West Hallam - The 2025 Well Dressings
w/e 20 July 2025
All of this week's pictures were taken with a Nikon D3300
The Well Dressing Festival and associated scarecrow
display officially opened at noon on Saturday 12th July this
year but as this was one of the hottest days of the year so far
with the sun beating down relentlessly, we decided to give it
a miss and visit on a cooler day later in the week.
We missed all the usual entertainment and charity stalls of course
but it was much easier to get around the almost deserted streets.
Bunting was still strung across The Village though and most of
the well dressings were in place from the drive to St Wilfrid's
Church and School Square.
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A banner across the drive proudly commemorated the 750th anniversary
of St Wilfrid's and was matched with the dressing by the gate
post.
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Next to the drive to the church, the railings around the Village
Hall were decorated by mini-scarecrows made and decorated by
local school and pre-school children.
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Full size scarecrows stood at either end of the area in front
of the Village Hall surrounded by the railings. At one end was
the crocheted Woolly Worzel and at the other, the West Hallam
W.I. celebrated the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth.
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Between the two scarecrows the big display in front of the Village
Hall, 'Save Our Seas' was by a small local charity, the Friends
of Stanley Common.
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A little further along, but also in front of the Village Hall,
the Scargill Primary School were raising money for the Rainbows
Hospice and had made 'The Creation Story' based on the children's
three favourite Bible stories.
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Next along The Village, the West Hallam Village Pre-School was
also raising funds, this time for the Nystagmus Network. Nystagmus
is a visual impairment and their well dressing titled 'The Three
Bears' was based on the story of Goldilocks.
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There were three more well dressings before reaching School Square.
The first, alongside another scarecrow was titled after another
favourite book, 'Tattybogle's Tree' and was by the West Hallam
Community Pre-School. Their chosen charity was the Derby Royal
Stroke Unit. The other two were supporting the Will Garvey Trust
Foundation and were titled 'WTF' (Why Talking Fixes) and 'The
Baton Of Hope'. These had been created by community artists Spiral
Arts working with the Kirk Hallam Community Academy and Ockbrook's
Redhill Primary School.
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In front of the first house as we turned into School Square,
we found a well dressing and scarecrow to match by West Hallam
Minors Club whose chosen charity was the Air Ambulance.
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And in front of the old school in School Square, it was Jane
Austen by West Hallam W.I. (to accompany their scarecrow in front
of the Village Hall) that was featured again with this well dressing
in support of Treetops Hospice. I said the streets were almost
deserted when we arrived but as we prepared to leave, a large
body of youngsters from the nearby Scargill C of E VA Primary
School were escorted through the village to inspect the well
dressing and scarecrows.
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