William Barnes and Thomas Hardy: Study Day

The William Barnes Society and the Thomas Hardy Society are pleased to present a joint study day on Saturday 26th October at the Dorford Centre (Coffee Lounge), Dorchester. The programme will focus on aspects of the relationship between Barnes and Hardy through their lives and work.

Tickets for the event are £10. Any remaining funds after expenses are paid will go toward the Society fundraising campaign for the Barnes Archive at the Dorset History Centre. Please send cheques made out to the William Barnes Society to Jane Ashdown, 1 Linden Avenue, Dorchester Dorset, to reserve your seat. Please include a telephone number. Thank you.

The day will finish with a visit to Came Rectory courtesy of the current owner, Kaysha Hildebrand.

Programme 

10.45 am - arrive - tea/coffee available.

11 am - Mark Chutter, Chair and Academic Director for the Thomas Hardy Society introduces the day.

11.15 am - 11.40 am, Dr Alan Chedzoy talks on the Barnes/Hardy relationship through their poetry: A Persistent Voice.

11.45 am - 12.10 pm, Mark Chutter: Imagined conversations between Barnes and Hardy.

12.15 pm - 12.30 pm, William Barnes Society members read selected Barnes dialect poems.

12.30 pm - 1.30 pm Lunch on your own - Shire Hall or Dorset Museum and Art Gallery both on High West Street, or bring a picnic lunch!

1.30 pm - 1.45 pm, Rod Drew (Volunteer at Max Gate and member of the Barnes Society) reads from Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd.

1.45 pm - 2.10 pm, Dr John Blackmore member of the William Barnes Society, talks on “Country Roads: Wessex and the nineteenth century nation in the writing of Thomas Hardy and William Barnes.”

2.15 pm - 2.40 pm Alastair Braidwood, folk musician and actor, talks – and sings – about the Thomas Hardy family collection of Dorset songs and tunes as a context for the poetry of William Barnes.

2.45 pm Sum up from Mark Chutter and from Brian Caddy, Chair of the William Barnes Society.