A special event to raise money for Framlingham Library’s exciting new children’s library is taking place in late February.
A film screening and author Q&A with local author Robert Ashton is being held at the Headmaster Porter Theatre in the town on Sunday 23 February at 2.30pm. The event is being organised in collaboration with Framlingham Bookshop.
The event will include a screening of the 30-minute BBC film 'A Writer's Suffolk’, which was written and narrated by George Ewart Evans in 1980 and explores the folk singing tradition of the Blaxhall Ship, the Suffolk Punch horse, and the changes in farming.
Wainwright Longlisted author Robert Ashton, who lives locally, has kindly offered to take part. After the film, Robert will be in conversation about his book ‘Where are the Fellows who Cut the Hay’. The book looks back at some of the stories Evans collected, reflects on rural life in the 1970s and introduces people who are returning to ways those Evans interviewed 75 years ago would recognise. Robert will be donating £5 for every book sold on the night to the Children's Library project.
The unique evening will appeal to anyone with an interest in our rural past and how we can learn about the low carbon life we all aspire to lead, from how things were done in the past.
The event is being held to raise money for substantial planned improvements to the library’s children’s area which will include new castle-themed furniture inspired by the nearby Framlingham Castle.
Robert Ashton said:
“George Ewart Evans was ahead of his time, warning in 1980 of the danger of our increasing reliance on fossil fuel, and how ever bigger tractors were damaging the soil. More than 60 years ago, Florence Evans, George’s wife, was my headmistress at primary school, and I first read Ask the Fellows a few years later. His books have fascinated and inspired me for most of life, and it was a delight to interview for my book, grandchildren of those Evans wrote about all those years ago.
“When writing the book, and re-reading those Evans wrote more than 70 years ago, I realised that life in rural Suffolk was in many ways returning to ways that Evans would have recognised.”
Tickets cost £7 and can be bought directly from Framlingham Library or online from TicketSource.
