Litton Wakes Week

The Litton Majorettes lead the way as one Derbyshire village celebrates its annual Wakes Week.

The Wakes Week tradition is usually associated with the north-west of England where factories closed for a week to allow workers to holiday together at the seaside. The village of Litton in Derbyshire is some distance from that 'northern powerhouse'. Here Wakes Week is more a mix of tradition and tourism or, as reporter Peter Green describes it, "bucolic pleasure": with its well dressing and parades led by the Litton Majorettes and the crowning of the village Rose Queen.

The tradition of well dressing is often linked with a celebration of clean water following outbreaks of plague, although in most villages it is a nineteenth century revival that is practised. Litton and its larger neighbour Tideswell remain keen practitioners of the tradition.