Why this village hangs its underwear in the street

They say you should not air your dirty laundry in public, but residents of a village in Derbyshire have made it part of their annual carnival celebrations.

No, the people of Bonsall have not got their knickers in a twist - the quirky bunting made up of lines of underwear is hung up as part of a week-long series of events, which began in 1927 and attracts thousands of visitors each year.

The display was originally started by an elderly resident and the village followed suit.

Louise Stevenson, secretary of the carnival committee, said: "I have a string of underpants on the front of my house and people will stop me and ask me why they're there... to be fair, I'd be asking the same question."

Various events including a fun run and a nature walk have been held as part of the carnival, which ends on Saturday.

The committee had to make a decision to cancel the usual firework display due to the risk of wildfires, which has now been rearranged for September along with its lantern display.

Stevenson said the display of briefs across the village was started by resident Jeff Phillips, who is now in his 80s.

In a cheeky twist while taking part in the "best dressed house competition" which dominated the village each year, Phillips and his late wife began stringing a line of bunting across the high street full of ladies corsets and old-fashioned underwear.

Phillips has been doing the undergarment arrangement for more than 30 years but it did not catch on until more recent times.

The wider change began three years ago when the carnival committee met to decide who would open the week-long celebration.

It chose Phillips and to honour him, it asked people who lived in the village to swap their regular bunting in order to hang out their smalls and the tradition stuck.

On her own underwear display, Stevenson said: "People think my husband's gone commando for weeks.

"We do have a gentleman who has the largest pair of pants you've ever seen... maybe someone can up that?

"We did think of having people match the bra to the lady but that hasn't happened yet."

She said the reaction had gone down well with tourists who visited the village and often had no clue what was going on.

"We do all things quirky here," she said.

"You see people from elsewhere taking photographs and I think it's one of the lovely things about this village."

Stevenson said the pants were being pulled down on Sunday evening to return next July for the carnival's 100th anniversary.

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