Residents of Gainsborough, Boston and North Nottinghamshire took part in our online Illuminate event on 26th November 2020 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower.
Thank you to everyone who take part in this year’s Illuminate at home! Although we couldn’t be together, it was great to see so many lanterns across our social media channels lighting up our communities as a beacon of hope in such difficult times. Thank you also to our partners in Chorley for joining us. We even had submissions from Edinburgh and North Wales!
For the past three years, a fantastic parade of lanterns has taken place in town but that’s sadly that was not possible this year. Instead, we invited the public to get creative at home using our specially designed toolkit full of templates, ideas and inspiration for making a lantern.
We asked residents to display their lit lantern in a window at home on Thursday 26th November (the date of Thanksgiving), and share a photo on social media tagging in #OneSmallCandle to join others across our region connected by a shared heritage.
Our social media channels were very busy last night and we would like to thank everyone who took part! Below is a range of images that were taken from social media which came from all over the Pilgrim Roots region and beyond!
The 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s voyage from England to America, which took some of the Pilgrims from our region on a historic journey, was in September. Gainsborough is part of the national Mayflower 400 programme, connecting places across the UK linked to the story, and the regional Pilgrim Roots partnership of places where many Pilgrims came from.
West Lindsey District Council are leading the ‘One Small Candle’ campaign for this year’s Illuminate in Gainsborough as part of the town’s Arts Council England-funded Mayflower 400 cultural programme.
