The latest addition to the eclectic collection of flowerpot installations at Settle Flowerpot Festival is a tribute to the legendary English steeplejack and TV personality, Fred Dibnah, MBE.
Chimneys were always Fred’s fascination, having grown up among the textile mills of Lancashire. He mastered his trade repairing them and later founded a new method for demolishing them without explosives, felling ninety of them during his lifetime.
Thankfully the Watershed Mill chimney in Settle escaped that fate and Fred’s effigy has now been installed there to celebrate his fame. New festival volunteer Simon Swales helped his ascent with just the one meagre ladder – while Fred had thirty to his name!
The Settle Flowerpot Festival runs until 7th September and is a free of charge event which attracts thousands of visitors every year. Fred Dibnah is just one of more than 200 creative flowerpot exhibits spread around the town utilising more than 4000+ donated or recycled flowerpots.
The Watershed Mill, a cotton weaving mill established in 1780, is now a visitor attraction and home to The Potting Shed where most of the imaginative creations are made for the annual flowerpot festival.
https://www.settleflowerpotfestival.co.uk
