Not long to go before the start of the Crosspool Festival Week
2022 Well Dressing
The festival kicks off Friday 24th June at 6.15pm, with the Stephen Hill Church, Beavers & Cubs Flag parade along Benty Lane. The parade will arrive at 6.30pm for the Well Dressing dedication service on the grass verge at the junction of Selborne Road and Watt Lane.
Supporting the RNLI Filey Lifeboat & Sheffield Young Carers, the Sheffield Folk Chorale will be in concert at 7.30pm in Stephen Hill Church. To be sure of a ticket, please contact Bob Tele: 230 3207 or Roger Tele: 230 6194, suggested minimum Donation £6.
Preparations are now well under way for the 2022 Crosspool Well Dressing.
A dedicated group of local residents will be gathering this Monday morning @ 10.00am to design and build the Crosspool Well Dressing panels. If you would like to join in to have a go at petaling, no experience needed. Anyone wanting to help out will be made very welcome.
If you happen to have any BLUE HYDRANGEA in bloom and would like to donate the flower/petals, this would be very much appreciated.
To mark the start of this year’s Crosspool Festival celebrations, the decorated Well Dressing panels, generously sponsored by “Layers Flooring”, will be erected on the grass verge at the corner of Watt Lane and Sandgate Road on 24th June, this will be followed by a flag parade along Benty Lane 6.15pm and a service of dedication at 6.30pm.
Last year’s well dressing helpers are being asked to check their garages and garden huts as we are not sure where they were stored after the 2017 festival.
If you have any information please get in touch with Crosspool Forum using crosspoolforum@gmail.com or 07713 687 955.
Have you had chance to see the Crosspool Festival 2017 well dressing at the top of Selborne Road in person yet? Here are some behind-the-scenes photos showing the painstaking effort that went into creating it. Well done to all!
The confirmed dates for the 2016 festival are Friday 24 June-3 July, with the Summer Fayre scheduled for Saturday 2 July.
Here’s an update on this year’s festival from the organising committee:
This summer we have entitled the festival Carnival a summer party with great activities happening on the streets to coincide with this year’s Olympics in Brazil, the queen’s 90th celebrations and more besides.
We hope it will be a colourful and exciting week for the community to get out and about, meet the neighbours, make new friends and try new activities.
Open Gardens
Crosspool Open Gardens
Some of the old favourites return such as Open Gardens. Why not share your garden this year? No one expects an immaculate garden, but we all enjoy looking at what each one of us has been doing on our patch.
It’s a great way to be motivated to tidy up your garden and a good time to invite the neighbours round to share a hobby or a fabulous view over a cuppa. And you can make a bob or two for your favourite charity as all proceeds will go to the charities of your choice.
So whatever the size and maturity of your garden, whether you are a beginner or have been opening your garden for many years, if you would like to join the gardeners open day, please get in touch. We will need your name and details by Friday 18 March 2016 in order to prepare the brochure for printing.
Gardeners’ community
Talking about all things in the garden, we would love to hear from you if you would enjoy some sort of gardeners’ community to be formed. We are thinking of gathering together like minded people to enjoy a natter, a helping hand or a word of advice a couple of times a year
If you would like to be involved in this in any way, or have thoughts about how such a group could be helpful within the community, please get in touch.
Scarecrow competition
Also coming again is the popular scarecrow competition. Entry forms will go out through the schools and will also be available from the shops at £3/entry. Scarecrows will be on show all week and will be judged by local sculptor, Noel Lockley. Prizes will be awarded to the best scarecrow makers in recognition of their ingenuity and creativity.
The competition theme is Carnival and Olympics to fit in with the festival theme, so bright and colourful like the amazing costumes some of the carnival goers wear, fantastical animals, sportsmen or something completely different – have fun with that! For further details please contact beckiegreenuk@yahoo.co.uk.
Well dressing
Another great activity that is now established is the well dressing. In case some of you don’t know what this is, a well dressing is the unique Derbyshire tradition of elaborate pictures made for the most part of individual flower petals pressed onto clay covered boards which seems to date from Victorian times to celebrate the blessing of water in any given village.
Why do it in Crosspool? It is a great opportunity to be creative with flowers and to celebrate life itself in our community. So if you are looking for a new venture, why not try your hand at this old craft? The team is looking for new helpers. Instructions given, so no need for previous experience. Just a few hours the week before the festival is needed to be involved in this. If you want further information, get in touch.
Other events and activities
We are also looking for a few more volunteers to help with a new history activity, a new photo competition and general helpful bits and pieces. No previous experience necessary. If you think you could spare a few hours to help or would like further information, please get in touch as soon as possible.
The dates for the 2015 Crosspool Festival are Friday 26 June to Sunday 5 July.
Here’s the latest from the Crosspool Festival Committee:
The street market will return in 2015
We hope to repeat many of the well-loved elements of festivals from previous years, plus a few new things! We will begin as usual with the blessing of the Magna Carta-themed well dressing on Friday evening, and Open Gardens on Saturday 27 June.
Plans for the street market on Sunday 28 June are well in hand. We are delighted to welcome the Sheffield Folk Chorale for a concert on Thursday 2 July.
Illustrated talks/book signing events have always proved popular and we have plans for a talk on a climbing/mountaineering theme as well as something on the Sheffield Blitz.
New for this year will be a family film show with crafts, and a photography competition for 11-18s. Rumours are afoot of a possible Abba evening , and other ideas are still being tossed around…and of course the Summer Fayre on the Coldwell Lane field will be the usual fixture on Saturday 4 July.
We’re grateful to the uniformed groups, local pubs and businesses and everyone else who have indicated their support – what makes the Crosspool Festival special is its genuinely local feel.
If you would like to help create the well dressing, please contact Pat Lintott on 0114 268 1161.
If you would like a stall at the street market contact Chris Bachelor on 0114 266 7842.
If you’d like to help with/book a stall at the Summer Fayre contact Steve Reynolds on 266 3473 or Ian Hague on 0114 230 7265.
For other enquiries or offers of help contact me, Revd Frances Eccleston on 0114 267 0006.
Make sure you take a look at Crosspool well dressing when you next go past. You’ll find it on the grass bank outside Crosspool Tavern on Manchester Road.
This year’s well dressing theme is the centenary of the first world war.
The well dressing was created by volunteers over the last few days and was dedicated on Friday night by
Revd. Stephen Parker of St Frances of Assisi Roman Catholic Church in Crosspool.
Last year’s well dressing was a big hit. Why not help create this year’s?
The coordinators of this year’s Crosspool well dressing are asking for your help.
If you’ve ever wondered how a well is dressed and would like to help dress the Crosspool well with flower petals and seeds, or just come and watch, drop-in to the Stephen Hill Methodist Church (Benty Lane Entrance) from 9:30am onwards on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week.
Further details from Pat on 0114 268 1161 or 07988 455 928.
Residents watch a 51 pass the bus-themed well dressing outside Crosspool Tavern
Local residents gathered this evening in the midsummer wind and sun to celebrate the unveiling of Crosspool’s new well dressing.
Frances Eccleston dedicates Crosspool well dressing
Festival chair and St. Columba’s priest-in-charge Frances Eccleston led the short dedication outside Crosspool Tavern.
This year’s well dressing celebrates the centenary of the bus service through Crosspool. 1913 saw the introduction of the first omnibus to carry passengers in Sheffield. It linked the tram terminus at Broomhill to Lodge Moor and the countryside.
The old fashioned term ‘omnibus’ is derived from Latin and literally means for all, to everywhere. This was presumably because for the first time a public service vehicle could travel on any road and was not restricted by tram lines.
The well dressing was created by volunteers
Crosspool well dressing has been created by local volunteers and the materials provided by fund raising events and donations.
The dedication of the well dressing will be followed by a week of events in Crosspool celebrating the life of our community.
Thanks go to Valleyside Garden Centre and Ronaldo’s Hairdressing for their support in creating the well and Rivelin Valley Conservation Group Task Team for erecting the board.
The Selborne Road street market returns on Sunday 30 June
Plans for the fourth Crosspool Festival are progressing well. Make sure you have the dates in your diary: Friday 28 June–Sunday 7 July. The full programme and ticket details will be available in May, but in the meantime the first details from Frances Eccleston and the Festival Committee about some events are below.
The well-dressing will be launched on Friday 28 and on Saturday 29 June we hope to have an Open Gardens day
The Selborne Road street market will follow on Sunday 30 June
There will be morning events at Stephen Hill Church from Monday through to Wednesday
Award-winning photographer Paul Hobson will be giving an illustrated talk on Wild Derbyshire at St. Columba’s on Thursday 4 July
The Summer Fayre on Coldwell Lane field will be the usual highlight on Saturday 6 July
Those with enough energy can follow it with a barn dance and meal at St. Columba’s in the evening – or alternatively relax to the sound of the organ in a recital at Tapton Congregational Church.
The closing service will be held at 12.30pm on Sunday 7 July
Lots of other events are in the pipeline too, so look out for the programme in May, and we’ll also keep you posted through this website.
Could you help design posters and fliers?
The organising committee is looking for someone to help design posters and fliers for the festival. This would suit someone with computer skills and a bit of artistic flair, and who could spare a few hours in early May.
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