Babworth
ARTS FESTIVAL

Babworth
ARTS Festival

Brought to you online and in person for the 400th anniversary of the 'First Thanksgiving' meal!

This popular annual event takes place in All Saints' Church, showcasing pilgrim inspired art by local people. For 2021 we are hosting the artwork online where it can be enjoyed from the safety of your own home; and in person on the 27th & 28th of November at All Saints Church, Babowrth.

Scroll through the images and perhaps listen to a talk at the bottom of this page.

You can find more about Bassetlaw Christian Heritage (BCH) and what they do via the button below.

ILLUMINATE

Babworth Arts Festival is part of our annual Pilgrims Festival. The November festival involves Illuminate events taking places across the region. We're spreading a wave of light across our communities in a range of ways this year. Use the button below to find out how you can join in.

Illuminate

Welcome

Churchwarden Peter Swinscoe at the Babworth Pilgrims Art Exhibition 2017

This year the Pilgrims Festival Babworth Art Exhibition is back in person! Visit Babworth Church on Saturday 27th (10am-4pm) and Sunday 28th (12 noon-4pm) of November to view local artworks in person.
This exhibition has been an important part, for the past four years, of the Pilgrims Festival which has commemorated the Mayflower Pilgrim Families’ journey to North America in 1620. 2021 marks the 400th anniversary of the harvest meal remembered as the First Thanksgiving and shared between Native Americans and Pilgrims!

Pilgrim art exhibitions have also been popular at Worksop Priory.

All work on display in the exhibition was inspired, in some way, by the Separatist and Mayflower Pilgrims story or by Thanksgiving in its broadest sense. There are some photographs of the previous years exhibitions for those who missed them – nostalgic for those who were there!

The Art

Thanksgiving & 2021

The theme of this year's art exhibition is thanksgiving - in the broadest sense, as well as inspired by the celebration shared between naitve peoples and settlers in America 400 years ago. The story of the 'First Thanksgiving' is a complex one, often told inaccurately and used through the centuries for political means. Now it is marked by many Native Americans as a National Day of Mourning, symbolising all that has been lost since the arrival of Europeans.
The broader idea of being thankful seems particularly pertinent this year as we continue to emerge from a global pandemic and look for ways to be both generous and grateful.

Stadhuis, Leiden

Ann Wildgust

St Wiflred's Church, Scrooby

Ann Wildgust

Invasion or Settlement

by Gerry Fruin

St Helena's Church, Austerfield

Ann Wildgust

Astrological Clock, Hampton Court

Ann Wildgust

Thanksgiving

by Hazel Brand

University of Leiden

Ann Wildgust

Christmas Thanksgiving Walkeringham

by Elaine Nash

Bright Lights, Amsterdam

by Elaine Nash

English Reform Church, Amsterdam

Ann Wildgust

Scrooby Manor House

Ann Wildgust

Boston Guildhall

Ann Wildgust

Hampton Court, Main Entrance

Ann Wildgust

Boston Stump

Ann Wildgust

Who's Watching You

by Elaine Nash

Wetu frame at Bassetlaw Museum

Photo by Katarzyna Wosiak

Pieterkerk, Leiden

Ann Wildgust

Let the Light Shine In

by Elaine Nash

All Saints Church, Babworth

Ann Wildgust

A Meeting of Cultures

Gerry Fruin

Christman Welcome, Zermatt

by Elaine Nash

William Bradford

by Catherine Inglis

Babworth

Although the village of Babworth has long since disappeared, the church still stands as a symbol of the Separatist congregation that gathered here to listen to Richard Clyfton.

Pilgrim embroidery of Babworth.
Jenny King

All Saints' Church, Babworth.
Oil Painting.
John Harris

Golden Autumn in peaceful Babworth.
Photo.
Svetlana

Babworth Church
Elaine Nash

Pilgrims Country
Representing the land the pilgrims left
Elaine Nash

Year after year, Babworth Church, which was pivotal in the life of the Separatists before their journey to America on the Mayflower, has invited visitors to its 'Snowdrop Festival'.

Snowdrops at Babworth 1.
Elaine Nash

Babworth Snowdrops.
Photo
Hazel Brand

Snowdrops at Babworth 2.
Elaine Nash

Austerfield

The birthplace of William Bradford, who later became governor of Plymouth colony and wrote of Plymouth Plantation - documenting the life of the Colony and the adventures of the pilgrims.

Pilgrim embroidery of Austerfield.
Fay Evason

St. Helena church, Austerfield.
Watercolour
John Harris

William Bradford.
Part of the stained glass window in St. Helena Church Austerfield

William Bradford.
Oil Painting.
John Harris

Austerfield, Babworth and Scrooby
Cox's pippins art group

Scrooby

Home of William Brewster and his family, and an important stopping place on the Great North Road in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Scrooby Manor from Fishponds
Oil Painting
John Harris

Pilgrim embroidery of Scrooby
Jo Walker, Lynn Hadland and Jenny King

William Brewster
Oil Painting
John Harris

The Messenger
Ink
Hazel Brand

Patience Brewster aged 8
Oil Painting
Bonita Ferguson-Harris

Fearful Brewster aged 7
Oil Painting
Bonita Ferguson-Harris

Mary Brewster
Oil Painting
John Harris

Mary Brewster
Drawing
Maddie Richardson

William Brewster
Clay
Maddie Richardson

William Brewster
Drawing
Maddie Richardson

Retford

Starting point for the Pilgrims Trail, and linked to non-conformists of the pilgrim-era.

Small book bench (back)
St. Joseph's School

Small book bench (front)
St. Joseph's School

Interpretation of William Brewster's study, Pilgrims Gallery, Retford

Pilgrim embroidery
Beverly Naylor and Jenny King

Sturton-le-Steeple and Gainsborough

Sturton is connected to the Separatist's story through Robinson and Smyth, and Gainsborough saw some Separatists flee to Holland via the Trent in 1608.

Pilgrim Embroidery of Sturton-le-steeple.
Janet Archer

Gainsborough Old Hall
Watercolour
John Harris

Worksop

Worksop Priory's Richard Bernard had connections to the Mayflower pilgrims and, through his daughter Mary, to tolerance in Rhode Island.

Leah Stuttard at Worksop Priory
Enhanced photo
Rick Brand

Leah Stuttard at Worksop Priory
Photo
Rick Brand

This is a photograph I took of Leah Studdard at Worksop Priory when she was performing as part of the Pilgrims festival in 2018. Leah is a brilliant international harpist and singer (she lived in France at the time she performed for us) and has been kind enough to perform at the Pilgrims Festival twice now. The small cloister room at the Priory, recently refurbished, with its vaulted ceilings and revealed stonework provided brilliant acoustics and a really friendly atmosphere.

Leah’s connection with the environment was intense, and brave – she performed one piece accompanied only by a bell that had been cast in an historic bell foundry in London – amazing! So, I took a photograph of Leah concentrating on tuning her harp, with the intention of capturing the connection with the stone, then enhanced the photograph to produce the image.

Holland and America

From 1607, the pilgrims began their journey. First to Holland, then in 1620, to America

Under Attack
Ink
Hazel Brand

Speedwell Stained Glass
Pilgrim fathers Church, Rotterdam
Photo
Elaine Nash

The Last Supper
Acrylics on canvas
Hazel Brand

Plymouth Plantation
Photo
Rick Brand

Plymouth Plantation
Rick Brand

Mayflower, Building a nation
Ink
Hazel Brand

Leaving for Leiden
Oil Painting
Bonita Ferguson-Harris

Journey to the English coast
Watercolour and Ink
Hazel Brand

Waiting on the shore
Elaine Nash

English reformed church, Amsterdam
Elaine Nash

Pilgrims Plaque, Amsterdam
Elaine Nash

Mayflower
Cox's Pippins art group

America
Cox's Pippins art group

Sachem Massasoit Statue
(Plymouth Mass.)
Photo
Rick Brand

The storm is passing
Jackie Gray

They came from a land to the East
Poem
Isabelle Richards

The Entertainment

Click through the tabs below to access the different elements of our entertainment program, featuring music, talks and films.

Discover where it all began with churches in the Pilgrim Roots region and the remarkable stories of those who went on to sail with the Mayflower in 1620.

These videos were produced in a collaborative project led by Bassetlaw District Council for Heritage Lottery Funded project Pilgrim Roots.

Playlist

In 1641, two young women died suddenly after a wedding - but one came back from the dead, prophesying terrible things if England did not repent. Then, a few days later, she died again. Historian Adrian Gray investigates this bizarre story from a turbulent era.

The Pilgrim Embroideries were made to commemorate the Mayflower 400 celebrations.
They have been designed and embroidered by Jenny King and a small group of local needlewomen known as the Pilgrim Embroiderers.
The embroidered text on each piece, designed by Lynn Hadland, tells of the main leaders of the Separatist movement in each village.
The embroideries are to be donated to the churches that can be found along the Pilgrim Trail.

" An early 17th century hymn accompanied by me playing my virginals rather than my harp! Hope you like it. I enjoyed making it actually - nice to do something different, to go back to my old instrument (I played piano and harpsichord before I played harp).
I've really enjoyed finding out about the Pilgrim Roots stuff - hope there will still be occasion for interaction once the big festival is over. "

Children of the Mayflower

A Pilgrim for to be

Jo created these songs for the anniversary year in hopes that they could be used in workshops with children, who might add harmonies and use percussion instruments within the song. Jo wrote the music for both pieces, and the lyrics for A Pilgrim for to be, and Dean Geary wrote the lyrics to Children of the Mayflower.

Please contact us if you know of schools and other children's groups who might want to engage with this project.

An imagined pilgrim character reflects on the early years in the Colony, and wonders about the future.
This video has been created to sensitively challenge the myth around the first Thanksgiving.

Submitted to the Where it Began art exhibition at Bassetlaw Museum, this poem has been written and performed by Margaret Edge.

Pilgrim Events

"My interest in compiling a photographic record of local events lead me to become Photographer to the Retford Civic Society. These images are a record of some of the "Pilgrim 2020" events that have taken place over the past few years."
Brian Shawcross