Pig Dyke at The Straw Bear Festival 2008
Whittlesea Straw Bear festival 11th - 13th January 2008
The best place to be in early January - the highlight of the year!Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival was revived in 1980 after a 67 year break...the straw bear tradition was a feature of the local fens, and Sybil Marshall (see What is Molly page) writes about her grandfather being the Ramsey straw bear one year in the 1870s. We are proud to have been part of the festival since the group that became Pig Dyke started twenty years ago - and delighted that Tom Sennett, Pig Dyke dancer and musician, will be the bear in 2009. The weekend is so wonderful that Debbi Kantor, our New Jersey occasional member, has been coming over to it for nine years...
The weekend starts on Friday night (see below), followed by the major procession and dancing by Pig Dyke and many dozens of other groups throughout Whittlesey from 10.30 till 3.30 on Saturday. Sunday's session at Harry Smith school sees Pig Dyke and others perform inside the large school hall.
For more details on the festival see Straw Bear Web Site.
Straw Bear Friday night - Pig Dyke's St Andrew's Hall night
For ten or more years Pig Dyke has run its own evening to start one side of the festival, with a welcoming, informal, bubbling atmosphere..The evening is created by those who turn up. There will be a mixture of ceilidh dances with informal band and volunteer callers, ten minute performances which have included song, informal dance performances of all sorts (but no Molly - that night), poems, story... and there is rumoured to be a Pig Dyke play - four months in the creating, ten minutes in the doing - audience, bring your community singing voice (but leave the rotten veg at home please)
The evening is from 8pm till 11.30 at St Andrews Parish Rooms, Parkinsons Lane, Whittlesey PE7 1BZ. There is a real ale and general bar (please do not bring your own drink or you will be publicly humiliated) and entry is £1; in return you get a free ticket to the only raffle you do not want to win - unwanted Christmas presents welcome - the only rule is you must take away any winnings...).
All welcome - but get there early.