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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Calam Pengilly

Mysterious straw creatures spotted in Lochwinnoch

Mysterious creatures made of straw have been spotted at Lochwinnoch this week.

But fear not, they weren’t some sort of harbinger of doom, they were part of the Cycle Arts Festival that has taken place along the traffic-free path that travels between Paisley and Lochwinnoch this week.

Strawboys by Rob Heaslip, described as a “vibrant and energetic outdoor pop-up performance, blurring the lines between traditional and contemporary dance and music” could be viewed at Castle Semple Visitors Centre on Tuesday, August 2 and at Stoddard Square, Johnstone on Wednesday, August 3.

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A spokesperson for OneRen said of the performance: “It features luminous straw dancers whirling to Balkan inspired beats, the work is a unique interpretation of the cultural tradition of ‘the strawboys’, also known as mummers, guisers, burdie boys, skekklers and wren boys; identified by their ornate straw masks while out rambling streets, fields, towns and parks, parading their merriment to the joy of onlookers.”

Strawboys is part of the Cycle Arts Festival (Rob Heaslip)

Rikki Payne, arts manager at OneRen, speaking of the Cycle Arts Festival, said: “At this festival, we have a stunning array of community developed projects that really highlight the talented artists and creative communities we have in Renfrewshire.

“The Cycle Arts Festival has an outdoors organic slant asking us to examine and celebrate our remarkable natural environments in Renfrewshire both urban and rural.”

Katie Rowland, art and diversity coordinator for Sustrans Scotland, said: “Sustrans is delighted to support this brilliant festival which showcases the creativity and talent of people who live in Renfrewshire.

Strawboys is a dance performance created by artist Rob Heaslip and will be heading to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (Rob Heaslip)

“It’s very much a community event and we hope people who live both locally and further afield will come along, see for themselves and make use of this brilliant, traffic-free section of National Cycle Network Route 7 in the process.”

the work is a unique interpretation of the cultural tradition of ‘the strawboys’, also known as mummers, guisers, burdie boys, skekklers and wren boys (Rob Heaslip)

The Cycle Arts Festival continues until Sunday, August 7. For more information about the festival, visit cycleartsrenfrewshire.co.uk

Download the FREE Renfrewshire Live app now for all the latest news, features and sport in your area. Available on both Android and Apple. Download here: smarturl.it/RenfrewLiveSocial

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