Council defends creation, part of town’s festival for dressing wells, after it was mocked online as ‘horrendous’

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A floral tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales produced as part of a traditional festival for dressing wells in Chesterfield has been described as “horrendous” and “an insult” to the late royal.

The flower arrangement, decorating a well in Chesterfield’s market place to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death, was mocked online after the Derbyshire town’s council published pictures on Facebook.

Gayla Tuckley said: “I saw it and thought what an insult to Dianna [sic] ... luckily she had a sense of humour and would probably be laughing.”



Stephen Jones posted: “Seriously!! ... I hope this was done by a local primary school?”

Roger Fearn wrote: “Our shops our closing, our Market stalls are empty, we have homeless people in our bus station, our football team is crap and now this.”

Other comments were less kind.

mr welbeck kane (@400FootGhost) I live here and, let me tell you, I can feel its eyes on me, even now in my house.

But Chesterfield council hit back, with a spokesperson telling the Derbyshire Times: “All art is meant to be a talking point and that certainly seems to be the case with this year’s design.

“The well dressing is designed to attract visitors to the area and if the publicity encourages more people to come and visit the market and local shops then that can only be good for Chesterfield.

“The well dressing is produced by 14 volunteers using the ancient Derbyshire art of well dressing, which involves creating designs from flower petals and other natural materials.”

Despite the overwhelmingly negative reaction to the arrangement, it did find some fans on social media.