Long Term Mini Exhibition

The Mini Straw Museum

Come and wonder at this beautiful mini museum, artfully curated by Lucy of @corndollyfolklore and packed with treasures celebrating this heritage craft!

A redesigned display with new treasures to discover!

Saturday 19th Sep

10am-4pm

Expect magic, music and plenty of stories as we take over a family friendly space at Between the Tides!

Look out for our Tendring Beasts! Take part in our town Crying Competition! Get creative in our colouring corner! Sit back and enjoy stories and songs aplenty!

More information TBC!

Thursday 26th November

An evening of story and song with the EAFC

Join us for another wonderful event, reflecting on the magic and mystery to be found in the local area.

As always we will present a varied programme including music, folk crafts, ritual and a second round of our popular competitive storytelling POD OFF (A live recorded podcast where we gather together brilliant folklore and spooky podcasters to make them compete with their best seasonal and local stories for a smug ceramic vegetable of some sort)

We will also be welcoming very speical guests THE FEATHERED THORNS woth a performance of thier beautiful and haunting show WITCH.

Doors // 7pm

Act One: The POD OFF! // 7:30pm

Interval: With a seasonal craft available to keep your hands busy...

Act Two: The Feathered Thorns, WITCH.

“Come, let me take you for a drive and I will show you all the best ways to be alive.......”

The Feathered Thorns present WITCH a performance using live music, Spoken Word and projected image, to explore the representation of the Witch as the outsider figure who encompasses magic, power, fear, fragility, shame and retribution and how the theme of the witch and those who hunt her, holds powerful lessons and remains potent and relevant for our time and always.

Curfew // 10 pm

Summer 2026

This summer something mythical is stirring.

We’re creating four straw beasts: spectacular wearable sculptures inspired by folk traditions and local legends. We need you to bring them to life.

A little history…

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Festival of Britain. For the festival Essex’s own Fred Mizen, a straw craftsman, created two monumental straw sculptures for the famous Lion and Unicorn Pavilion. These artworks greeted visitors to a space exploring the character of Britain, the lion stood for realism and strength, the unicorn represented fantasy, independence, and imagination. Mizen’s original creations no longer survive, so we want to bring them back.

We don’t want to make replicas, instead we’re inviting you to reimagine them for Tendring today.

Want to find out more about Fred Mizen? Check out the Museum of English Rural Life

What are we making?

With the Creative Tendring and local straw craft artists we’re using traditional techniques from corn dolly making, thatching, and straw plaiting to create a series of wearable straw mummers, spectacular costume sculptures inspired by the folk traditions of masked performers who once travelled from village to village bringing stories, mischief, and celebration.

As well as creating a lion and the unicorn we will be making St Osyth, the famed guardian of the priory. The Anglo-Saxon abbess, refusing to submit to the demands of Viking raiders, was beheaded. Legend tells that she picked up her head and carried it to her final resting place, and that a spring appeared in the spot she was struck. She is our symbol of resilience, strength, and our connection with nature.

We also need you to design special new character for Tendring. What could it be? A sea creature from the coast? A guardian of the fields? A folk legend brought to life? A symbol of community spirit? We want you to create characters that reflect our history, Tendring today, or your hopes for the future.