featured – Whittlesey Museum

21st Century, Museum Highlight, On Display, Post-War, Straw Bear, Whittlesey History

Replica Straw Bear

November 22, 2016November 22, 2016 whittleseyheritage

A replica of the Straw Bear figure who dances through the town in the annual Straw Bear festival in January each year. The Straw Bear is a traditional figure although the current festival was revived in the 1970s, having previously lapsed following World War One.

21st Century, Agricultural, Museum Highlight, Museum History, On Display, Post-War, Straw Bear

The Straw Bear Plough

November 22, 2016November 22, 2016 whittleseyheritage

The plough is decorated and paraded around the town during the annual Straw Bear Festival in January. It is accompanied by "ploughboys" in their traditional Straw Bear costume of jackets, flat caps and with blackened faces (once using soot, now facepaint) for "disguise". Before the First World War the ploughboys would have been agricultural workers… Continue reading The Straw Bear Plough