Gee Cross Well Dressing: Inspiring Women For 100 Years

The theme at Booth's Well for the 2015 Gee Cross Well Dressing was "Inspiring Women For 100 Years"

Information on the side of the well informs us:

"This year our Women's Institute are celebrating three wonderful events; the centenary of the first Women's Institute Organisation set up in Britain, formed in Llanfairpwll, Anglesey in 1915; the 95th anniversary of the formation of the Cheshire Federation of the Women's Institute; and the 20th anniversary of our Gee Cross and District Women's Institute which was first started by a small band of enthusiastic ladies in Gee Cross and now has many members.

Across the country thousands of women will be celebrating these wonderful anniversaries in various ways, and so it seemed most appropriate for us to use the theme for our Well Dressing picture this year.

Looking at our picture you will see the design of beautiful pink roses on the side panels; the design to replicate the roses that appear on several products that have been created this year to celebrate the centenary.

You may notice that the Women's Institute original logo (the tree of life) and also our latest logo (WI inspiring women) have also been included in our picture.

We hope that you will enjoy looking at our picture which has been carefully created by our members and friends."

Although well-dressing is a custom mostly confined to Derbyshire, it can be seen in adjacent counties too. Well dressing celebrations were held regularly in Gee Cross from the 1820s until 1878. The custom was revived by the local Women's Institute in 2000. Photographs of Booth's Well from 2000 onwards can be found on History Alive - Tameside.

For photographs from earlier years and links to more information about well dressing see this link.

A contribution to Monday Murals and Blue Monday.