Home Press Releases Care home & cancer charity create well dressing for ancient ceremony
A CARE home and one of the largest charities in Britain teamed up to produce a work of art for the ancient Peak District custom of well dressing.
Burton Closes Hall Care Home, on Haddon Road, in Bakewell, and Macmillan Cancer Support worked together to produce a well dressing titled “Together”.
Residents, staff and volunteers spent hours individually placing thousands of flower petals onto a clay board to create a colourful display for the annual Blessing of the Wells ceremony.
The final design includes a coffee cup and cake, representing one of Macmillan’s most successful fundraising campaigns, called the “World’s Biggest Coffee Morning”.
There is also a butterfly flying under a banner adorned with “Hill Care 2019”, the care home group that owns and operates Burton Closes Hall, as well as “Macmillan” along the bottom.
Liz Daykin, customer relations manager for the Hill Care Group, led the design team having worked on a well dressing for the inaugural RHS Chatsworth Flower Show in 2017.
She was joined by the care home’s residents, staff and volunteers, including veteran well dressing expert Sue Hudson, of Bakewell AJ Welldressing.
Liz said: “Everyone put in a huge effort to make the well dressing for the Blessing of the Wells ceremony in Bakewell.
“As the leading care home in Bakewell, we are always looking for ways to support the community and play our part in keeping this ancient tradition in the Peak District and surrounding area alive.
“We teamed up with our chosen charity for the year, Macmillan Cancer Support, to take part and produced a well dressing board ready for the big day.
“We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who took part in creating the board and to all those who came out on such a lovely day to attend the blessing ceremony.”
The ceremony took place in Bakewell and involved hymns and prayers to bless the well dressing designs, which also included boards from the Bakewell Brownies, Bakewell Methodist Junior School, Village Aid, the Bakewell branch of the Women’s Institute and the Parish Church, among others.
As part of the blessing for the Burton Closes Hall Care Home well dressing, a poem provided by Macmillan was recited prior to a hymn sang by attendees.
Written by someone with cancer, the final stanza reads: “So, remember, hang on tightly to all that you hold dear. To love and hope, to peace and grace. Please say goodbye to fear.”
Macmillan Cancer Support is the chosen charity of the Hill Care Group for 2019/20, with dozens of care homes across the north running fundraising activities and events over the next year to support those with cancer.