Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004

Subject: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: alanww
Date: 05 Jan 04 - 09:32 AM

Its next Saturday 10 Jan! Who will I see there? Strawbear
"I go down dere with me hat caved in ...!"
Alan

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: My guru always said
Date: 05 Jan 04 - 11:34 AM

Wish I could get there this year, but cannot....

A lovely festival, but take extra socks & don't drink too much on Friday. Excellent singing session in the Boat PH on Saturday night.

Hope whoever goes has a Fab time & that your poor feet don't freeze!!!

Hil x

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: IanC
Date: 05 Jan 04 - 11:43 AM

I'll be there with Stevenage Sword ... we've never missed.

:-)

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: LesB
Date: 05 Jan 04 - 01:21 PM

I'll be there with Southport Sword...we've never been.
Les

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: treewind
Date: 05 Jan 04 - 03:58 PM

We'll be there, prolly in a tunes session in the Duke of York with Nick Barber and friends all afternoon and evening like we did last year.

Anahata and Mary

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 05 Jan 04 - 06:09 PM

Dunno if we're going this year, with or without swords!

LTS

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: Mark Dowding
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 03:14 AM

I've been there in the past - photographic evidence HERE - scroll down half of the page and I'm on the right of the Bear playing the concertina. Photo courtesy of the Peterborough Evening Telegraph. It's a great day out (if it's not raining) and the potential is there to get very, very drunk bearing in mind how many pubs you visit on the way round in the procession. If you don't know the Bear tune at the start of the day you will by the end of it.

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: LesB
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 01:27 PM

Mark, how do you fancy going again? We are short of a musician this weekend.

Les Brown (Bothy)

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: Mark Dowding
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 06:38 PM

I'd love to Les, but we've got the Parbold folk club Christmas party this Saturday (honest!) I've been meaning to go again for a few years but never got round to it - maybe next year whether you need a musician or not.

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: Zany Mouse
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 06:50 PM

We will miss it this year but had a great time last year. Mick was in shock on Saturday morning though! It was a very late, drunken session on the Friday and we dragged him out of his bed to watch the Straw Bear early on Saturday. I don't think there was a colder place in England that morning.

Remember to wear your entire wardrobe (at the same time) to combat the Fens in Winter.

Enjoy!

ZM

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 08:48 PM

The time I went, there was a January heatwave - the Bear must have been nearly baked alive (before it was time to be ceremomially burnt). But I've got a feeling it won't be like that this time...

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 03:39 AM

My entire wardrobe - would you like that to include the jeans now 3 sizes too big and the scary patterned jumpers that I have secreted away at the back?

Oh, and the French Maid dress that's in there somewhere?

LTS

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: treewind
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 04:19 AM

Put on the scary patterned jumpers and and a silly hat, paint your face some equally scary bright colour and you'll be able to join Gog Magog Molly in the procession!

As for the French maid outfit - if it's black & white it might do for impersonating Pig Dyke Molly...

Anahata
(not Mollying this time if he can help it)

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: alanww
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 07:24 AM

Look forward to seeing you Anahata & Mary.
Bring the french maid's outfit, Liz the Squeak - everyone else will be wearing fancy dress!
Derek & Mary Droscher said they will be there and Chris Gorniak said he hopes to pop over from deepest Suffolk for the day on Saturday.
What's that, McGrath of Harlow? A heatwave at Whittlesey? What?? You obviously weren't there last year!
As Zany Mouse & Mick said, it certainly was COLD, and Sandy and I were in my heaterless campervan!
Only two days to go and the 5-day weather forecast looks fine on Friday with a min of 3c overnight and showers on Saturday with a min of 7c, ie about 10c higher than last year! And no north wind! Look up the latest weather forcast yourself by entering "Whittlesey" in the bbc website.
"... the chill seeps in your soul ...!"
Alan

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: treewind
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 07:34 AM

Last week we had Mary's sons over from the snowy hills of west yorkshire and even they were impressed by the freeze-your-face-off NE wind that blows over the fens, and that was just a brisk Sunday pre-opening time walk up Reach Lode, not standing around in the streets for hours... We know how to do cold here!

Anahata

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: My guru always said
Date: 08 Jan 04 - 06:48 PM

refresh - enjoy it if you can go...... tradition at it's coldest!

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: open mike
Date: 09 Jan 04 - 02:12 AM

funny-i go to a Strawberry festival twice a year
and i laugh at how similar the name sounds to
strawberry festival

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: treewind
Date: 11 Jan 04 - 01:52 PM

Oh well, all wrong as usual. It wasn't the Duke of York (no such pub) but the New Crown and the weather was warm!

Anyway, 6 hours playing tunes and then seven people from our regular local tunes session + two other friends went for a curry and then went back to the Letter B and played some more tunes, and now we're about to go out and do it all again, being our regular Sunday night tune-fest. Life is hard sometimes.

We did see the staw bear, honest, and a few morris and molly dancers....

Anahata

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: Skipjack K8
Date: 11 Jan 04 - 07:27 PM

That would explain why I did four circuits of the town looking for a non-existent pub, then! I called in for a family meet, and as we have two ceilidh bands in the family, curiousity drew us to the junior ceilidh over the road from the church, where the Old Parrot band were playing (fine fiddler), and the caller was doing a brilliant job keeping drunken local yobs in order.

I did see some herbert inside a straw bale, but where did the bear come into proceedings?

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: alanww
Date: 13 Jan 04 - 07:41 PM

Aha, you were there too were you, Greg? Didn't see you but I did say hello to Mary & Anahata briefly.
Had a good music session in the Bricklayers on Friday night, which eventually turned into a song session. (I believe there was a similarly good session there on Saturday night too but I was at the singaround session at the Boat with Derek & Mary).
During the day on Saturday I communed with the Bear, playing for it in all three processions, and also chatted to loads of morris/molly dancing friends. Wonderful!
Sunday was good too, playing with the band as part of the entertainment in the college hall and then finally at the burning of the Bear.
Another Straw Bear over ...
"... I wiped the tears from out my eye!"
Alan

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 14 Jan 04 - 04:30 PM

Have at look at this http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040114/325/ejcwy.html#. Down on the right is a video of the Straw Bear.

Subject: RE: Straw Bear Festival Whittlesey 2004
From: LesB
Date: 14 Jan 04 - 07:00 PM

Alan, Pete says thanks again for the loan of your phone of Fri night to contact Chris.

It was my first visit and we(Southport Swords) all had a great time. Maybe we will get an invite another year?

Cheers


Les