Buxton Well Dressing Queen and retinue crowned

The event was held at St John’s Church on Sunday July 4.

This year’s retinue, pictured left to right, are Isabel Brittain-Cartlidge, Breanna Carruthers, Rosebud Katie Thompson, Queen Lily-Mae Borra, Lilly Flanagan, Marianna Mosley and Jessica Wilton.

Queen Lily-Mae Borra is aged 13 and lives in Fairfield while rosebud Katie Thompson is 9 and from Burbage. Attendants Breanna Carruthers and Marianna Mosley are both 11 and live in Heath Grove and Fairfield respectively. Eight-year-olds Isabel Brittain-Cartlidge and Jessica Wilson, who are also both attendants, are cousins from Harpur Hill while the youngest attendant Lilly Flanagan, aged six, lives in Fairfield.

And tt was a real family affair for this year’s crowning with Queen Lily-Mae crowned by her elder sister Saskia Borra, who was Buxton Personality Queen in 2007.

Buxton’s traditional Well Dressing week should have been taking place this week, with the carnival being held on Saturday. However, covid restrictions mean this year’s event has been postponed.

Maureen Kitchen, on behalf of Buxton Well Dressing committee, said that it was felt important to carry out this tradition at the same time as normal in order to maintain a continuity in the light of other postponements. It also allows the Queen and Retinue to be involved in events throughout their full year, including other carnivals.

Organisers say they are hoping to hold the well dressing event in some form in the late summer/early autumn.

The popular carnival funfair which would also normally be on the market place during the well dressing week has also been cancelled.

As the Advertiser reported last month, fair owner James Mellor said the decision not to come to Buxton was a tough one but the right call to make.

He added: "The carnival and the wells dressing had both been cancelled and with the Delta variant of covid doing the rounds and the pushback of lockdown restrictions I couldn’t see a way we could safely come to Buxton this year.

"I wouldn’t want to bring the fair to the town and then we see a surge in case numbers – people would blame the fair for coming.

“I also didn’t want to bring a smaller fair and it not be as good and ruin the reputation of both the carnival and the fair.”