The initiative of Waveney and Blyth Arts, and introduced with his usual calm intelligent and humorous easy way by Brian Guthrie. The book was in my mothers book case. It is in her time that it came out (1969) and was an instant success. She must have read it and joined the conversations around it. I felt connected to her this evening.
Cloud burst full on rain arriving, clothed in a summer dress with a jumper borrowed from Ali!
Produced by Peter Hall in 1974, his daughter Jenny was due to introduce it but came down with Covid, so she introduced on recorded zoom conversation with Brian. Peter Hall made the film at weekends, ‘as everyone in it had day jobs’. As did Peter Hall, who was about to launch National Theatre on South Bank – what a day job!
Within the recognisable Suffolk Landscape, the character Tom moves from field to work and from youth to adult, through the film. The shadow of the war prevails. Akenfield, a fictitious village, closely related to Charlesfield.
Talking of the rare ones who left: “they escaped, they changed their sky.”
On Education: “I looked forward to leaving school so I could get educated.”
Children were taken out of school for ‘stone picking’ (reminds me of India where children also taken out of school to farm or attend a festival)
Much more cow parsley than today.
The sentence that stays with me was this:
“Looking back I never made a decision. One thing led to another.” Such acceptance of ‘fate’ is not common now, where individual agency is acclaimed.
Fabulous Tippet English music. Akin to Finzi in its Englishness
Delightful drink with Brian after. How are you I asked. Bewildered, he replied.
Kalikellett 