derek Kennedy led the events.  

Pretty Flamingo's window display (Image: Hexham Community Partnership) The fancy dress categories ranged from pre-schoolers to adults with approximately 80 entrants.

Hats and Glad Rags' frightful display (Image: Hexham Community Partnership) Judge Neil Wilkinson, chair of Hexham Community Partnership, said: “It was genuinely hard to choose the winners. Many thanks to the mayor, deputy mayor Fay Hartland and Cllr Suzanne Fairless-Aitken who joined me as judges. We were in awe of the work and imagination that went into a lot of the costumes.”

Honey B Flowers' autumnal display (Image: Hexham Community Partnership) Studio K Dance drew large crowds for their annual dance displays with all of the dancers in spooky-themed costumes.

Smiling skeleton (Image: Hexham Community Partnership) Ms Anderson said: “This was my first year of Spook Night and I was really impressed by the standard of the dancing. It’s such a huge commitment from Studio K to put on the displays and we’d like to thank the team, the children and their parents for making it happen.”  

The Secret Salon's display of Beetlejuice (Image: Sarah Parker) There was one disturbance while Spook Night was on, which took place around 8pm.

Deb Anderson said: “Our stewards and first aiders attended an incident off the Spook Night site as did the police. Northumbria Police have made a statement on this and, as it’s an active investigation, we won’t comment further.

"However, we’d like to reassure people that the safety of the people attending is paramount. We will be reviewing the event with the events team and M&C Funfairs and, as always, will consult with Northumbria Police on our plans for next year."