The Great War in verse 

Round & About

A play by Peter Adamson at St Mary-le-More Parish Church on Sunday, 2nd November, will reflect on the Great War in the words of its greatest poets, from Cholsey to Flanders…   

A War in Ten Poems tells the story of changing attitudes to the Great War through the voices of its greatest poets. Coming just ahead of Armistice Day 2025, the event is being held in aid of Brightwell Supporting Refugees.  

Peter says: “The story opens just outside Cholsey, where in the summer of 1914 a group of friends gathered to write and walk on the Downs. The host was the future Poet Laureate, John Masefield, who at 35 was too old to be sent to the front but volunteered in a field hospital on the Marne. Returning to his isolated farmhouse, Masefield went on to write some of the finest literature of war. Among the others on the Downs in that last peaceful summer of 1914 was Rupert Brooke who welcomed the war but who was to die of an infected mosquito bite on the way to Gallipoli.”  

The play, 7.30-8.30pm, will be directed by Christopher Baines & voiced by a great cast including Clare Thomson, Ben Manning, Alistair Luck, Catriona Woolhouse & David Fox. Tickets £10pp (£5 u18s) from Brightwell Village Stores & Wallingford Bookshop or you can email bsr@bsr-charity.org