People from across Bassetlaw (North Nottinghamshire), Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire and beyond took part in the ‘One Small Candle’ event on Thanksgiving evening last week (Thursday 26th November). Many of them photographed their lanterns and shared them with the Pilgrim Roots project and on social media using the hashtag #OneSmallCandle. There were even photographs from Edinburgh, North Wales and Plymouth.
Although Thanksgiving is an event celebrated mainly in the United States, organisers of this year’s Pilgrims Festival suggested that people in the UK might use it as an opportunity to give thanks for something in their own lives, whatever that might be.
The Pilgrim Roots areas of Bassetlaw, West Lindsey, Boston and Doncaster are central to the story of the Mayflower Pilgrims. This year, which commemorates the 400th anniversary of the arrival in North America of the Mayflower Pilgrims, was meant to include many parades and events as the ‘grand finale’ following six years of events building up to it. This was not to be.
However, not to be deterred, the teams at Bassetlaw District Council’s Pilgrims Gallery in Retford, and at West Lindsey District Council, assisted by Bassetlaw Christian Heritage, took the Illuminate ‘one small candle’ events out to people through a combination of locally distributed publications and online.
Bassetlaw Christian Heritage also worked with Bassetlaw District Council’s Pilgrims Gallery on putting together the Online Babworth Arts Festival. Prevented by COVID-19 from holding the usual annual exhibition at Babworth Church, it went online and features paintings, photographs, videos, audio, music, and poetry. This proved so popular that the event has been extended through to Christmas 2020.
Pilgrims Gallery Heritage Engagement Officer, Isabelle Richards, said: “It has been great to work together to reach out to people in this 400th anniversary year of the Mayflower Pilgrims. The ‘One Small Candle’ project has gone really well, as has the Online Arts Festival, and has enabled us to connect with one another positively while we are not able to join together in the usual way.”
The Illuminate “One Small Candle” activity in Bassetlaw, North Nottinghamshire has been organised by Bassetlaw District Council Pilgrims Gallery at Bassetlaw Museum, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and supported by Bassetlaw Christian Heritage.
Pilgrim Roots is a regional partnership including Bassetlaw District Council, West Lindsey District Council, Bassetlaw Christian Heritage and other organisations in the Lincolnshire, Bassetlaw and South Yorkshire area.
Bassetlaw Christian Heritage 