On Monday the 13th of December, Oakham saw a triumph as it hosted a Late Night Shopping even for locals on the run up to Christmas.

Mill Street, Church Street, and the High Street were all closed to make way for a range of stalls, games and competitions. There were food stalls aplenty and The Grainstore mobile bar came to keep the big kids as happy as the little ones.

There were hundreds of locals in attendance to enjoy the rides, buy local produce from sellers, and get excited for Christmas.

It seemed that most of them also visited Warner's Traditional Sweet Shop, who celebrated their opening day on the 13th, just in time for the Late Night Shopping event. The shop was packed but many managed to squeeze in a visit to pick up some sweet treats.

The new owners are delightful and despite being so busy, spent the whole evening with smiles on their faces. We would definitely recommend that you take the time to pay them a visit in the run up to Christmas to pick up some stocking fillers!

Carolyn Acton, who organised the wonderful Late Night Shopping event, was also the brain power behind some of the fairs and festivals that ran over the summer, the most triumphant of which was arguably the Queen Tribute Act at Rutland Showground.

Despite her success last night (Monday the 13th) she took to Facebook after receiving complaints from parents who were unaware that they had to book to see Santa at Orbis - who we also must thank for ensuring fun was had by (nearly) all!

Carolyn posted: "I love putting the events on and I totally understand that I won't please everyone and will make a few mistakes along the way as I am only human."

On top of Orbis providing the space, Santa gave his time for free to come all the way down from the North Pole, and Hegarty LLP Solicitors sponsored Carolyn to purchase 250 gifts for local children to receive from Santa.

Carolyn added: "I am sorry to those who didn't see the posts [about visiting Santa at Orbis] but there is really no need for such anger and nastiness especially when the event and Grotto was free and sponsored by two such great local companies."

In support of Carolyn, Mandy Jaffa posted on Facebook: "I enjoyed it all very much. It was absolutely wonderful. Well done."

Many locals had a wonderful time though, and this event certainly blew last Christmas out of the water.

Local attendee Karen Payne said, "It was a fantastic event and so great to see people enjoying time with their families - this is so much more important than any material gift."

Keep your eyes on our What's On page to find out about other festive events that are taking place on the run up to Christmas.

For now, we wish all of our readers a very Merry Christmas!