World Wide Wiltshire

Tuesday 19 January at 7pm 

World Wide Wiltshire (Films) 

Folio Theatre and Wiltshire Creative present World Wide Wiltshire, three short films harnessing the creative power of the region to showcase the finest work inspired by the county. Our collaborators represent a variety of artistic disciplines, periods of history, and lived experiences. What they have in common is a love for storytelling and our home, the beautiful county of Wiltshire. 

#WorldWideWiltshire
@foliotheatre 
@wiltscreative

Films 
Without Knowing Mr Walkley 
Home 
Dilton Marsh Halt 

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WITHOUT KNOWING MR WALKLEY
by Edith Oliver

the spire stood motionless, and seemingly alone, among the boundless downs, and, far above the trees, it carried eternally towards the sky the superb faith of its builders. 

Without Knowing Mr Walkley is an extract from Edith Oliver’s autobiographical novel of the same title. Edith was born in Wiltshire and lived in in the county for her whole life. In 1916, Oliver helped form the Women's Land Army in Wiltshire, for which she was rewarded in 1920 with an MBE. Pippa Haywood (Prisoners Wives, Scott & Bailey, Green Wing) performs the role of Edith in a contemporary exploration of her thoughts on the beauty of Wiltshire and the place she called home. 

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HOME
by Hannah Treadaway
Age guidance 11+

Your SATs.  
Took those years ago mate. Bossed em. Kinda.
I mean your oxygen.  
I was cracking a joke. 

Home is an extract from Hannah Treadaway’s ‘Come To Where I’m From’ piece, commissioned and first produced by Paines Plough and Wiltshire Creative. Performed by Iona Johnson, this film glances at life as a teenager in Wiltshire when the county’s wonder seems just out of reach. Hannah’s other work includes collaborating with Diverse City, Graeae and Taking Flight. 

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DILTON MARSH HALT
​by Sir John Betjeman

And when all the horrible roads are finally done for,
And there's no more petrol left in the world to burn,
Here to the Halt from Salisbury and from Bristol
Steam trains will return. 

Dilton Marsh Halt is a poem by Sir John Betjeman, an English poet, writer, and broadcaster who was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death in 1984. Betjeman wrote this poem as part of a successful campaign to save Dilton Marsh station when it was threatened with closure in the 1960s. Performed in BSL by David Ellington (DEF & London 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony) this film explores the value of a station cherished by its local inhabitants in the face of cuts to infrastructure, increasing rural isolation and carbon culture, a poem which feels as prescient today as when it was first written 

Click on the caption button for closed captions
 

Without Knowing Mr Walkley

by Edith Oliver 

Director Jo Newman 

Filmmaker John Taylor Films 

Performer Pippa Haywood 

Music ‘Harperspace' by Nick Harper 

Home 

by Hannah Treadaway 

Director Jo Newman 

Filmmaker John Taylor Films 

Performer Iona Johnson 

Dilton Marsh Halt

a poem by John Betjeman 

Director Jo Newman 

Filmmaker John Taylor Films 

Translation Consultant Kyra Pollitt 

Performer David Ellington 

Music ‘Riverside’ by Nick Harper 

Other acknowledgements 

Special thanks to Simon Butteriss and Paines Plough

Supported by funding from Arts Council England   

Dilton Marsh Halt by John Betjeman

Was it worth keeping the Halt open,
We thought as we looked at the sky
Red through the spread of the cedar-tree,
With the evening train gone by?

Yes, we said, for in summer the anglers use it,
Two and sometimes three
Will bring their catches of rods and poles and perches
To Westbury, home for tea.

There isn't a porter. The platform is made of sleepers.
The guard of the last train puts out the light
And high over lorries and cattle the Halt unwinking
Waits through the Wiltshire night.

O housewife safe in the comprehensive churning
Of the Warminster launderette!
O husband down at the depot with car in car-park!
The Halt is waiting yet.

And when all the horrible roads are finally done for,
And there's no more petrol left in the world to burn,
Here to the Halt from Salisbury and from Bristol
Steam trains will return.