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Launceston’s Festival of
Literature and the Arts
12 - 14 June 2015
Launceston
Youth
Council
12-14 JUNE 2015
A warm welcome to the sixth Charles
Causley Festival. 2014 saw the most
successful Festival yet, and we are sure
that this year will prove to be even more
successful. Each year has seen the Festival
grow and this year is no exception with
music, poetry, literature, film, exhibitions
and workshops – something for everyone.
We hope you will support and enjoy this
year’s Festival.
“ A truly delightful Festival in a gorgeous
part of the world which rightly honours
a wonderful poet and a true son of
Cornwall.”
Carol Ann Duffy – 15 June 2014
“The Charles Causley Festival is a bright
beacon in the literary landscape honouring the memory of a wonderful
poet, and doing great things for readers
and writers”
Sir Andrew Motion
“How wonderful you have a festival for
Charles! I read with him a few times and
enjoyed his company. A lovely man. The
best Poet Laureate we never had”
Brian Patten
Charles Causley. Photo: Mary Neal
General Festival Information
Launceston Tourist Information Centre,
White Hart Arcade. The TIC will be selling copies
of books featured in the Festival, and will be
hosting book signings from other writers – see
Festival website for more information.
Lawrence House Museum. There is a small
permanent exhibition on Charles Causley at the
museum, open 10 am – 4 pm Monday-Friday
and special opening on Saturday 13 June.
Supported by:
Arts Council England, FLIC, Launceston Youth
Council and Launceston Town Council.
Disclaimer
The Festival Organisers will make every effort
to ensure that performances take place as
advertised, but reserve the right to alter the
programme if necessary. In the event of a
cancellation, a refund of the ticket value will be
made, otherwise tickets cannot be exchanged
or refunded once purchased.
Front cover photo: Story Republic
2 – THE CHARLES CAUSLEY FESTIVAL 2015
www.charlescausleyfestival.co.uk
Tickets are available from:
Launceston Tourist Information
TIC normal open hours:
Monday - Friday 9am-5pm
Saturday 10am-4pm
TIC Charles Causley Festival open hours:
Friday 12 June 9am-7pm
Saturday 13 June 10am-7pm
Sunday 14 June 10am-2pm
Tickets can be booked in person at the TIC by
phone or online. Tickets for free events should
also be booked. Tickets will be posted at cost if
requested and time allows or will be held at the
TIC for collection. Tickets will also be sold on the
door at venues subject to availability.
Launceston TIC: www.visitlaunceston.co.uk
Email:[email protected] Tel 01566 772321
Centre Cornish Riviera Box Office
Available from the CRBO website:
www.crbo.co.uk
Charles Causley Festival
Further information about all the events, artists
and performers is available on the festival
website: www.charlescausleyfestival.co.uk
Email: [email protected]
The Charles Causley Festival would like
to thank the following for their support:
Launceston Youth Council
Neville Hovey Chartered Accountants
Potter Baker Chartered Accountants
Hodgsons Chartered Accountants
Peters Langsford Davies Solicitors
Graham Facks-Martin, MBE
Mansbridge & Balment Estate agents
Carn to Cove
Launceston TIC
All our committee members who have worked
so hard over the past twelve months, and last
but not least... all those appearing at the Festival.
Car Parking
Town centre car parking available. Cornwall
Council car parks £1 for all day on Saturday and
Westgate Street car park free on Sunday.
Charles Causley walk with Rob Tremain - Friday 10:30
www.charlescausleyfestival.co.uk
THE CHARLES CAUSLEY FESTIVAL 2015 – 3
EXHIBITIONS OPEN DURING THE FESTIVAL
Cyprus Well
Open every day Friday 12 to Sunday
14 June
2-5pm
No 2 Ridgegrove Hill 3
Free Admission
Photo © Jack Matthews
MORDON
an exhibition by Jack Matthews
Friday 12 June - Sunday 21 June
10am - 11pm daily
Cafe No. 8 9
Free Admission
Do you grow tired sea?
Are you weary ever
When the storms burst over your
head?
‘Morwenstow’ Charles Causley
Jack Matthews has encapsulated
his lifelong love of the sea in a
new photographic series ‘Mordon’
(Cornish for sea wave). The series
aims to explore the raw energy and
beauty of the Cornish coastline,
blurring the lines between land
and sea, inviting the viewer to
question the boundaries between
photography and painting.
Matthews completes his degree at
Falmouth University this year.
Visit Charles Causley’s house,
Cyprus Well, which will be open
especially for the Festival. The
house was acquired by The Charles
Causley Trust in 2007 as a centre to
celebrate his life and writing and
promote new literature activity
in the community and region in
which he lived.
Seeing Words,
Marking Time
Gwynngala Exhibition
of Arts and Crafts
Friday 12 June - Sunday 14 June
10 am - 4 pm daily
Otho Peter Room, Town Hall 6
Free Admission
Established in Launceston in 1996,
the Gwynngala group of artists
has exhibited extensively in and
around Cornwall and Devon. A
regular feature of the Charles
Causley Festival, the group’s
exhibition will feature an inspiring
and varied collection of work
including painting, sculpture,
jewellery and ceramics.
Art Exhibition
Thursday 28 May - Monday 6 July
10am - 5pm daily
Terre Verte contemporary art gallery,
Altarnun 14
Free Admission
A special exhibition to coincide
with the Festival by artists who
use words - inspired by poetry,
slogans or history; the aesthetics
of letterpress, sketch notes to
self, a diary; tracking the moon
or the shipping forecast; and a
15-year old collection of words as
a personal enquiry.
Pop-Up Gallery
5-13 June
Launceston TIC 12
Free Admission
Figures full of colour, movement
and wit, in room and landscape.
Paintings, drawings and prints
for sale by local artists Stephen
Keyworth, Nicola Johnson and
Peter Davies, in a bite-sized pop-up
gallery upstairs at Launceston TIC.
Seeing Words, Marking Time
4 – THE CHARLES CAUSLEY FESTIVAL 2015
www.charlescausleyfestival.co.uk
F R I D AY 12 J U N E
Poetry Writing Workshop
with Indian King Poets
Friday 12 June
10am-12pm, followed by a
poetry reading at 1pm
Launceston Library 8
£3
Though we sail the seas together
Each of us must sail alone
‘Nelson Gardens’ Charles Causley
Join the Indian King Poets in a
two-part workshop where you will
have the chance to read Charles
Causley’s poems and follow his
method of falling in love with
a poem. The Indian King Poets
formed 20 years ago in Camelford,
and will use their experience and
knowledge to help you develop
your own poetry writing skills.
Taking some of Causley’s phrases
as a starting point, this workshop
is for both experienced poets who
seek new challenges and adults
with little or no experience of
writing poetry.
The second part of the workshop
will enable you to read your
poems aloud to the public should
you wish to.
This workshop is aimed at adults.
Booking signing
with Jill Batters
Friday 12 June
10-2pm
Launceston TIC 12
FREE
Indian King Poets
Launceston Walk
Charlotte Dymond
field trip
with Rob Tremain
Friday 13 June
10.30 am
Launceston Castle Lodge 1
Donations to the Festival
Launceston Town Crier Rob
Tremain’s extensive knowledge of
the town will bring its history to
life. Join Rob on a walk around the
historic streets of Launceston and
learn of the influence of Richard
of Cornwall; see the deprivation
suffered by George Fox and
meet the ghost of the martyr St
Cuthbert Mayne (not guaranteed).
This walk will involve steep hills
around the town.
with Jane Nancarrow
Friday 12 June
11am-3:30pm
Bus leaves from Westgate Street,
Coach park, Launceston
£10 (bring your own picnic lunch).
Ticket includes transport.
Join us on an intriguing field
trip with writer Jane Nancarrow
to Davidstow Church where
Charlotte Dymond is buried, and
a walk on Rough Tor, one of the
highest points in Cornwall.
‘Sons of Jamaica Inn’
A story of adventure and intrigue
inspired by Cornwall’s infamous
Jamaica Inn and its equally famous
Trelawny family.
The new novel covers a period
of over 250 years and is set on
Bodmin Moor and around Looe
and the south east coast of
Cornwall. ‘Sons of Jamaica Inn’ is her third
novel in the past four years. She has built herself a reputation
for her excellent books, each of
which is based around stories from
a Cornwall of the past.
www.charlescausleyfestival.co.uk
Sons of
JAMAICA
INN
by Jill Batte
rs
Adventure
and intrigu
by Cornwa
e inspired
ll’s infamo
and its equ
ally famous us Jamaica Inn
Trelawny
family
Bring your own picnic for lunch on
the Tor, within view of Charlotte
Dymond’s memorial stone (subject
to weather) and listen to Jane
Nancarrow’s reading of Charles
Causley’s ‘The Ballad of Charlotte
Dymond’ and extracts from
Nancarrow’s book ‘Stones and
Shadows’ based on Dymond’s life
and death.
THE CHARLES CAUSLEY FESTIVAL 2015 – 5
F R I D AY 12 J U N E
Nasty Pasty
Jon Cleave’s vision of Cornwall
12 June
12.45 - 1.45pm
Town Hall 6
£3 performance /
£5 performance to include a pasty
Story Republic
Story Republic
Stories, poems and songs
Friday 12 June
11am Castle Grounds 1
12 noon Museum Garden 7
2 pm Town Square 11
3pm Town Square 11
Free admission
Story Republic cut
quite a dash in
the street dressed
in their Sunday
best, brandishing
suitcases and performing poems
on the spot. Their repertoire
includes many of Charles Causley’s
poems such as ‘Figgie Hobbin’,
where a grumpy King pushes away
all delicacies in favour of his prized
Cornish pudding; ‘My Young Man’s
a Cornishman’, where our ladies
fight over a rather self satisfied
young man; and ‘Timothy Winters’
the heart rending tale of a young,
neglected boy. They will also rouse
you with sea shanties, and lull you
with stories. Suitable for all ages,
especially children.
Rising Ground
Discovery of the spirit of place
with Philip Marsden
Friday 12 June
11.30am-12:30pm
Launceston Guildhall 6
£3
Philip Marsden is the awardwinning author of a number
6 – THE CHARLES CAUSLEY FESTIVAL 2015
of works of travel, fiction and
non-fiction, including The Bronski
House, The Spirit-Wrestlers, The
Levelling Sea and most recently,
Rising Ground (Granta, 2014).
Join us for a reading from Rising
Ground by Philip Marsden as
he explores the sense of Spirit
which certain places evoke. From
the Neolithic ritual landscape of
Bodmin Moor to the Arthurian
traditions of Tintagel, from the
mysterious china-clay country
to the granite tors and tombs of
the far south-west, he assembles
a chronology of our shifting
attitudes to place. In archives,
he uncovers the life and work of
other ‘topophiles’ before him medieval chroniclers and Tudor
topographers, eighteenth-century
antiquarians, post-industrial poets
and abstract painters. Drawing
also on his own travels overseas,
Marsden reveals that the shape of
the land lies not just at the heart of
our history but of man’s perennial
struggle to belong on this earth.
Picture this: Cornwall, 2013. The
county is on a knife-edge, in
imminent danger of becoming
just another nondescript, leafy
suburb of the Home Counties.
Increasingly, the ethnic Cornish
are being bought up and sold out,
their dialect ridiculed and their
accents punctuated by estuarine
glottal stops, marginalised in their
own land. Cup cakes and slices of
quiche are rumoured to have been
seen in a baker’s window in Truro.
The tin mines have all closed. The
Spanish are hoovering up the fish,
Marks and Spencers are trying to
make clotted cream, and now the
greatest Cornish icon of them all,
the pasty, is under threat.
Join Jon Cleave, a member of
Fisherman’s Friends, for a pasty
lunch and his performative work,
Nasty Pasty, a rich and fruity feast
of contemporary Cornwall, every
mouthful deliciously suffused with
his wickedly bittersweet Cornish
twistedness; it’s sure to make you
chortle if it doesn’t choke you
first…
Jon Cleave
www.charlescausleyfestival.co.uk
F R I D AY 12 J U N E
Sophie Hannah
Sophie Hannah
The new Poirot
Friday 12 June
2-3pm
Guildhall 6
£4
Sophie Hannah is an
internationally bestselling writer
of psychological crime fiction,
published in 32 languages and 51
countries. In 2014, she published
a new mystery novel starring
Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie’s
famous detective. Hannah’s Poirot
novel, The Monogram Murders,
was written with the blessing of
Agatha Christie’s Estate and was an
international bestseller, reaching
the top 5 in book charts in more
than 15 countries.
Hannah will read from The
Monogram Murders’ and discuss
the inspiration for her work.
Simon Hall
Simon Hall
The TV Detective
Friday 12 June
3.15-4.15pm
Guildhall 6
£4
Simon Hall is the BBC’s Crime
Correspondent for the South
West and the author of The TV
Detective novels, in which a
television reporter and a detective
work together to solve a series of
extraordinary crimes.
Hall will read from his new novel,
The Dark Horizon, along with
earlier novels revealing the sources
for his ideas and inspiration.
Frozen Grave
Lee Weeks
The Claws of Evil,
book signing
with Andrew Beasley
Friday 12 June
6-7pm
The Christian Bookshop 2
FREE
Meet author Andrew Beasley
and hear a short reading from
his new children’s series, and get
your own signed copy. Set in
Victorian London, The Claws of Evil
is Beasley’s first book for children.
Come and hear his lifelong
fascination with Victorian London
and Sherlock Holmes, and how
some aspects of life in London
have not changed so very much
since those times.
Lee Weeks workshop
Friday 12 June
4.30-5.30pm
Guildhall 6
£4
Lee Weeks is the author of a crime
series ‘Willis/Carter’ based on a
fictitious London Murder Squad
MIT17. Weeks will read excerpts
from the latest book in the series
and lead participants through a
short workshop giving tips on
crime writing.
Charles Causley
www.charlescausleyfestival.co.uk
[Photo of Charles Causley reproduced with
the permission of Exeter University Library
Special Collections]
THE CHARLES CAUSLEY FESTIVAL 2015 – 7
F R I D AY 12 J U N E
An Evening with
Ian Dunlop
a Godfather of
Americana music
Friday 12 June
8:30pm
No 8 Café 9
£10
Murder Mystery
Murder Mystery
Sinister goings on...
Friday 12 June
7.30 pm
Town Hall 7
£15 (to include supper)
A murder mystery based (loosely)
on the Poldark theme. Who will
the victim be - Ross? Demelza,
George Warleggan - or perhaps
the producer (one up on Top
Grear!)
Are you a Morse, Miss Marple,
Poirot, or perhaps an Inspector
Clouseau? Watch and listen
carefully as the plot unfolds before
your very eyes. At the end of the
evening you will hopefully have
worked out who the murderer is.
Murder by Appointment are
a professional Cornish theatre
company formed in the early
1990’s, it rapidly gained a
reputation for murder mystery
productions and 2015 sees the
company entering its twenty-first
year of performances.
Productions are regularly staged at
theatres, hotels and other venues
throughout the West of England
from east Somerset to the far west
of Cornwall.
8 – THE CHARLES CAUSLEY FESTIVAL 2015
Included amongst the wellknown venues have been the
Theatre Royal, Plymouth, the
Minack Theatre on the cliffs of
west Cornwall and one open-air
performance for the National Trust
at Cockington Hall, Paignton for an
audience of 2,500!
The company has regularly
appeared on both BBC and ITV as
well as BBC Radio Cornwall.
Ian Dunlop is one of the
Godfathers of Americana music
and author of the critically
acclaimed book Breakfast in Nudie
Suits. His essays, short stories and
reviews have been published in
various journals. Dunlop played alongside Gram
Parsons in The International
Submarine band in the 1960’s, and
appeared in Peter Fonda’s cult film
‘The Trip’.
Join us for an evening of music
and stories of Ian’s musical
adventures.
Support for the evening will
be Phil Lively-Masters, singersongwriter from the highlyrespected Canyon Ryde, a band
whose music has been shaped
by American West Coast
country-rock. Ian Dunlop
www.charlescausleyfestival.co.uk
S AT U R D AY 1 3 J U N E
Children’s Poetry
workshop
with Launceston Library
Saturday 13 June
10.30am-12.30 pm
Launceston Library 8
FREE
Laurence Green
‘A Life on the Blue’ – Charles
Causley in the Royal Navy
and ‘All Cornwall Thunders
at my Door’
with Armand Goulipian and
Laurence Green
Saturday 13 June
10.00-11.00am
Guildhall 6
£3
An opportunity to hear two
accounts of Charles Causley’s life
‘A Life on the Blue: Charles Causley
in the Royal Navy’ will examine
perhaps the most important
period in Causley’s life - his service
in World War II. Why did he join
the Navy?
Armand Goulipian will present a
short appraisal of suffering and
the fear of death in two poems;
Philip Larkin’s ‘The Old Fools’ and
Charles Causley’s ‘Ten Types of
Hospital Visitor’. Gulipian will
demonstrate how both Larkin and
Causley, though their lives were
quite different, could perhaps
be brought together in their
experience of suffering and fearing
death. Each poet’s personality is
revealed in his personal approach
to these distressing circumstances.
www.charlescausleyfestival.co.uk
My room is a bright glass cabin,
All Cornwall thunders at my door,
And the white ships of winter lie
In the sea-roads of the moor.
The Seasons in North Cornwall
Join the Children’s Librarian to
explore the library’s poetry section
and identify the different styles
and types of poems. Think poetry
is dull? Think again, we’ll show
you how to write your own poem
which will be displayed in the
Library. The workshop includes a
picture hunt, making inspiration
sheets, puzzles and games and
looking at everything from raps
to limericks. All materials will be
provided.
This workshop is designed for
children from 8 to 16 years.
’All Cornwall Thunders at My Door’
is a comprehensive biography of
Causley’s life and work. Laurence
Green will read excerpts from
his book and present a succinct
overview of Causley’s life in
Launceston.
Food & Drink Festival Market
The Best of Cornwall
Saturday 13 June
10am until 10pm
Town Square 11
FREE
The Food & Drink
Drink Festival
takes place
alongside the
monthly market
in the middle
of Launceston’s
historic town
centre, with
performances
by poets and musicians, and Cornish produce including locallybrewed beers and ciders.
Enjoy the convivial atmosphere, a well-earned treat after exploring
the Festival.
THE CHARLES CAUSLEY FESTIVAL 2015 – 9
S AT U R D AY 1 3 J U N E
Alyson Hallett & Kathryn
Simmonds
Two poets in residence
Saturday 13 June
12noon
Launceston Guildhall 6
£4
Luke Thompson
Man of Clay
The poetry and prose of
Jack Clemo by Luke Thompson
Walk with Jane Nancarrow
Charles Causley Walk
with Jane Nancarrow
Saturday 13 June
10.30am-12.30pm
Meet at Eagle House Hotel
3 Castle Street PL15 8BA
Donations to the Festival
Jane Nancarrow’s walks have
proved hugely popular. Stroll
around the town with an animated
tour by Nancarrow and see the
locations that inspired some
of Charles Causley’s best-loved
poems including the National
School, and visit St Thomas’s
Church where Causley is buried.
Nancarrow, who was taught by
Causley, reads his poems with
empathy and genuine enthusiasm.
The walk will involve several steep
hills in the town and is subject to
changes in the weather.
Charles Causley (L) with Jack Clemo
10 – THE CHARLES CAUSLEY FESTIVAL 2015
Saturday 13 June
11.00 am
Launceston Guildhall 6
£4
Jack Clemo was blind and deaf
for much of his adult life. His only
means of communication was
for someone to trace out letters
on the palm of his hand, and
yet he became one of the most
important of Cornwall’s writers and
poets. His work is steeped in the
culture of the clay country around
mid-Cornwall.
Join us as Luke Thompson
examines this extraordinary man’s
life and looks at his friendships
with other writers including
Charles Causley.
Luke Thompson is currently
writing a biography of Jack Clemo
and has discovered numerous
unpublished poems by Clemo.
Part of the proceeds from this
event will go towards supporting
the Sir Arthur Quiller Couch
Memorial Fund, which is better
known as ‘The Q Fund’ (Charity
No. 306599).
Kathryn Simmonds was the
first Charles Causley Trust Poet
in Residence in 2014. In 2008,
she won the Forward Best First
Collection Award with Sunday at
the Skin Laundrette, described
in the Guardian as a “playful and
knowing first collection fuelled
throughout by a strong sense of
lyricism.” While living in Launceston
Simmonds finished her first novel,
Love & Fallout.
Dr Alyson Hallett was the second
Charles Causley Trust Poet in
Residence in 2014 and the first
to live in Causley’s home, now
managed by the Charles Causley
Trust, Cyprus Well. She is a prizewinning poet whose latest book of
poetry is Suddenly Everything.
Join us for a revealing discussion
about their experiences as Poet in
Residence at Cyprus Well.
Alyson Hallett
Kathryn Simmonds
www.charlescausleyfestival.co.uk
S AT U R D AY 1 3 J U N E
This follows the special screening
of Edward Woodward’s film ‘A
Congregation of Ghosts’ which was
filmed on location in rural Cornwall
and shown at last years festival.
Horrible Science!
with Nick Arnold
Jenny Balfour Paul
Jenny Balfour Paul
Tracing Thomas Machell
Saturday 13 June
1-3pm
The Tamar Room, White Hart Hotel
13
£7 to include a sandwich lunch,
pay bar
Jenny Balfour Paul, writer, artist,
international lecturer and
intrepid traveller, is author of
two books on Indigo. Jenny is
an Honorary Research Fellow at
Exeter University and President
of the UK’s Association of Guilds
The author’s quest begins when
the word ‘indigo’ draws her to the
illustrated journals, now in the
British Library, of Victorian traveller
Thomas Machell. This intriguing
odyssey, set on the edges of time,
encompasses biography, memoir,
detective story, travelogue and
history to tell a remarkable tale
of East-West connections and a
mysterious love.
Join us for a lunchtime talk with
Jenny Balfour Paul.
Book signing with Carolyn
McGivern
Saturday 13 June
2pm-2:30pm & 4-5pm
Town Hall 6
FREE
‘Starring Edward Woodward’ is
the new biography of Edward
Woodward by author Carolyn
McGivern.
Join us for a special book signing
with Carolyn at the Festival.
www.charlescausleyfestival.co.uk
Saturday 13 June
2.30pm-4pm
Launceston Town Hall 6
£2
Join amazing author Nick Arnold
for outrageous hair-raising
highlights from the multiaward winning Horrible Science
series including Really Rotten
Experiments! Get ready for evil
experiments, scary stories and
queasy quizzes. With woeful
water experiments, foul factoids
and the odd putrid poem this is
roof-raising family fun with extra
squishy bits. Not to be missed!
This event is programmed
specially for children.
Horrible Science with Nick Arnold
Horrible Science at the
Festival is supported by
Peters Langsford Solicitors
Script and Story
Scriptwriting workshop with
Stephen Keyworth
Saturday 13 June
4 - 6 pm
Guildhall 6
£4
Interested in writing for television,
radio or theatre? Or learning more
about the tools of storytelling and
how to write good dialogue? This
practical workshop by scriptwriter
and comedian Stephen Keyworth
aims to set you on the right track,
whether you’re a beginner or
someone with a few scripts under
your belt.
Keyworth has written plays for
Radio 4 and the stage, as well as
episodes of EastEnders, Casualty
and Doctors. In 2011 he won Shine
Pictures Big Idea prize, and worked
on forthcoming film Breaking The
Bank starring Kelsey Grammer.
He is currently mentoring MA
students at Central School of
Speech and Drama, and worked
for many years as a stand-up
comedian.
Charles Causley
A memoir and an appreciation
Saturday 13 June
5-6pm
Cyprus Well, 2 Ridgegrove Hill 3
£2
Join Barry Newport for a candid
reflection on his 28-year friendship
with Charles Causley, in the poet’s
former home at Cyprus Well
Newport will share his
recollections of numerous visits
to Launceston, meeting Causley
at many readings and events,
and their mutual friends and
acquaintances who were part of
Causley’s life story.
Barry Newport is a retired GP with
a passion for books and literature.
He has contributed to a numerous
journals, including The Thomas
Hardy Society Journal, and was a
speaker at the 2014 Thomas Hardy
Conference. He published an
article and a select bibliography
in Causley at Seventy (1987),
and edited A Hand and Flower
Anthology, (a celebration of the
Hand and Flower Press), in 1980.
Please note, there are a limited
number of tickets for this event
due to capacity at Cyprus Well
Please park in town and walk to
Cyprus Well. Note the house is on
a steep hill.
THE CHARLES CAUSLEY FESTIVAL 2015 – 11
S AT U R D AY 1 3 J U N E
Brian Patten
An evening with Brian
Patten and the
Bookshop Band
Saturday 13 June
7:30pm until 10pm
Launceston Town Hall 6
£10
Brian Patten made his name in
the 1960s as one of the Liverpool
Poets, alongside Adrian Henri and
Roger McGough. Their main aim
was to make poetry immediate
and accessible for their audience,
and their joint anthology, The
Mersey Sound (1967), has been
credited as the most significant
anthology of the 20th century
for its success in bringing poetry
to new audiences, and is now a
Penguin Modern Classic.
The Bookshop Band write songs
inspired by books, most of the
songs start their life at author
events at their local bookshop, Mr
B’s Emporium of Reading Delights
in Bath.
Beth Porter has been recording
12 – THE CHARLES CAUSLEY FESTIVAL 2015
and performing for over 10 years
with over 60 album credits, and
plays regularly with a number of
artists, including Eliza Carthy and
Newton Faulkner.
Ben Please spent 10 years with
indie folk band Urusen as a singer
and guitarist and has worked
with legendary producer Steve
Osborne (Elbow, KT Tunstall).
The Bookshop Band
www.charlescausleyfestival.co.uk
S U N D AY 14 J U N E
Charles Causley Walk
With Arthur Wills
Sunday 14 June
10.30am
St Thomas Church, Newport 10
Donations to the Festival
Arthur Wills was a close friend of
Charles Causley and is also a noted
local historian. Walk with Arthur
and explore the area where the
poet was born and brought up in
the Newport area of Launceston.
The Emperor’s New Clothes
Leading street theatre with
Launceston Youth Theatre
Sunday 14 June
11.00am Town Square 11
12.00am
Priory Park 10
Free
Charles Causley wrote this version
of The Emperor’s New Clothes and
this will be it’s first performance
since 1991. Based on the tale by
Hans Christian anderson, this tale
of perception over reality is very
appropriate in today’s celebritydominated world, produced by
Launceston Youth Theatre.
Launceston Youth Theatre
www.charlescausleyfestival.co.uk
Bagas Degol
Salt Road
Music and Stories with Anna
Maria Murphy and Bagas Degol
Sunday 14 June
12.30 pm
No. 8 Cafe 9
Adult £8, Children/Concessions £6
Writer Annamaria Murphy
(Kneehigh Theatre, BBC Radio 4)
and Musicians/Composers Bagas
Degol 2nd collaboration.
Cod Joliff, fisherman , finds a
mysterious diary written by his
great great great Grandfather,
Ebeenezer Joliff, who had gone
with his two brothers to preach
in Tierra Del Fuego. Cod goes on
an epic journey to discover the
secrets hidden in the diaries pages.
Come to Salt Road and find out
who kissed like a limpet and what
Caleb Joliff saw in an iceberg.
A lunchtime of original stories and
music about the sea and how it
shapes us, those who leave, stay
behind and come back. A Cornish
Odyssey around our coasts and
Salt Roads.
Made specially for Cornish feasts,
halls, festivals, sundry venues both
usual and unusual.
‘Barefoot in Ruins’
Sunday 14 June
2:30pm onwards
Priory Ruins, St Thomas Church 10
Free
Join Barefoot at The Poetry Tent for
an Open Mic session and enter the
Turnip Prize competition created
for the festival.
The Priory Ruins stand behind
St.Thomas Church and form a
delightful outdoor setting .
Everyone is welcome and should
bring poetry, stories, songs,
music and maybe food, drink and
a blanket and brolly . . . as the
weather suggests.
Enter this year’s Turnip Prize
Competition ‘Local’. Entries are free,
and can be anything you want
to express your own thoughts
on ‘Local’, for example, writing,
cooking, drawing, knitting or use
any other appropriate means. Only
original work will be eligible but of
course you can work with others
to produce it!
Bring your
creations to
the Priory Ruins
on Sunday
afternoon and
read/ exhibit/
perform your
piece.
The Golden Turnip
THE CHARLES CAUSLEY FESTIVAL 2015 – 13
S U N D AY 14 J U N E
Celebrating 20 years of Launceston in Bloom
Winning Flower Displays
with Alison Penno,
Flower Scene
Sunday 14 June
1:30-3.00pm
Guildhall 6
£1
Gardeners’ Question Time - Meet the experts
Sunday 14 June
3-4.30 pm
Launceston Town Hall
£2
Bring along your queries, sickly plants and tales of woe and our panel
of professionals Johnny Mann (Chair), John Harris, Sarah Chesters and
Michael Taylor will offer advice and support. (Please bring any plants in
sealed plastic bags.)
Learn from the experts, join us for a
flower arrangement demonstration
with award winning florists from
Flower Scene, accompanied by
local author, Jane Nancarrow
reading Charles Causley’s poems.
L to R: John Harris, Sarah Chesters, Micheal Taylor and Johnny Mann
Alison Penno
Flower Scene, established in
Launceston in 1984 regularly enter
competitions at all levels, including
Royal Horticultural Show, British
Florist Association and National
Association of Flower Arrangement
Societies. In 2010 they won Silver
Gilt and Silver medals at the RHS
Chelsea Flower Show.
John Harris, known as the ‘Moon
Gardener,’ is Head Gardener of
a Cornish estate which includes
one of the last remaining working
Victorian walled kitchen gardens
in the south west. He is an author
and a regular on BBC Radio Devon’s
“Potting Shed”.
Sarah Chesters now combines a
job as Education and Learning
Manager at RHS Garden Rosemoor
with a regular presenting slot on
BBC Radio Devon.
Michael Taylor was until very
recently proprietor of Endsleigh
Gardens Nursery at Milton Abbot.
A gardener all his life, Taylor had
worked on large estates such as
Floors Castle and Sandringham
but always said that Endsleigh was
the best.
Johnny Mann is a retired local
vet, with a lifelong interest in
horticulture and wildlife, and
opens his extensive garden,
described as a ‘hardy plantsman’s
garden’ for charity. He has a
keen interest in hellebores and
was previously Chairman of the
Cornwall’s Hardy Plant Society.
OPEN GARDENS
Sunday 14 June All Free
2-3pm Kensey Foods garden, Pennygilliam Industrial Estate,
Launceston, PL15 7AF. Meet the gardener Peter Wilton and pick up
a map and wander the trail at your leisure.
2:30-3:30pm Manaton, Dunheved Road, Launceston, PL15 9JE.
Collect a plan of the garden and wander at your leisure.
2-4pm The Holt, 2 Wooda Lane, Launceston, PL15 8JB
Launceston in Bloom Best Overall Garden 2014, no access to the
garden, to be viewed over the wall. Parking at the Old National
School or on the road.
11am-4pm Lawrence House Museum, Castle Street, Launceston. Enjoy
tea in the gardens of the museum.
FORTHCOMING EVENT: Sunday 21 June
Charles Causley Trust, Midsummer Garden at Penheale, Egloskerry
with poetry readings by Anna Maria Murphy.
14 – THE CHARLES CAUSLEY FESTIVAL 2015
www.charlescausleyfestival.co.uk
S U N D AY 14 J U N E
Foraging for wild food
With Rachel Lambert
Sunday 14 June
4.30-5.30pm
Launceston Guildhall 6
£3
Come and meet Forager and Wild
Food Guide Rachel Lambert for tips
on identifying wild foods to forage
from local walks across fields, along
hedgerows and onto beaches.
Lambert prides herself in offering
accessible and hands on foraging
experiences, introducing the
wonders of wild food foraging to
all ages and abilities, and will share
her knowledge and experience of
foraging in Cornwall.
Wild food with Rachel Lambert
literary. This project has involved
interviews with over 20 people
including friends from Launceston
and major poets including Roger
McGough, Simon Armitage and
Andrew Motion. Produced by
Jane Darke and Andrew Tebbs
of Boatshed Films, this promises
to be a film to place Causley and
Launceston firmly on the map.
Testament of Youth
film
Sunday 14 June
7.30pm
Launceston Town Hall 6
Adults £5, Concessions £4
Charles Causley with his mother
[Reproduced with the permission of Exeter
University Library Special Collections]
Poet
Testament of Youth is a
searing story of love, war and
remembrance, based on the
First World War memoir by Vera
Brittain which became the classic
testimony of the war from a
woman’s point of view. A powerful
and passionate journey from
youthful hopes and dreams to the
edge of despair and back again; a
film about young love, the futility
of war and how to make sense of
the darkest times.
Certificate 12. Supper will be available
between films
7-7.30pm
£3 per plate, bar open
Festival Closing Party
at Firebrand
Sunday 14 June
9pm until late
Firebrand
Free, pay bar
Join us for the closing party and
meet many of the people involved
in the festival at Firebrand.
A film about Charles Causley
Sunday 14 June
5.45-7pm
Launceston Town Hall 6
Adults £4, Concessions £3
Join us for a special preview of
Jane Darke’s new film (currently in
production) about Charles Causley,
much of which was filmed in the
town.
Poet is about the life and work of
Charles Causley as seen through the
eyes of his friends - both local and
www.charlescausleyfestival.co.uk
Testament of Youth
THE CHARLES CAUSLEY FESTIVAL 2015 – 15
Charles Causley was born in Launceston in
1917 and is acknowledged as one of the very
finest Twentieth Century English poets. He
lived in Launceston all his life, apart from six
years in the Royal Navy.
and brought him many awards; among them
The Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry and The
Ingersoll/ TS Eliot Award. He was made a CBE in
1986 and a Royal Society of Literature ‘Companion
of Literature’ in 2000. He received an Hon DLitt
from the University of Exeter, where his archive is
now held.
Charles Causley died in 2003 and is buried next to
his mother in St. Thomas Churchyard, barely 100
yards from where he was born.
Charles Causley lived and worked at No.2 Cyprus
Well in Launceston. Grants from Arts Council
England and Cornwall Council and in-kind support
from Launceston Town Council and Literature
Works to The Charles Causley Trust has enabled
the renovation of Charles Causley’s House. Cyprus
Well has become a venue for a writer in residency
scheme with an associated activities programme.
After World War II Charles Causley worked as a
teacher in Launceston. He was a popular and
admired figure and this admiration is evident
in the great affection in which his memory is
held today.
Charles Causley was also highly regarded by his
fellow poets. Ted Hughes wrote: “Before I was made
Poet Laureate, I was asked to name my choice
of the best poet for the job. Without hesitation I
named Charles Causley... a poet for whom the title
might have been invented afresh.”
Charles Causley’s poetic reputation was worldwide
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Festival Venues
Launceston
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1 Castle Green
2 Christian Bookshop, 9 Westgate Street PL15 7AB
3 Cyprus Well, No 2 Ridgegrove Hill
4 Firebrand, 5-7 Southgate Street PL15 9DP
5 Launceston Castle
6 Town Hall/Guildhall, Western Road, PL15 7AR
7 Lawrence House Museum, 9 Castle Street PL15 8BA
8 Library, Bounsalls Lane PL15 9AB
9 No 8 Cafe, 8 Westgate Street PL15 7AB
10 The Priory Ruins, St Thomas’ Church
11 Town Square
12 Launceston Tourist Information Centre (TIC), White
Hart Arcade, Broad Street, PL15 8AA
13 White Hart, 15 Broad Street PL15 8AL
Altarnun
(9 miles from Launceston on the A30 Bodmin road)
14
Terre Verte Gallery, Pooleys, Altarnun, Launceston
PL15 7SJ
Further information about all our events, artists and performers is available at the Festival website:
www.charlescausleyfestival.co.uk
Launceston
Youth
Council
Designed by David Eno | Printed by Four Way Print, Launceston