Museum celebrates 'oddness' in exhibition

Robert Bell, who curated The Odder The Better, said the variety on show was "staggering"

A dyke jumping pole and shoes made from bread are just some of the items on display in an exhibition celebrating "oddness".

Wisbech and Fenland Museum in Cambridgeshire has set out a different curiosity for each of the 189 years it has been open.

The Odder The Better aims to show what fascinates people has changed over time.

Robert Bell, curator at the museum, said: "The variety is staggering – you could say all human life is here."

The objects are on display until 2 November

The museum was set up in 1835 by local collectors, so they could discuss the items they held.

Mr Bell said curators over the years had tried to collect a variety of pieces, but visitors today would be free to "make up their own minds" about those on display.

"This is a reflection of what we have collected over those 190-odd years," he said.

"It also reflects how tastes have changed and how we are moving over to collecting different types of things."

A stuffed white stoat features in the collection

Among items in the exhibition is a fragment of brick, which was said to have been taken from a wall the Duke of Wellington made a hole in to prepare for the Battle of Waterloo.

There are also some shoes made from bread, that were created by a prisoner of war at the Friday Bridge camp during World War Two.

"He gave them to a local child," said Mr Bell.

"It's the little stories behind the object which makes them more interesting."

Some of the items were donated more recently, including a dyke jumping pole.

"It has a foot at the end, you plant it in the middle of the dyke and you would swing yourself to the other side.

"In the Fens you have a lot of dykes blocking your way, so one way of moving quickly across the Fens is to jump the dykes. There used to be competitions in Parson Drove in the 1980s."

Other items were discovered when waterways around the Fens were dredged, which Mr Bell called the "fruits of the river".

He said: "It's surprising what does come from out of the earth [...] once you start digging, it's amazing what could turn up."