Darley Abbey Day, 8 May 2021
Darley Abbey Day – the last Darley Abbey Day was in 2017, and you can look at https://www.stedsandstmatts.co.uk/darley-abbey-day-2017 to remind yourself of the fun we had. Opening in church, lunches, cream teas, Scarecrow Trail, Open Gardens, The Village Attic Trail, Baking and Photographic Competitions, Cricket Match, Evening BBQ/Live Music, Bike Registration, Home Safety, Open Church with refreshments (remember the cream teas), ‘Bell Boat’ on the river, paddle boarding, toddler footie, and much more. We didn’t hold one in 2019 as it was the Church Bicentenary, so planned one for 2020. For some reason that didn’t happen.
Darley Abbey Day 2021 took place on Saturday 8 May 2021, but obviously in a very different way to what we wanted. The country was only in Stage 2 of Lockdown reopening, so we were not even be able to meet in groups outdoors. We had hoped we could serve takeway refreshments through St Matthew’s, but that was not possible. East Midlands Ambulance Service were in the Village Hall with the First Responder scheme.
Since 2019 the World Heritage Site and Community Association had been working with Constella OperaBallet. Spin a Tale of Darley Abbey, Past, Present & Future was presented by Constella OperaBallet as a virtual and participatory programme celebrating the heritage of Darley Abbey, commissioned by the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. There were a series of online and interactive opportunities involving song, dance, theatre and design and we the community was invited to take part! These activities culminated in a vibrant collection of video recordings of ‘Moments’ around the village, made by Constella’s internationally renowned artists in collaboration with the local community, Deda and Derby University. On 8 May 2021, in partnership with Darley Abbey Day 2021, the videos were released to the public alongside a trail of oversized bobbins and bunting made by local residents, threaded throughout the village.
Saturday 8 May was a wet, horrible day. Peter's facebook post reminded us of the old proverb:
If Darley Abbey Day be fine,
come to the village, eat cake, drink wine,
If Darley Abbey Day be wet,
then watch it on the internet.
The Moments were premiered at 11 am, and the videos are here:
Several of our choir members were involved in recording the Introit from Faure's Requiem. It was recorded individually on phones, then stitched together, and linked with the photos of the Memorial Tablets in St Matthew's churchyard.
We also enjoyed the singing of our Church School.
There were various Moments around the Village, a trail of Big Bobbins. This is the one in the churchyard, a photo taken in the pouring rain. The Bobbins are in place until 23 May, so I will photo them in the sun and post more photos here over the next few days.
A third of the money raised comes to St Matthew's, a third to the Village Hall, and a third will be used to set up a Community First Responder Scheme with the East Midland's Ambulance Service. You can donate at
https://www.justgiving.com/onecheckout/donation/direct/charity/3094963
Here are the various letters, posters etc - so when we need to find the Bunting Template in a few years time, we will be able to do so!
This letter was sent by Janet of DACA on 2 March 2021 and outlines the different ways Village organisations can get involved.
This is the first poster, issued 6 March.
Here is a Bunting poster, issued 11 March.
Here is the Call to Artists letter issued 18 March.
To take part in creating your own unique bunting, download these worksheets which will guide you through a range of simple creative techniques that you can use to decorate your bunting flag(s). Please use the template we have created to make sure everyone’s bunting is the same size.
This poster about a song-writing session on 8 April arrived on 27 March, so we apolgise for the short notice.
This information arrived on 29 April, and gives us an idea of what will be happening.