I belonged to a generation which saw, by chance, the end of a thousand years’ life…

Rural Gloucestershire, England 1917. Horses pulling ploughs. Charabanc outings to Weston-super-Mare. The frozen white winters and blazing orange summers of memory.

 Heroic fourteen year old giant Spadge Hopkins. Tyrannical teacher Old Crabby. The warring ancient rival Grannies, Trill and Wallon. And of course that first, unforgettable, cider-fuelled encounter in the harvest fields.

Laurie Lee’s charming and lyrical story puts on record the England that has since been traded for the petrol engine in an evocative prose poem that flashes, winks and wryly smiles.

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Sponsored by the Friends of the Lawrence Batley Theatre