Today is the day when each Well has to be finished ready for the 6pm setting up. From lunchtime on Day 2 and throughout Day 3 this is probably the most satisfying and varied part of the dressing, as we are now placing different coloured petals to create the side pieces, which will complement the central picture. Some petals, like the hydrangeas are easier (I didn’t say easy) to work with, because the petal is thicker. 
(Most pictures will enlarge if you click on them.)
Working with the kingcups or marsh marigolds are much harder, the petals are thin, tear easily and you have to be extremely careful when pressing them into the clay, so as not to get any clay on the petals or bruise them.
As the day goes on more and more of the background is completed until one of the side panels is finished.
The central panel on Yew Tree Well is the bit that tells the story, this year it is Samson’s revenge. Margaret used pictures from her bible to create this panel. She draws it onto paper, before marking it into the clay. There are just two people who work on the central panel, Anne and her daughter Helen. Anne has been doing well dressing since she was a child, when she used to live in Tissington, and Helen has followed in her steps and has been doing this for the past 49 years, again starting when she was just a toddler.
It takes years of experience to be able to create such sensational and almost lifelike figures out of flowers. Giving Samson muscles and a suitable 6-pack are no mean feat, using only camomile heads (finding different shades, when each head is only a few millimetres wide) and coffee beans. Pansy petals with their fantastic faces create a real impact on Samson’s skirt and then the whole flower is used to make his belt.
Finally the whole of this panel is revealed, if you look closely when you visit Tissington you will be able to see the real chains that bind Samson’s feet and the shadows that are cast at the base of the pillars just before the walls are brought down.
Tissington Well Dressings start Thursday until next Wednesday evening.
Thursday 11am – Blessing of the Wells.
Lunches and Teas in the Village Hall and The Old Coach House.
To view Tissington Well Dressings Day 1 click here
To view Tissington Well Dressings Day 2 click here
PARWICH.ORG 
Hi, if anyone is around with the camera in Tissington then take a picture of the well outside the Village Hall that the children of Tissington Pre-School did, they worked very hard the last 3 days
I’ll be doing one final post on Tissington & I’ll include all the Wells, I’ll try and get a good one of the Tissington Pre-School & send it to you.