Potter fans descended on Hoddesdon in their hundreds on Friday night in order to be first to get their hands on their copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at the witching hour. They started arriving from 10.30pm to find Café Nero with a special late night opening to dispense coffees plus an entertaining Harry Potter prize quiz run by us which kept everyone focused during the run-up to the launch.  Many people had entered into the spirit of the occasion and came in full fancy dress.

At midnight over two hundred fans squeezed their way in to Books @ Hoddesdon to collect their precious Harry Potter book and had the opportunity to have it signed by our special guest, Professor TrelawnyTrelawny while she sat reading tea leaves and casting magic spells.

According to Alan: “There were more than double the number of people here who turned up to the last Harry Potter launch in 2005. The atmosphere was fantastic, with everyone joining in the celebrations knowing this was almost certainly the last time any of us will see a book launch like it. People travelled long distances just to join in the fun and we attracted fans of all ages from toddlers to grandparents at a time of night that is long past many of their bedtimes…!”

The fun continued on Saturday morning with a range of activities and entertainments in the town centre. The Magic Circle ran three free Magic Workshops for children led by the world famous magician, Ali Bongo. A special magical musical production was staged by Mayhem Theatre Arts; Paradise Wildlife Park supplied two beautiful owls that attracted much attention, and there was a magical Storytelling session at Hoddesdon Library. The local branch of Specsavers provided goody-bags containing Harry Potter spectacles and other freebees which were a great hit with visitors.

Stephen commented:  “It was a very enjoyable, well-attended community event with contributions from local businesses and organisations plus generous donations from Paul Wallace, GivingBack magazine and Broxbourne Arts Forum. This meant customers who chose to shop locally in Hoddesdon enjoyed up to £50 worth of free entertainment if they bought their book here for £13.99. Compare this to Tescos where you had to SPEND £50 in order to get the book at the reduced price of £5. We ended up selling over 50% more books than 2 years ago which shows that a lot of local people appreciated getting added value more than a knock down price.”

Awards were presented to the winners of the East Herts Harry Potter Schools’ Competition, whereby school pupils created a new teacher for Hogwarts and had to describe the magic they would teach at the school.

The winners were: First Prize – Tom Petrie from Chauncy School, Ware ; Second Prize – Toby Bishop from Broxbourne C of E Primary School, Broxbourne; Third Prize – Emma Watson from Herts and Essex School, Bishops Stortford. The winners were chosen by a team of librarians at the Schools Library Service in Hatfield, led by Sue Jones who lives in Broxbourne.

The Potter weekend was trailed by The Mercury with an article on 6th July about our forthcoming events, followed up on 20th July by a report about SPOOKY SIGHTINGS AS HARRY POTTER FLIES IN which included a photo of a “mystery woman” lurking outside the shop. On Thurs 26/07 The Herald had a piece about the weekend’s success with the headline TRUE POTTER FANS GO POTTY AT SHOP, whilst The Mercury on Fri 27th had a full page feature with a slew of photos about the “muggle madness” that had hit Hoddesdon. Details about our successful programme was also featured in an article in Publishing News (27/07) entitled STILL WILD ABOUT HARRY.