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Also during the week the Well Dressing was prepared and dedicated at a service on Sunday 26 August. The theme this year was the abolition of slavery. Click here to see the pictures enlarged.
2007 commemorate the 200th anniversary of the 1807 Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. This Act outlawed the slave trade throughout the British Empire and made it illegal for British ships to be involved in the trade, marking the beginning of the end of the transatlantic traffic in human beings. For over four hundred years Europeans enslaved millions of Africans through the slave trade. It is thought that over 2 million died during the journey. “Am I not a man and a brother?” –Josiah Wedgwood, a renowned potter, made pottery plaques with a kneeling figure with the caption “Am I not a man and brother?” on the outside. Wedgwood was an abolitionist and handed out the cameos free to his business associates to foster an awareness of the plight of the slaves. The sides of well depict Wedgwood’s cameo. Members of the Holymoorside Well Dressing Committee and many others from the community have been working on the well picture from Saturday 18 August –‘puddling’ the clay, ‘barking’ the picture and ‘flowering’ the well. It is an enormous task requiring many hours of hard work. As the well is constructed and worked on entirely outdoors, they have had to endure the downpours. It has been particularly difficult this year because the clay from the heading began to fall because of the weather conditions and as a consequence the whole of the title had to be re-worked. Despite all this, they have managed to keep cheerful (most of the time!). The well dressers are proud of the fact that they do not spend any money on equipment, flowers etc. All the flowers are given from people’s gardens, the clay is re-used every year and even the pieces of wood (the barking) is removed, cleaned and saved for the next well dressing. Because of this all donations are given to charity. This year the chosen charity is PATHWAYS. This is a centre run by volunteers and aims to give advice and practical help to people who have no home. The centre is entirely dependent on charity. £500 was raised.
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