Meanwhile, here we are in the season of the Hunting of the Wren. Bunches of boys would hunt and kill a wren – not something likely to be a long-drawn out process when it was boys, stones and dogs vs. the wren. The dead bird would be tied to the top of a pole or holly bush and garlanded with coloured papers or ribbons.

Then, in straw masks or with faces blackened with burnt cork, the Wran Boys would call from house to house to raise cash for their dance that evening, chanting: