A paperback launch with a difference!
The hardback edition of Robert Ashton’s book Where are the Fellows who Cut the Hay was published 2024, longlisted for a Wainwright Prize and shortlisted for the New Angle Prize. Now a paperback edition is being published in March 2026 by Wilton Square Books. The book builds on those written by oral historian George Ewart Evans, and explores how old ways are returning today. As well as meeting grandchildren of those Evans interviewed more than 70 years ago, the book introduces people bringing back old ways, often with a contemporary twist.
‘What I found had been lost over the past 70 years, was the sense of community that meant people felt they belonged, and supported each other,’ explained Robert Ashton. But as he found, that sense of belonging is returning, with for example community owned shops and pubs rebuilding community spirit.'
Attending this event you will:
See the 1980 film A Writer’s Suffolk which was written and narrated by George Ewart Evans
See the 1955 film Here’s a Health to the Barley-mow which was filmed at Blaxhall Ship
Hear author Robert Ashton in conversation with Nick Corke, CEO of Hour Community, talking about the book
Have an opportunity to chat with people whose grandparents were interviewed by George Ewart Evans in the 1950s.
Buy and have signed, a copy of Where are the Fellows who Cut the Hay