JANUARY 10th 2015 - straw bear festival Whittlesey
As we are going back "home" for the weekend I will do tomorrows post today, and add the photos when we get back. As well as seeing friends and family we decided we would go over to the straw bear festival in Whittlesey.
Every year Whittlesey holds a
straw bear festival at the begining of January. It's always very cold but alot of fun. Dancers and dance troops of morris/molly dancers attend from all over the UK and dance in the streets and at pubs. There is a bear made of straw (has a man in it) that also goes dancing round the streets and pubs, and sometimes a bear from Germany. It is a brilliant atmosphere and great for the whole family. On the sunday after more dancing and fun the bear is burnt (without the man inside!)
Many of the dance troops wil get members of teh public involved with the dances and if your really lucky they will cover you in facepaint (that they are already wearing! the red leicester lot are the worst). Also the German straw bear has a habbit of capturing young females and dancing with them, but as it dances it turns round and in doing so is tying you and it together with a rope, they then tend to fall over so that you are laid on top of them!!! This happened to me many years ago, and I was in a florescent yellow/hi-vis jacket as I was with St John Ambulance who provide the first aid cover for it as we were based in whittlesey.
If you ever get the chance to go to the event I would suggest you do, but wrap up warm. This pin is found
here. Take a look at the Straw Bear website and read the info and look at the pics.
Here are some of the photos I took, it was a dry and sunny but bitterly cold day. We saw a few of our friends there as well as members of the family, which was great. As it happens it was only me and hubby that went as the kids wanted to stay with their godmother (where we were sleeping).
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| bear in a window |
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| the straw bear |
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| the chicken |
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| the plough |
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| dancers | |
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| dancers |
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| dancers |
