Saltaire, England - Rydal, Sweden

2018 windows

Traditions New, Traditions Old
Saltaire Living Advent Calendar has been running since 2006. Villagers are invited to “release” their windows gradually between 1st and 24th December each year. I have posted pictures before of this experience and it has become a tradition to take friends and meander round the twilight streets, admiring the creativity and wit of the residents’ designs.

2018 windows

In another town far, far away
Other towns in the UK have developed their own tradition but in 2019, a direct link was made with another place in Europe. At Rydals Museum, on the banks of the river Viskan near the town of Kinna, in southern Sweden, museum staff met with the Saltaire Inspired Living Advent Calendar team to discuss expertise and arrangements for a window “swap.”

The Mark Council
Local dignitaries decided the local council (The Mark) wanted to include some decorative windows in their Town Hall and so some jolly competitiveness began!

2019 Swedish windows

Similarities
A theme of recent years is that we all have “More In Common” than we might think. Certainly the regeneration of Salt’s Mill from Titus Salt’s original vision into Jonathan Silver’s commercial and artistic community hub is also reflected in what has happened at Rydal Museum in Sweden. Originally Rydal’s was a spinning mill and now houses a museum, a meeting place, private businesses and craft boutiques.

Recovering from man flu
Much of December saw me laid low with a persistent cough, high temperature and feeble levels of energy so come the New Year it was a delight to take our customary stroll with the Thompsons round the 2019 Saltaire Advent Windows. Carrie Fisher and the Star Wars saga featured poignantly, as did the message “Keep Well” which I took to heart after my recent illness. Let’s hope 2020 proves to be less divisive year than 2019.

Did I have a 2019 favourite?
Of course the Swedish window (below top right) is a special favourite this year, as was the one quoting Shelley in the third picture from the top (If winter comes, can Spring be far behind?) (which, if I'm honest, was from 2018) but I am a sucker for dark silhouettes and I do like the one in the centre of the collage immediately above which shows a cat prowling across rooftops beneath a lurid moon. Flying off out of the top right of the design is one Father Christmas. No doubt he and the windows will be back next year.