A CROWD gathered at Lydney Library on Wednesday, September 10 to enjoy a night learning of historical Forest of Dean playwrights.

The night came as part of “Reading the Forest’ which is a Forest of Dean community project that researches the rich literary heritage of the Forest and shares its discoveries with everyone through local events such as this, in schools, online, or through social media.

The project is led by local academics at the University of Gloucestershire with volunteers in the Forest of Dean, funded by the university, and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and is part of the Foresters' Forest landscape partnership.

This particular event was led by Dr Jason Griffiths, Senior Research Fellow at the university and Project Manager for the Forest of Dean Writers Collection. As there is so much to examine when it comes to the collection, Dr Griffiths chose to focus on a handful of interesting literary figures from the Forest in the era of the 1950s and 1960s, including Dennis Potter, Winifred Foley, Ralph Anstis and Harry Beddington.

Dr Jason Griffiths said: “We were coming across all these amazing scripts by Forest writers and we’re not fully equipped to do full productions yet, so we just wanted to tell people about them. People don’t have to always come to the museum, we like to go out, explain what we’re doing, and share some of the treasures.”

The evening was enjoyed by around 30 guests, who were able to absorb the intriguing literary history explored by Dr Griffiths, some physical artefacts on display and watched a revival of some plays by actors and volunteer Thespians.

One came from Wesley Players’ Lynn, Tanya, Kim, and Louise, who performed a scene from Homespun, a Harry Beddington play focusing on a Forest of Dean Homeguard unit, with dialogue written in Forest dialect.

Beddington’s 1959 play Limbo also had a scene performed by Iain Baird, Jim Bean, Martha Beard, Archie Beard and Sarah McMullen-Morris. Before the night came to a close, a reading from Valerie Grosvenor Myer’s 1980 play Nitty Gritty was performed by volunteers Becca Millar, Sid Phelps, Stewart Carswell and Sarah McMullen-Morris.

The night was well-received by everybody, with thanks given to the organisers, volunteers and Lydney Library. Dr Griffiths explained that events such as this are very important to the Forest of Dean community.

Dr Griffiths said: “It’s absolutely vital, and it’s very easy to think, when you’re not involved in things like this, that there’s nothing going on - but there is a lot going on and there always has been. There’s such a rich history and cultural history to the Forest which is connected to some of those traditions like mining, the woods and working class life. But there’s also amazing writers, poets and dramatists. It’s all here really, but it takes a bit of reminding people of the heritage.”

If you are interested to learn more about Reading the Forest, you can keep up to date via social media or via its website.