The Meanderthals: WRAY

WELL I NEVER !

LADIES & GENTLEMEN !:- John, Anthony, Danny.

Guests:- Barbara, Pauline.

Well, Well, Well ! Who'd have thought that after 16/17 years, ladies would join us on our thus far entirely masculine thursdays ?

Not that we are in the slightest bit Misogynistic. But what sensible ladies would have wished to join a bunch of ageing old F---s stumbling round the countryside.

But times have changed and so has the nature of our weekly meetings. Less a hiking style walk and more a visit to a place of interest. So.............

... here we are visiting the annual "Wray Scarecrow Festival"

After parking in a field at the edge of the Village....

...we soon found ourselves sitting with a brew. (We usually do.) I think the cafe was run by the ladies of the WI who had commandeered the village hall for the "Scarecrow Festival" There was lots of home made food on display. " We shall return" we promised.

Although the ladies wanted cake as well as a brew👍

The gentlemen only wanted a "Start the Day" brew... Maybe cake at lunchtime.

Brews finished off we went to view the multitude of Scarecrows on display throughout the Village.

Dolly Parton ???

As we pottered through the village a gentleman drove past in a rather smart car. He was not a SCARECROW.

As you may well imagine some of the scarecrows were NOT as good as others whilst some were superb.

This little old lady waiting for a bus turned out to be Rod Stewart 😕

Whilst "Elvis" did not look at all well. (There were other Elvises or Elvi ? )

Yes... well Who he ?

Here Danny is reading about Casanova. John made the common mistake of translating Nova as "NEW". it isn't, it means shining brightly and is associated with stars. Apart from being a Libertine (Womaniser) Casanova was an intelligent man with many talents.

Don't know who this lady was but she was very tall.

Bet you can't guess who this is. Oops ! you've spotted it . Looking at that left hand I think after a few drinks I can play the guitar like that.

We continued down the high Street passing some excellent Scarecrows. Here's one of Santa.

Left ? Right ? or Centre ?

Which is the real Santa ?

Hands up all those who said the one on the Right . WRONG !

Before Coca Cola muscled in to change his garb to RED, their corporate. colour, Santa was traditionally dressed in GREEN 😮 We can't really blame Coca Cola as others used red as well and St Nicholas himself was said to be fond of red clothes. But the one in the middle, in green, is the earlier tradition.

Further down the street we came across a car dressed as a dog. The occupants of the car appeared to be Boris and Keir and were labelled as "DUMB & DUMBER"..... no comment.

This astronaut seems to have missed the pacific Ocean completely and will be very confused when he finds out were he is .... or ISN'T .

1694. There were quite a few houses in the village dated around this time.
How old is this house ? C'mon get thinking. I'm no good at maths.

If that is the church house there must be a church. Yes here it is and a very pretty one to boot.

There was a book sale inside the church. John just hoped they didn't sell too many of the church's Order of Service or Book of Common Prayer which were in places right next to those being offered for sale.

I wonder to which order this nun belongs. She's wearing some daringly "Kinky" boots.

"Like God's own head the glorious sun uprist"
quote from
"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"Lets go and look at the book sale."

We were all puzzled to find Shaun the Sheep hiding behind a headstone in the churchyard.

Anthony decided to take a pew as we examined the books (£1 each)

There were some interesting books but we eventually left empty handed.

In taking these photos I forget to find what it was all about, Sorry !

We continued our exploration of the village as there were still lots of scarecrows to see.

Here a witch wearing some very stylish boots.

At first sight this was a puzzle but on closer inspection it turned out to be quite clever. We didn't find out what the"Theme" was but "GOAT" should have been a clue. Many of the scarecrows appeared to be "NO 1 " in their trade or profession (e.g. Elvis "THE KING" ) so maybe that was the theme.

Don't think you need to hold his ladder for him Danny . He's a professional !

Must be lunch time by now 😋

LOVELY LUNCH LAPPED UP.... Lets finish the tour.

They started their lunch last Saturday... Still not finished...Too much chatter ?

A Much better Elvis . Notice the snarling curve of the mouth. He got second prize but we never found 1st

"So anyway. Elvis said to me......... "

The scarecrow looks a bit worried about you Pauline.

A little further down the terrace. a button said " Press me". If you did the scarecrow on the right waved it's arms and gave you a clip round the ear with the Hula Hoops.