West Hallam - Well-come Return
w/e 17 July 2022
All of this week's pictures were taken with a Nikon D3300
Last year due mainly to the
Covid outbreak, the West Hallam Well Dressing Festival was split
into two parts with the well dressings being on display at the
usual time in July and a Festival Day held in September. This
year the Well Dressing Festival made a welcome return to its
traditional place in the calendar and ran for a week from Saturday
July 9th when these photos were taken on the opening day.
The crowds certainly turned out in force and many gathered in
the Dales Car Park to enjoy the entertainment. When we arrived
they were enjoying a performance by the Dance Divas but various
groups moved around several sites in the village centre throughout
the afternoon.
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The main street was closed to traffic and lined with charity
stalls and others manned by local groups and of course in the
hot weather the ice cream van was doing a roaring trade.
We moved into School Square, another location where different
groups entertained during the day and the occupants whilst we
were there were children from the Dance Doctors Studios.
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Also in School Square was the West Hallam W.I.s Peace themed
well dressing. As we made our way along The Village between the
stalls, there were more dressings and below are just a selection
of some of them.
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The Queen's Platinum Jubilee was a popular theme of course and
this one by the children and staff of West Hallam Village Pre-School
was titled "70 years of our Queen" with donation via
an adjacent collecting box were in aid of "Every One Eats".
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Designs based on children's ideas for a "Wildlife Garden"
were the inspiration for this dressing outside the Village Hall
by Scargill Primary School with donations supporting Rainbows
Childrens Hospice.
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The large circular dressing in its usual place also in front
of the Village Hall, again had a Jubilee theme and had been created
by a local book group, Wine, Women and Words. Donation were to
support The British Red Cross.
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Between the Village Hall and St Wilfird's Church, the 2nd West
Hallam Rainbows, Brownies and Guides were supporting Treetops
Hospice and Babbington Rescue with a design incorporating Girl
Guide Badges.
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In the church, Imari Chorus and a Recorder Orchestra alternated
performances during the afternoon but at the entrance another
well dressing by church members celebrated the Jubilee where
donations will buy trees for the Queen's Green Canopy for deprived
areas and schools.
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Other well dressings were by the West Hallam Minors Club supporting
Ukraine and raising money for Treetops Hospice; Community Pre-School
supporting the Will Garvey Trust Foundation with a dressing celebrating
the life of children's author David McKee; Stanley St Andrew's
School supporting Sight Support Derbyshire and the Stanley Village
Community Association remembering the Bomber Crash near Stanley
and raising money for the Poppy Appeal.
The Scarecrow Trail is run in conjunction with the Well Dressing
Festival and as we made our way back to the Dales Car park, we
passed Scarecrow Headquarters where Trail Leaflets were available.
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And back in the Dales Car Park, Sullivan's Sword Morris Dancers
had arrived for one of their spots in the entertainment programme.
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