Tiddy Mun

We made this dance up this year based on the Tiddy Mun story, and surprisingly only took one evening to arrange - normally we take at least several months...

Fenland folk used to have their own beliefs, one being that a benevolent spirit existed who kept them safe from the evil bogs and waterborne diseases. They called him Tiddy Mun and believed he lived in the waters. They were so worried he might desert them when the water was drained on the land that they developed a ritual of throwing water over the fields chanting: “Tiddy Mun without a name there's water for you. Water for you.”

Ouse Washes Molly

Tom Hickathrift

Tom Hickathrift was a fenland giant who lived in the Marshland area between King’s Lynn and Wisbech. He lived the last part of his days at Hickathrift Hall near Tilney All Saints and is buried in the village churchyard. Many stories are told about Tom but our dance is based upon the best known. When Tom was quite young he had a job hauling beer barrels from King’s Lynn to Wisbech. Being amazingly strong he did not need a horse. In those days there was an evil ogre who lived in a God forsaken area called The Smeeth, half way between the two towns. As the ogre was fond of eating passers by, the road took a long detour around The Smeeth. One hot summer’s day Tom was pulling his cart when he reached the spot where the road branched off to avoid the ogre’s lair. Tom was feeling tired and decided to shorten the journey by taking the track straight through the Smeeth. As he started along the path he saw the awful evidence of the Ogre’s kills, skulls of foolhardy folk hanging from every tree... but kept going.

Eventually the Ogre appeared, with a huge club and shield in his hand and Tom knew he needed something to defend himself with. Quick as a fenland Skoda driver he turned the cart over, the barrels rolling down the track and delaying his foe. Tom ripped a wheel off the cart for a shield and tore off the axle to use as a club. The battle was terrible, rivalling the single handed combat between Rama and Ravanna in intensity and the sound of the mighty blows they both struck, echoed across the marshes. In the end, of course, our hero was victorious, and with one last mighty blow removed the head of the ogre. He put the axle and wheel back on the cart, placed the ogres head on a barrel and continued his journey. The entire population of Wisbech turned out to welcome him and thereafter his became famous, until, eventually he became the King’s personal hero and the most wealthy man ever to have come from the fens. He took as his heraldic emblem a circle with a line over it, symbolising the axle and wheel that he had used to kill the ogre. These symbols can be seen on his gravestone and were the original motivation for our dance. We decided to try to construct a dance based around lines and circles.

Eventually our musicians settled on a Beatles song, "With A Little Help From my Friends", which has given the dance a new lease of life. We perform it with a chorus line of amazing choreographed movements and superb voices. Poor old Tom has almost been forgotten but he still lies there in his ten foot grave, in which the locals say he had to be folded in half.