Siegfried Sassoon at Mells: A Day Conference organised by the War Poets Association, Saturday 28 May 2005
The War Poets Association's 'Siegfried Sassoon at Mells' event will take place on Saturday, 28 May, 2005. Some 55 members and friends of the Association have already confirmed their participation, so we are looking forward to an interesting and enjoyable day and hoping for good weather!
A very few places are still available. If you would like one of these please reserve your ticket(s) immediately or contact the organisers at 01275 376916 for further details. Reservations must be made in advance. Tickets cost £20.00 each to members of the War Poets Association (to join, please click here or select 'join' from the menu on the left of this page) or £25.00 each for others.
The total number of places has to be limited to sixty, due to the location and limited facilities available at the venue. The event will start at 11.00am.
Mells (see map) is located in rural Somerset, England, but is close to the town of Frome, which has a railway station (click here for information and fares for train travel from other parts of the UK), and is also reasonably accessible by bus (select the following link for an interactive guide to travel by public transport from other parts of South West England) and, of course, car. It has been arranged that parking in Mells will be available at the Tithe Barn from 10.00am onwards and there should also be places in other parts of the village, including outside the Church and the Inn. Please arrive in good time in order to secure a space. If you will need accommodation (pubs, B&Bs, hotels) in or around Mells, please click here for details.
The day will be led by Dr Jean Moorcoft Wilson, writer, lecturer, publisher and leading authority on First World War literature who has produced biographies of Isaac Rosenberg and Charles Hamilton Sorley as well as Siegfried Sassoon (Making of a War Poet and The Journey from the Trenches 1918-1967), which Andrew Motion hailed as 'invaluable to historians of the period' and, according to Michael Thorpe, shows 'a remarkable empathy for men at war'. She is also the author of Virginia Woolf, Life and London; a Biography of Place and writes for the Guardian and Daily Telegraph. With her husband, Cecil Woolf, she runs a well-established independent publishing house and has co-edited Authors Take Sides on the Falklands (1982), Authors Take Sides on the Gulf War (1991) and Authors Take Sides on Iraq (2004), now published as Authors Take Sides on Iraq and the Gulf War: Two Questions on Iraq and the Gulf War Answered by 170 Authors (2004).
The provisional programme for the day follows, although it is still subject to change. Details will be updated regularly on this web page.
Programme (as at 25 May):
10.00am onwards: Parking available at the Tithe Barn, Mells
Venue: St Andrew's Church, Mells, Somerset:
11.00 - 11.05am: Introduction and welcome: Helen McPhail, Board Member, the War Poets Association.
11.05 - 11.20am: A short history of Mells Church, the churchyard and its memorials by the Vicar of Mells, the Revd. Martin Weymont.
11.20am - 12.20pm: Talk: 'Siegfried Sassoon: The Longest Journey' by Dr Jean Moorcroft Wilson, followed by questions and discussion.
12.20 - 1.00pm: Visit (subject to weather conditions) to the graves of Siegfried Sassoon and Ronald Knox in the churchyard. Viscount Raymond Asquith and members of the Sassoon Fellowship will lay flowers on the graves.
Venue: The Tithe Barn, Mells (near the Church):
1.00 - 2.30pm: Buffet lunch with a glass of wine or other refreshment.
2.30 - 3.00pm: Talk by Michael McGarvie on Ronald Knox and his connections with Mells and Siegfried Sassoon.
3.00 - 3.30pm: Dom Philip Jebb of Downside Abbey and Dennis Silk recall Sassoon's instruction into the Roman Catholic faith.
Venue: Gardens and Mells Village:
3.30 - 4.30pm: Visit to the gardens of the Earl of Oxford's house, introduced by his son, Viscount Asquith, followed by a 'short historical walk' through Mells village, led by Michael McGarvie.
Venue: The Tithe Barn:
4.30 - 4.45pm: Closing remarks and thanks by the Chairman of the War Poets Association, Professor Paul O'Prey, Vice-Chancellor, Roehampton University, London.
4.45 pm: Tea and cake at the Tithe Barn. Departure.
6.00pm: Tithe Barn closes.
To reserve a ticket or tickets - these will not include a parking place - please click here to send a message to the organisers or directly to them at mells@warpoets.org. Please include details of any special dietary or other requirements, including the need for disabled or wheelchair access, so that arrangements can be made in advance.
Payments may be made on the day, by cheque payable to the 'War Poets Association', or in cash.
This Programme was last revised on 25 May 2005.