Dorchester will mark Remembrance weekend in 2025 with a major War Poetry Conference, exploring the human cost of war through the words of Thomas Hardy, T.E. Lawrence, Siegfried Sassoon, Edward Thomas and Wilfred Owen.
The weekend begins on Friday 7th November at Athelhampton House – Thomas Hardy and his second wife Florence were dining with Alfred Cart de Lafontaine at Athelhampton on the day that the first world war was declared. To set the scene for the War Poetry Conference, in WW1: Hardy at Athelhampton, local actors will re-create that fateful dinner in the very room it took place, with the audience moving to other historic rooms to watch events unfold. The production sets the scene for the days ahead.
Organised by the Thomas Hardy Society with the War Poets’ Association and others, the main conference runs on Saturday 8th November at the Dorford Centre. It will explore the nature of war poetry, and read and discuss the words of First World War poets and writers. The readings will cover themes of war – courage, despair, patriotism, loss and sacrifice, and tell the stories, experiences and reflections of the writers.
There will also be the opportunity to view the Poets Tribute book dedicated, and given, to Hardy by Siegfried Sassoon, as well as personal letters to Hardy from that time, at a special viewing at the Dorset History Centre.
Saturday evening brings a Remembrance concert: War, Words and English Song, blending Great War poetry with early 20th-century English song. On Sunday, attention turns to Dorchester’s own wartime story, with an exhibition, Remembrance services, the town’s Poppy Trail and a staged performance of Strange Meeting.
Full details from the Thomas Hardy Society: hardysociety.org/events
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