Well dressing

The well dressing is probably the biggest event on the Aston-on-Trent calendar.  I'm often surprised by how far people come to go to the well dressing.  People from as far away as Nottingham have heard of it and are willing to travel the distance to come.  I've also seen it advertised in a what's on in Derbyshire guide.  In case anyone was wondering what a well dressing is, it's one of these:-

It's made with all natural materials such as petals, seeds etc stuck into clay.  People from village come in and stick a few bits in each.  That one was made by the well dressing commitee.  Other groups make them such as brownies, and the local schools.

There were also stalls and people performing music and drama.  There was a puppet show and a teacup ride.  The church had several displays in it.  There were the old stocks and historical records of the market.  Also a display of what school was like in the Victorian times.  They had some finger stocks to put the fingers in of children who fidget too much in school.

The Malt shovel got the barbecue on.  They did some very good chips.  My only complaint was that there wasn't enough of them.  It wouldn't have hurt to fill the box to the top instead of half full.  My son had a burger and that disappeared very quickly, so I guess that means he enjoyed it. The church people made some really nice cakes to sell and  they'd put out chairs and tables in the church yard.  It was very pleasant sitting out in the warm sun eating cake and chatting.  The weather was perfect the whole weekend.  Sunshine all the way.  Well some people might have complained that it was too hot, but that's very British.  We like to complain about the weather whatever it's doing.

In the evening the pubs put on live bands so the well dressing festivities continued in the evening too.