Comments on: Simon Costin, The Museum Of British Folklore

By: Christine Swan

Christine Swan — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 07:34:30 +0000

I think the craziest of all of our local traditions is the Gloucestershire cheese rolling that takes place on Cooper’s Hill. The earliest “roll” documented was in 1826 although it is believed to be very old with pagan origins. They have tried to ban it but it is now a ticketed event with international competitors. For those unaware, the roll itself consists of a wheel of Double Gloucester cheese, rolled down a steep hill, chased by competitors. Broken bones and lost teeth are common and yet people travel from all over the world to compete for cheese.
I am sure that the lecture will be fascinating!

By: Ann Vosper

Ann Vosper — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 19:56:18 +0000

How I would love to attend Simon Costin’s lecture next Sunday. Unfortunately I live too far away, coincidentally just 35 miles from Ottery St Mary where the tar barrel rolling happens every year. How marvellous to have a British Folklore Museum. British folklore, whether in the form of art, music, dance, stories, festivals or customs is all part of our heritage. There is something about it that makes me feel comforted.

By: Lynne Perrella

Lynne Perrella — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 13:45:39 +0000

To quote an American film: “Build it and they will come.”
As I looked through this array of photos, I thought of the stark contrast between these folks
expressing folk traditions —– and the current-day mania for cell phones, mindless scrolling and swiping. Artisans like Simon Costin remind us to be curious, celebratory, and exuberant. To LIVE with our fascinations, to find personal ways of expressing them, and to never spend a moment being bored, cynical, or numb.
What a marvelous thing to see today, as I head down to my studio. Onward and upward.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 10:51:32 +0000

The Straw Bear Festival starts on plough Monday.
Accompanied by Molly dancers and Morris men through the streets. A sad origination all tied up with poverty, the stoic Anglian farm workers, asking for food and drink during the fallow winter, burn an effigy of the bear at the end of “festivities”.

By: Greg T

Greg T — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 08:30:59 +0000

See also: “Once a Year” by Homer Sykes
Now selling for silly prices, I’m afraid

By: George Kearse

George Kearse — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 07:44:36 +0000

Most are totally unaware of the shear plethora of folk traditions across our fair isle, the more we search and look the more we stumble across by happenstance. So, to be informed there is this magical undertaking – Simon Costin’s notion to create the Museum of British Folklore – is indeed a ‘stroke of genius’.
From the website I suspect the work continues to establish a permanent museum space for its collections and activities.
Indeed it will be a ‘digital gallery’ that will attract and draw-in members, donors, benefactors and founders to achieve the ‘bricks & mortar’ of it all for us to visit and explore the minutiae of it all which is far from trivial but rather the discovery that many of these traditions have so much in common – the celebratory culture of the working people.
So thankful and pleased to have been met first thing this morning with news of this delightful life’s work.