Weird News

[Carruthers]

This was mentioned on the radio in the early hours of this morning and I wasn't sure if I'd heard it right.

I can't quite believe it. Perhaps not so much weird as utterly bizarre.

Americans are furious at Devon town's plans to burn one of its most proud national symbols

"To us this is almost sickening to think about, it's disturbing"

"Sickening, disturbing and incredibly odd" - these are just some of the words used by Americans to describe an event set to take place in a Devon town.

Every five years Torrington in North Devon hosts a huge bonfire event organised by members of the charitable Torrington Cavaliers group.

The band of volunteers spend years building enormous structures which are then set fire to in front of a crowd of thousands, with previous examples including the town of Trumpton and replicas of Pudding Lane and HMS Victory.

But the choice of structure for the Cavalier's 2020 bonfire has enraged some Americans.

The group is currently in the process of building a life size replica of The Mayflower ship, which carried the first 'Pilgrims' from Plymouth to America back in 1620.

2020 marks the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower sailing, which is why the Cavaliers chose the ship for their bonfire.

But some Americans who recently found out about this event are outraged that a symbol of such national pride could be set fire to.

The organisers of the official Mayflower 400 anniversary celebrations took to Facebook to share some pictures of the Torrington Cavaliers' progress on their replica of the ship.

The post attracted a lot of comments from Americans who were not happy.

One said: "It's the most important ship in American history. The Mayflower is not an abomination. I would never want to see it set on fire."

A drone photo showing the size and scale of the replica Mayflower.

LINK


For a more cerebral approach to 17th Century US history, could I suggest this episode of Time Team from 2007?

I won't spoil it for you, but they made some spectacular discoveries.