Whittlesea Straw Bear

Reminders of what should be happening in St Andrews Hall, Whittlesey, this evening (Friday, January 15th 2021.)

For over twenty years Pig Dyke has looked forward to an evening with friends in St Andrews Hall to start our Straw Bear. It’s another thing that can’t happen at present. We wanted to remind ourselves and everyone else about what should be happening there…

Firstly, old hands arrive at 8.05 because Tony sings to start the evening at 8 – always the same song. Here it is:

Tony's Song

We haven’t heard this for too many years, but the inspired Rindercella by Dave Burdett used to have us in tears of laughter…. here he is with his composition:

Rindercella

We invite anyone there to do a spot…in recent years Mark Harris has been forced by popular demand to sing this song which insists on audience participation (the recording is in Lincoln but it has the same feel):

There is always ceilidh dancing….here are some original tunes (and some Pig Dyke tunes) from the brilliant Pig Dyke musician Kathryn (with Ady Bull):

Tunes from Kathryn and Ady

Tony sometimes does one of the wonderful Les Barker’s poems. Here are two by the man himself – one serious and one not:

Serious     |     Not Serious

Despite Some People’s lack of enthusiasm, for the instrument, there are always ukuleles...here with the Appalachian dulcimer:

Glen and Chris play Old Joe Clarke

Drumming has grown on some of us as time passes – here is some from last year:

Drumming

We can’t do a play this year…so here is last year’s “Whittlesey Wizard of Bogs” – the last time Sadie Heritage starred with us, with her Wicked Witch of Whittlesey adding to her appearances which include seductive temptresses, grumpy old women, the representation of dead boring, stewardess of Fenland Airlines and many others:

Whittlesey Wizard of Bogs

We always have some impromptu Appalachian stepping:

Stepping

We have also found some old recordings from the mid 1990s of Rob (our musician from The Beginning to 2008) playing tunes we used then – two of them “traditional”:

Rob Tunes (under "New in 2021")

We should be on the streets of Whittlesey on Saturday…here we are from 2020:

Pig Dyke Molly, Straw Bear 2020

And here are our friends from New Jersey, Handsome Molly, with whom we have shared memorable evenings in St Andrews:

Handsome Molly

Pig Dyke Molly