Welcome to the village of Flempton; the village of 'ye olde' traditional fests - where you never know what will happen next ....... and if you are not from around these parts - beware it's not a 'normal village'......

OK, so we have sorted out the official name: Friar Tuck and his Fallen Archers......  Well we do have a Rector as our Friar Tuck - what did you expect........  We have sorted out our main three events, so check out our 'What's On' page.  If you haven't already seen the film Roin Hood - Men in Tights, get the DVD and you'll see a little of what you might be in for......

Our first event is on the 29th of April on Flempton Village Green - Feast on the Green.  We'll provide the BBQ's, you bring your food and drink.  We are having an archery competition, all can get involved and if you feel like entering into the spirit of things, why not dress up in tights and be as silly as the rest of us.  We hipe to have some live music, do our bit by toasting the Royal couple and then enjoy a sing song around the fire pit... 

What's been and gone........

Welcome to the new Lord of Misrule for 2011 - Friar Tuck (known to others as the Rector David Burrell from West Stow) - sssshhh....

The ceremony took place after the rolling out of the 'hedgehog' on Sunday 6th February.  Well actually we nearly lost the hedgehog as the wind was giving it last puffs before we could shout in the Spring.  Our friendly Hedgehog decided it would be a good Spring and Summer (I think)....  We then duly crowned our new Lord of Misrule, so Captain Jack now hangs up his boots, his reign of terror over.  Our new Lord took the service in St Catherine's to celebrate Candlemass; actually our motley band have quite a good voice and without the aid of an organist.

So our new Lord has decided upon Robin Hood and a new reign of terror commences.  As you would expect a hearty meal at the local tavern (new namely Greyhound) the Blue Boar, we swilled the ale and ate Hedgehog pie whilst being told who was to be who by our Friar.  

Our first meeting is to be in two weeks time to discuss the first meeting of the merry band of men (who are women) and women (who are men)!

Read on, for this is how it started...

One dark and quiet night in the local pub, after a few too many glasses of wine, a few of the locals decided to stir things up in the village of Flempton and put it back on the map......  this is what happened next.

Back in 2007, after a boozie session a few of us locals decided to re-create an old English tradition, and re-instate the Lord of Misrule, a role given to someone in the village, who could be the Lord over the village or estate during the Christmas period.  However, we tweaked the rules some what and decided to extend their reign by about 11 1/2 months. We also changed our Christmas Carols on the village green format; to corporate the old tradition of Wassaling of the trees -  any excuse to make a lot of noise and, of course, partake of more alcohol.

The first reign 2007/8 was given to Steve Brown, one of our larger than life village characters.  The Jesters Crown and Lord's Rod was duly given and the chaos began.  During his reign we organised our first village fest.The May Fest which incorporated a May Pole for the children (and the adults), village stocks, Morris and Folk dancing and many other tradition games which was generally hailed a success by all.  It was a great day that culminated in one small tent being left on the village green and after dark it was filled by our small band of followers and, you've guessed it, more alcohol............

At the 2008 Wassaling of the Trees/Christmas Carols on the green, the baton was passed to Helen Stevens who became the first Lady of Misrule 2008/9!  The Misrule Rod was soon adorned with ribbons and flowers and the role took on a definite feminine theme.

We became quite a lot braver during 2008 and decided on a 'viking' theme for the summer fest - Lugnasad.  An old Anglo Saxon event which one could liken to the inter-village Olympic Games.  We also decided to do a hog roast at the games, which after much discussion we did ourselves.  The event was to consist of old English traditional games: splat the rat, greasy pole, treasure hunt and we had our first game of 'quiots' on the village since the challenge cup was stopped due to the war.  A score card could be bought on admission so 'prizes' were the order of the day for all.  The Lady of Misrule had her team of 'champions' (all dressed as Vikings I might add) who were to play off against an opposing team!  Set up went ahead on a very grey overcast 15th of August; it was blowing a gale but by the time the fest was officially opened the sun was shining, the enormous lumps of pork were cooking and people were literally crawling out of the woodwork.  We finished later than we thought, because everyone was having such a good time and the festivities continued until 01.30 the following morning.  We had dug our first 'fire-pit' on the green, roasted more pork, drunk more alcohol and sung by the fire.

So mad were our bunch that we decided on a another event for 2009 - Yddgrfest.  A medieval banquet using 13th century recipes, produced a 5 course meal, all prepared by the ladies of our little group.

The event was to celebrate the start of the Christmas festivities and lead on to the Wassaling on the Green and the crowning of the new Lord or Lady of Misrule. To attend this event it was essential that you wore medieval attire.  You know it is very strange how many men we have in this village who appear to like dressing up as women, come to that, several of the women also appear to like to be men, some of them even as mystic animals!!!

So on to the Wassaling on the 1st of December.  Slightly different as we had decided to light the 'honoured faggot', a bundle of ash tied up with willow, another pagan tradition.....  carols sung, newly appointed person of Misrule, lighting of the faggott, loads of bashing with anything noisy: north, south and east and west on the green, a bucket of water thrown over the faggot, more bashing in the churchyard, a special written Wassaling prayer by the Rector in church and all retire to the Vestry for hot punch and food.

And, so to 2009/10, when the 'rod' was passed to Jules Wright who has decided on the title of Pirate of Misrule. She is also one of those, who at times, would rather revert to the tomboy status she had as a child.  She also loves sailing and is happy to acknowledge that she is ever so slightly soft on Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow, who is who her character is based on the 2010 events.

It was a busy year in Flempton, with marauding pirates turning up at all sorts of strange times.  However, the pinnacle of events was during the summer on the 3rd of July, when the motley crew built their pirate ship, 'Legless', on the village green, complete with two masts, sails, bowsprite and all.  A nautical 'It's a Knock Out' was fantastically supported by all who attended (over 150 people) the children were superb and we had a joint winner of the best dressed 'lad' - we even made the local radio and newspaper.  Jack and his 'junior' crew, all signed up on the day had great fun press-ganging the parents into teams to take the Pirate Challenge. (Don't forget to take a look at the 'Gallery' page for the pictures).

Following on from the success of Pirates Day, the crew undertook the Pirate Quiz, held at Flempton Church on the 10th September in aid of the St. Nicholas Hospice, as part of the Towergate Appeal.  We raised an amazing £492.40, with the winners, 'Barnacle Bills' carrying off bottles of (fizzy) 'grog' as you might expect. A fantastic thank you to everyone.