West Hallam - Well Dressing Festival
w/e 21 July 2013
All this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490
West Hallam Well Dressings

The banner fixed to the railings outside the Village Hall advertised the well dressings taking place on Saturday 13th July but the Festival lasted for most of the following week too. Apparently on Saturday afternoon on what was then the hottest day of the year, the village was heaving with visitors. As we had already been to the Midsummer Happening in Victoria Park on Saturday we decided to leave our look at the Well Dressing Festival this year until Sunday when it was much easier to get around and up close to the well dressings.

School Square

There were still a fair few people about as we made our way to School Square to see the centrepiece there which had been prepared by the Friends of West Hallam White Rose Cricket Club.
West Hallam C C

Each well dressing was accompanied by a collection box and a notice and this one stated that the the club which was founded in 1880 "is striving to become an integral part of the community. Friends of the club are doing this well for the first time to raise awareness of the cricket club and link with a community activity." The notice went on to give brief details of the teams for different age groups and welcomed "members and non-members to a variety of organised social activities."
Scarecrow HQ

The Festival in recent years has also incorporated a Scarecrow Trail and as we moved into the main road we spotted a number of the said scarecrows at the house that has become know as "Scarecrow HQ". Leaflets detailing the locations of all the scarecrows that were spread far and wide through both the old part of the village and the surrounding development were on sale and again were raising funds for charity.
Robin & Crow Compare

Among those on display at the HQ were "Robin" (left), a scarecrow of a traditional design with a notice giving details of where the leaflets about the Trail could be purchased and another more modern incarnation that went by the name "Crow Compare" and bore more than a passing resemblance to that annoying man from the insurance adverts!
Derwent Valley Band

All the while we were wandering around the village we could hear easy listening music played by the Derwent Valley Wind Band and in the old school yard where they were performing, it was standing room only as a large number of people had gathered and taken all the seats to listen to the Sunday afternoon concert.
Celebrating Light

As we paused to listen to the band, I also managed a couple of shots of the Scargill C of E Primary School's contribution (including the information notice) to the Festival adjacent to the school yard.
Personality Well

There were a number of displays in front of the Village Hall including the large "Personality Well" which this year had been prepared by friends of Pat Gregory and Tim Ainsworth, two villagers to whom it was dedicated with the message "Both are sadly missed". They had titled their well dressing "Scarecrow and Friends" whilst to the left the smaller square dressing by the Stanley Village Ladies depicted "Stanley St Andrew's Church".
Tuesday Tots

At the end of the drive to St Wilfrid's Church the well dressing panel showed "St Wilfrid's Children" with the notice informing about the Tuesday Tots.
The Church Well

In previous years there have been well dressings in the churchyard but none were to be seen this year. Instead, although wells in the village are no longer commonplace anymore, one has appeared near the church with an invitation to "Throw a coin in the well!"
The BFG

There were several more well dressing panels in the village and many more contributions to the Scarecrow Trail of which we saw a number on the way home. This one for example sitting in a garden on St Wilfrid's Road was large enough to scare the natives let alone the crows but despite its appearance it was based on Roald Dahl's BFG - the Big Friendly Giant.

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