Commemorative Walk Saturday 26th

The team at Stroud Brewery were thrilled to have another excuse to brew something special, this time to commemorate the great efforts of the chartists. We have produced a small batch of smoked porter aged in oak barrels. Come along and see if this beer gets your vote…

Saturday November 26th 1pm Stroud Brewery: A Chartist Walk with a Porter

The team at Stroud Brewery were thrilled to have another excuse to brew something special, this time to commemorate the great efforts of the chartists. We have produced a small batch of smoked porter aged in oak barrels. Come along and see if this beer gets your vote…

Saturday November 26th 1pm Stroud Brewery: A Chartist Walk with a Porter

This Saturday coming will see the launch of Stroud Brewery’s new porter: Chartist. This has been brewed to remember the 1839 Chartist meeting on Selsley Hill, and the forthcoming 2017 film Day of Hope. There will be a performative walk to mark the occasion.

The Chartist movement has been largely forgotten in British history. Its aims were to ensure votes for all, especially the working classes. “At a time when everyone’s votes count with the EU referendum and the American election, it is important to remember the struggles of the Chartists to secure that everyone has the right to vote”, said writer and director of Day of Hope, John Bassett. “It is estimated that 5,000 people gathered on Selsley Common, but even one petition 6 miles long did not sway Parliament into give voting rights to the working classes. The 26th November event will be a fun lively way to celebrate this.”

Walkers should arrive at 1 pm for a short preview of the film, some performance, and an official toast to the porter.
We will then leave the Brewery at 1.30, wend our way along the canal to Wallbridge; thence along the old railway line to Dudbridge. We will then climb up to the Bell for more porter and thence to the top of Selsley Hill.
The walk will be interspersed with performance, bringing local and national Chartists to life in the landscape, as well as their six points. Walkers will make their own way back to wherever they wish to go: that’s the Chartists’ seventh point. We should be finished on Selsley by 4pm.
This should be a walk to remember.

Saturday November 26th 1pm Stroud Brewery: A Chartist Walk with a Porter

A performative walk starting at Stroud Brewery to christen the new Chartist porter. The walk will commence at the Brewery, with explanation, contextualisation and performance; then wend its way along the canal to Wallbridge and then along the old railway line to Dudbridge. We will then climb up to the Bell for more porter and thence to the top of Selsley Hill. The walk will be interspersed with performance, bringing the local and national Chartists to life in the landscape. Walkers make their own way back to wherever they wish to go: that’s the Chartists’ seventh point. We should be finished on Selsley by 4pm.

A performative walk starting at Stroud Brewery to christen the new Chartist porter. The walk will commence at the Brewery, with explanation, contextualisation and performance; then wend its way along the canal to Wallbridge and then along the old railway line to Dudbridge. We will then climb up to the Bell for more porter and thence to the top of Selsley Hill. The walk will be interspersed with performance, bringing the local and national Chartists to life in the landscape. Walkers make their own way back to wherever they wish to go: that’s the Chartists’ seventh point. We should be finished on Selsley by 4pm.

On the Evening of August 27th . 1916

‘Dorothy and Archibald’

On the evening of August 27 1916, Private Archibald Knee, 25 years old, and of the Gloucestershire Regiment was due to return to his battalion on a train from Stroud station, cured of his German measles. On any other Sunday evening, Dorothy Beard of Gravel Hill, Burleigh, eighteen years young, would have been preparing for work at Brimscombe Mills. But Archibald missed his train, and Dorothy did not appear at work the next day. Instead, having walked out to Longfords Lake, hand in hand, they tied themselves together with the belt of his mackintosh, and they drowned in Iron Mills Pond, Avening, in the early hours of August 28 1916. Dorothy’s watch had stopped at 3.51 a.m.

‘Dorothy and Archibald’

On the evening of August 27 1916, Private Archibald Knee, 25 years old, and of the Gloucestershire Regiment was due to return to his battalion on a train from Stroud station, cured of his German measles. On any other Sunday evening, Dorothy Beard of Gravel Hill, Burleigh, eighteen years young, would have been preparing for work at Brimscombe Mills. But Archibald missed his train, and Dorothy did not appear at work the next day. Instead, having walked out to Longfords Lake, hand in hand, they tied themselves together with the belt of his mackintosh, and they drowned in Iron Mills Pond, Avening, in the early hours of August 28 1916. Dorothy’s watch had stopped at 3.51 a.m.

They left no note.

‘Dorothy and Archibald’:

A folding publication, with illustrations, produced to coincide with this year’s Stroud Book Festival. Designed and illustrated by Katie Johnston, an RCA graduate from Nailsworth, this collaborative book features texts by Alice and Stuart Butler, on the mutual suicide of Private Archibald Knee and Dorothy Beard in 1916, at Iron Mills Pond, near Avening.

Copies of the limited edition publication will be available for purchase. The publication, tied with twine as though it were a small parcel or gift, also contains a commemorative postcard:

The fear of France…
And all roads seemed as though they might well lead to France…
Unless you walked out one night,
Arm in arm,
Along the New Road that led to the Iron Gates Pond.

£3 a copy; 2 for £5

Voices of Conscience, Trenchcoats for Goalposts & All Our Stroud Yesterdays

Announcing three new events this November and two more this December:

Saturday 12th November 7.30 pm £12
TRENCHCOATS FOR GOALPOSTS
Prince Michael Hall, The Bacon Theatre, Hatherley Road, Cheltenham

Friday 11 – Sunday 13 November
ECHO CHAMBER – VOICES OF CONSCIENCE
The Old Town Hall, Shambles £1 all profits to Stroud Refugee Aid

Wednesday 16th November
ALL OUR STROUD YESTERDAYS
9 pm Subscription Rooms £5/£4

Friday 9th December 8:00 pm £10
TRENCHCOATS FOR GOALPOSTS
Painswick Centre, Painswick

Saturday 10th December 8:00 pm £10
TRENCHCOATS FOR GOALPOSTS
Comrades Club, Nailsworth

Trechcoats for Goalposts Poster
All our yesterdays Poster
Echo Chamber Logo

Announcing three new events this November and two more this December:

Saturday 12th November 7.30 pm £12
TRENCHCOATS FOR GOALPOSTS
Prince Michael Hall, The Bacon Theatre, Hatherley Road, Cheltenham

Be transported in theatre, spoken word, live music and song to No Man’s Land in a moving and funny re-creation of the 1914 Christmas Truce. Inspired by local stories and memories, two brave Cheltenham Town FC players set off from Cheltenham for the front line. A compelling 90 minute show.

Friday 11 – Sunday 13 November
ECHO CHAMBER – VOICES OF CONSCIENCE
The Old Town Hall, Shambles £1 all profits to Stroud Refugee Aid

A sound and photography exhibition marking 100 years of conscientious objection.
Quakers have a long history of opposing war and when conscription was introduced in Britain during World War One, many chose to conscientiously object to joining the armed forces. For some this meant rejecting any form of participation and they were imprisoned and sentenced to death for their refusal (later commuted). Others took up alternative forms of service, providing relief from suffering at the front. There were over 16,000 registered conscientious objectors (Cos) during World War One. People objected on different grounds. This exhibition is inspired by their stories.
Opening times: Fri 11th 2pm to 7.30 pm
Sat 12th 10 to 6pm
Sun 13th 10 to 5pm

On Saturday 12th November at the Echo Chamber (11am, 12pm and 2pm), Rachel Simpson and Stuart Butler will give readings from ‘Dorothy and Archibald’, a folding publication, with illustrations, produced to coincide with this year’s Stroud Book Festival. Designed and illustrated by Katie Johnston, an RCA graduate from Nailsworth, this collaborative book features texts by Stuart and Alice Butler, on the mutual suicide of Private Archibald Knee and Dorothy Beard in 1916, at Iron Mills Pond, near Avening.
Copies of the limited edition publication will be available for purchase. Hope to see you there!
£3 a copy; 2 for £5

In this year of the centenary of the Battle of the Somme and its shocking futility, it’s salutary to hear the thoughts of conscientious objectors – religious, socialist, communist, pacifist et al. Dorothy Beard and Archibald Knee, too. And the Old Town Hall in the Shambles is a perfect setting; but take a few moments to visit the railway station, Cheapside and Rowcroft first:

When wounded soldiers arrived at Stroud, ‘There was the usual uncertainty as to which railway station they would arrive at, and consequently the crowds were thickest at the top of Rowcroft, where the roads from the two stations meet. Here people lined the streets six or eight deep, and there was only a narrow way left for the passage of motor-cars and carriages, which had been kindly lent by residents to convey the wounded to hospital…’

Two years later:
‘The Somme pictures proved to be the greatest cinema attraction ever presented to the public of the Stroud district, and we congratulate the management of the Empire Theatre on securing the wonderful film for their patrons…The pictures gave us some little conception of the tremendous amount of energy expended in this one theatre of the war. They gave us, too, some faint inkling of the immense and tragic waste of war: the blasted land, the material wreckage, the broken men and the irrecoverable lives. Their effect was saddening and at the same time inspiring…The half-demented German prisoners aroused sentiments not of derision but of pity…But the dominant impression was that of the bouyancy of our own incomparable men. Surely in all the tragic history of war a more light-hearted, high-spirited and fearless army has never marched into the zone of death and pain? The incalculable debt we owe to these heroes can never be liquidated: for all time the race will be their debtor. No words could record so convincingly as these pictures of actual war scenes the splendid spirit of Britain’s fighting men.’

If you want to find the old battalion,
I know where they are, I know where they are, I know where they are
If you want to find the old battalion, I know where they are,
They’re hanging on the old barbed wire,
I’ve seen ’em, I’ve seen ’em, hanging on the old barbed wire.
I’ve seen ’em, I’ve seen ’em, hanging on the old barbed wire.

Conscientious Objectors and WW1: A few facts

1. NUMBERS: Conscription was introduced in 1916 and, with a numerical symmetry, there were about 16,000 conscientious objectors in this country by the end of the war.
2. NUMBERS: Over 2,000 tribunals sat in judgment on men, deciding on their sincerity over conscientious objection. Members of the tribunals saw their role more to intimidate men into the armed forces rather than grant a fair hearing. But as Ann Kramer puts it in her book Conchies: Conscientious Objectors of the First World War: ‘After all, as many objectors commented; how does a man prove he has a conscience?’
3. NUMBERS: Tribunals could make 4 choices: absolute exemption; an alternative to military service; rule that an individual could take a non-combatant role within the army; reject the application totally and order combatant duties.
4. RESISTANCE: Conscientious objectors carried on resistance, however, in the face of tribunal decisions. For example: refusing medical examinations; refusing to wear uniforms; refusing to march; refusing to salute or stand up.
5. RESPONSES: Responses included the following: polite persuasion; forcible wearing of uniforms; wearing of straitjackets; exposure to extreme cold or heat; solitary confinement; prison; beatings up; field punishments, and then, in the weeks before the Battle of the Somme in 1916, 50 men were secretly transported to France to receive death sentences.
6. DEATH SENTENCES: The death sentences were announced to the men in groups – and then after a few seconds pause, the officer would announce that the death sentence was commuted to ten years’ imprisonment with hard labour.
7. PRISON: Over 6,000 conscientious objectors received prison sentences: ‘Funny. You’re in for murder and I’m in here for refusing to.’
8. ABSOLUTISTS AND ALTERNATIVISTS: ‘Absolutists’ were not prepared to accept any military role, but ‘alternativists’ accepted ‘work of national importance’, such as working on the land, within hospital services, and so on. These numbered about 6,500.
9. AFTER THE WAR: The end of the war saw a variety of forms of victimisation, including the withdrawal of the right to vote for five years.

Wednesday 16th November
ALL OUR STROUD YESTERDAYS
9 pm Subscription Rooms £5/£4

Stroud Football Poets’ 20th anniversary celebration with Crispin Thomas, Stuart Butler, Dennis Gould, John Bassett & Jeff the Fuse. Expect reflections on all that makes his town so creative and vibrant in verse, drama and song. Featuring poems on Stroud and more with extracts from the Poets’ most recent acclaimed on-going production Trenchcoats for Goalposts (Christmas Truce 1914). Expect the unexpected! Unmissable!
And with extracts from the melancholy story of the joint suicide of Dorothy Beard and Private Archibald Knee at Avening in 1916, with Eve Biard as Dorothy.

Friday 9th December 8:00 pm £10
TRENCHCOATS FOR GOALPOSTS
Painswick Centre, Painswick

Saturday 10th December 8:00 pm £10
TRENCHCOATS FOR GOALPOSTS
Comrades Club, Nailsworth

Be transported in theatre, spoken word, live music and song to No Man’s Land in a moving and funny re-creation of the 1914 Christmas Truce. Inspired by local stories and memories, two brave Forest Green players set off from Nailswoth for the front line. A compelling 90 minute show.

Names for the Chartist Beer and Chartist Film Progress Report

WHAT’S NEW:

Two updates:

1. The beer – a message from Greg at Stroud Brewery: ‘We have the John Frost artwork, and putting it together on a bottle label. Chartist whisky aged organic smoked porter to be bottled Sept/October. So beer will be ready for sipping in November.’ We are now deliberating on the accompanying text.

2. Film news from John:

Dear all,

Firstly I must apologise for the delay in getting in touch. I had hoped that we would have started filming by now but other things have unfortunately got in the way – most noticeably the theatre festival which will take place in Stroud from 9th to 11th September (www.stroudtheatrefestival.co.uk) – apologies for the little advertisement!

I am looking to start as soon as possible with filming and would like to know people’s availability through August and September (as these look like the best times to film) in a bit more detail so that we can cast and begin filming scenes.

I have spoken to the Museum in the Park and it will be possible to use there for some filming. The Sub Rooms is being painted at the moment but again we can use the space for filming when this is done. The big common scene which sparked the whole film off I will know more about later this week when I have had the chance to discuss wildlife issues further with the Stroud District Council green spaces person.

I have sent this to as wide a circulation as possible and some of you may not have attended any of the meetings we have had so far. We need people! To inhabit crowd scenes for meetings in pubs, outdoors and churches. When I have a clearer idea of availability I will be able to say when we need people. Sorry I realise this is a bit vague but I have ideas as to who will be cast in some of the roles and it is really when I know all the availabilities that I will be able to move things further on.

If you know of any musicians who want to write songs from the chartist songbook the link is https://www.calderdale.gov.uk/wtw/search/controlservlet?PageId=Detail&DocId=102253

If you know of anyone else who should be involved in the project please also let me know.

Thanks for your patience and apologies again for the delay.

All the best

John Bassett

Director – Spaniel in the Works Theatre Company

www.spanielworks.co.uk

Ten new faces among the committed group of people who read through the script on Monday – good to see some young people present too. We have a potential troupe now of some thirty people. John and Andy will start filming very soon. We have asked SVA if we can show the film at the Brunel Goods Shed on November 4th.

This was posted on Facebook to advertise the June event :

Good People of Stroud and Ye Five Valleys,
Hear Ye, Hear Ye:

We are having a meeting on Monday June 13th to read through the latest version of the script and start casting and sorting dates for filming on the Chartist film project. This will be at the Sub Rooms at 7.30 in the George Room. If you have not been on John Basset’s email list, then please let John or myself know if you wish to attend so that we can link you to a draft script.

In addition, if you are a musician or know any musicians who might want to write music for songs we found in the Chartist songbook please pass on our details and we will send a copy of the words for people to peruse and hopefully write songs for. We are looking for all genres, not just the folk idiom.

The Republic of Ireland’s game will be over by 7.30, so no worries on that score.

Thank You, Good People of Stroud and Ye Five Valleys

Read through of script and casting at the Subscription Rooms in the George Room on Monday June 13th at 7.30. John (Bassett) of Spaniel in the Works will email scripts.

In addition if you are a musician or know any musicians who might want
to write music for songs we found in the chartist songbook please pass
on my email details and I will send a copy of the words for people to
peruse and hopefully write songs for.

All the best

John Bassett
Director – Spaniel in the Works Theatre Company

Calling all Stroud musicians! You may know about a film we are making about the Chartists. As part of the research for this we found a “Chartist Hymnbook” – the word hymn is very loose by the way. We are looking for musicians from all backgrounds, styles and genres to put some of the verse from these to music. If you are interested please message John Bassett. Thanks.

1. Andy Wasyliw and John Bassett will shortly lead the next read through of the completed script. They have agreed a schedule for the filming of the interior scenes. This filming will take place quite shortly. John will then speak with SDC about when filming could take place on Selsley Common. Please contact John at info@spanielintheworks.co.uk for anything to do with the filming (I deal with the walks and spoken word events).

2. I had a pleasant time on Selsley Common on the anniversary date of May 21st, taking pictures of the footpaths that would have been used on May 21st 1839, as well as the hawthorn in all its may blossomed splendor. A talk followed at the Bell about Chartism in general, and the Selsley meeting in particular. The porter was tasted, praised and self-referentially toasted.

3. Jim Pentney has sent through this review (partly in haiku) of the Stroud Radical Reading Group’s Chartist spoken word event at the Golden Fleece on May 18th.

Review in haiku.

Back room radical reading

of the Northern Star

Radical reading

‘When Adam delved and Eve span’

Chartist poetry

Full Marx Arts and Crafts

that shoulder giants still stand

in the Chartist rhymes

Wednesday 18th May, Golden Fleece back room.

It was, I think, the jolliest Radical Reading evening, partly because the Northern Star verses are so accessible and direct and not trying to be clever. They deserve to be sung – probably were in just this sort of setting. Part of an essay was read and it was said, although stifled and suppressed, Chartism was the most significant political movement of the nineteenth century laying fertile ground. I put a word in for Alan Davenport.

A potted history of Chartism and a contextualization of the 1839 Selsley Hill meeting can be found at http://radicalstroud.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/the-5-ws-and-h-of-chartism.html

1. Tom Brown has finished the art work for the bottled beer: a splendid depiction of John Frost.

2. Stroud Radical Reading Group members have earmarked their next meeting on May 18th 7.30 pm for an evening’s discussion on Chartist poetry. This is at the Ale House in Stroud.

3. I hope that two further, future events might develop from this meeting: (a.) a spoken word event, (b.) written/other media responses as though participants were Chartists from 1839, visiting our times in 2016. (What’s good and what’s disappointing sort of thing.)

4. In addition, I envisage 3 walks with performance and readings in the landscape etc.: 1. From Stroud Brewery to the Bell at Selsley. 2. One from the Ale House to the workhouse and Stroud cemetery. 3. One involving Allen Davenport – nationally famous Chartist born at Ewen by the source of the Thames.

5. John Bassett (Spaniel in the Works) has finished our third version of the script – we have been absolutely and patiently pains-taking in ensuring that we have a perfect piece that we run with. We have listened carefully to the suggestions offered at the last meeting when we collectively read through the script: gender balance and family viewpoints.

6. Initial filming (thanks to Stroud Festival) gets closer. John will shortly be contacting Andy Wasyliw about the schedule; storyboarding etc. We are still hopeful of being ready for November 4th. The other events listed above will definitely be happening before that date.

7.The photocopying bill for the last read through was nearly £50 – we need to email the script in future. Please let John know your email address etc., if necessary (see email address on the Spaniel in the Works website).

The Chartist commemorative beer has been brewed at Stroud Brewery – likely name ‘Chartist’ on the basis that ‘A pint of Chartist, please’ rolls off the tongue quite easily. The beer is a good old fashioned porter – just the ticket. The label is quite possibly going to feature an image of John Frost who was the leader of the Newport Rising in 1839, but was also selected as prospective Chartist parliamentary candidate for Stroud on Rodborough Common on Good Friday, 1839.

We’d like to thank people for putting us right about the necessity to avoid May through to late July as a date for filming our take on the 1839 Chartist rally on Selsley Common. The last thing we want to do is harm any wildlife. And we’d also like to put peoples’ minds at ease about how we create the illusion of 5,000 people present: it will be an illusion.

It is also important to point out that “Day of Hope” is a small community based production with limited funds made for and by Stroud people. This is not a massive production with lots of vehicles and a massive crew invading the common.

The well documented May 21st Selsley Common Chartist meeting was an important moment in Stroud history and a part of the introduction to true democracy for the whole of the country. Using the actual location is important to us but it is also important not to offend people or indeed disturb wildlife.

We are currently in communication with Stroud District Council about when and how we film outside on Selsley after late July.

We will be able to meet our deadline for the film’s finish, however, as we shall now film the inside scenes first.

With thanks again,

Day of Hope production

NEED TO PROTECT SKYLARK FLEDGLINGS, SO NO LONGER FILMING ON SELSLEY COMMON IN MAY. IT WILL BE SOMETIME AFTER THE 3rd WEEK OF JULY. DETAILS WILL FOLLOW after discussions with Stroud District Council.

WE ARE AIMING TO SHOW THE FILM IN EARLY NOVEMBER, TO COINCIDE WITH THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1839 NEWPORT RISING. HOPING FOR THE BRUNEL GOODS SHED. SHED BOOKED FOR NOVEMBER 4th.
John Frost – who had earlier been provisionally selected to oppose Lord John Russell as MP for Stroud – was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered for his involvement in the Rising. The sentence was commuted to transportation.
Newport has recently held a whole day of official commemoration of the Rising and we are in close contact with Newport – we hope to link up.

OLDER NEWS:

I thought it a good idea to have a central place to review progress towards the Chartist film; the associated events such as 2 or 3 Chartist walks, the Chartist spoken word event, the Chartist writing workshop, and of course the NAME OF THE BEER.

This is the link/place and I’ll update through the winter, spring, summer and autumn. Twenty people met for the first read through of the script at the Sub. Rooms on February 23rd; it was a most encouraging start and John is now working on the next draft, pondering on the date for the next meeting, and even having some preliminary thoughts about casting.
Filming can then start: inside scenes as and when; Selsley in the late summer; editing in the early autumn.

At the moment, we are envisaging a walk or two for the Stroud Fringe and Stroud Festival in the late summer; a workshop, spoken word event and film in Stroud (SVA and/or Brunel Goods Shed).

I think it would be great to have an event at the Stroud Brewery, too.

See https://chashtownley.wordpress.com/2015/11/10/john-frost-chartist-candidate-for-stroud-meeting-at-rodborough-common-29-march-1839/ for more information on John Frost.

‘Hi Stuart,

I would love to support the project, and sure we can have a beer aptly named for the occasion. It is still a bit far ahead to work out how exactly we will pull it off. Our seasonal calendar is fairly set but we have a few options including re-branding any of the bottling brews we are doing at the time. We are also looking at a porter aged in oak casks, which if we get on with it soon, could be ready for autumn and we could dedicate this to the Chartists of Stroud, past, present and future…

Some suggestions for names would help and any images you have will get us thinking.

Cheers

Greg’