Top speakers lined up as organisers take inspiration from Hay Festival for new event

Politicians, writers and historians have been lined up for Marches of Time: A History Weekend in The Welsh Marches next month.

They include former Tory party leader William Hague, who will be joined by Gareth Williams of the Weston Park Foundation, plant, garden and social historian Advolly Richmond, archaeologist Simon Elliott, politician Jesse Norman and poet and novelist, Kate Innes.

A spokesperson for the organisers said Caroline Magnus of Stokesay Court and Rowena Colthurst and James Nason of Pitchford Hall have been "inspired by events such as the Chalke Valley History Festival and the world-renowned Hay Festival" to organise a new event for The Marches area.

The spokesperon said: "This first Marches of Time weekend will showcase writers giving historical talks in the settings of these two Shropshire Gems, with the aim of having an annual festival in the future including talks, demonstrations and reenactments.

"The hope is to celebrate the incredibly rich history on both sides of the English/Welsh borderlands."

In the first events on at Stokesay Court, near Ludlow, on Saturday, September 16 and at Pitchford Hall, Shrewsbury, on Sunday, September 17, they are promising a series of interesting and diverse talks from varied writers with Marches connections and covering a wide range of historical themes will take place for what it is hoped, will over time, build into an annual festival.

They are also keen to involve schools and educational establishments across the region.

Caroline Magnus said: "This is a wonderful opportunity to spotlight the incredibly rich history of this area, its castles, abbeys, historic houses and sites, along with the characters, myths and legends that have populated it.”

The event has been sponsored by property experts Strutt & Parker and Tanners Wines and Stokesay and Pitchford Estates for the initial funding.

The speakers are:

Advolly Richmond who is a plant, garden and social historian based in Shropshire.

She is a trustee of the Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens, a Champion for the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, and a member of the Garden Media Guild.

She lectures on a variety of subjects from the 16th century through to the early 20th century.

For Marches of Time she will be talking about the Rise and March of Archery: An Elite Pastime 1780 – 1900.

She will take a light hearted look at the very social aspect of archery on the estates of the aristocracy along the Welsh Marches.

Dr Gareth Williams has been a regional director of Sotheby's and a curator for the National Trust at Nostell Park. He is now Curator and Head of Learning at Weston Park, Shropshire, one of the major British country house collections, and coordinates residential cultural tours based at the historic house.

Gareth is a respected writer and historian, who’s latest books include The Country Houses of Shropshire and Weston Park: The House, The Families and The Influence.

Jesse Norman is the MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire.

He read classics at Oxford and completed a masters and a doctorate in Philosophy from University College London. Before entering politics, he ran an educational project working in Communist Eastern Europe, and was a director at Barclays. He has been an Honorary Fellow at UCL, a Governor of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, and a Visiting Fellow at All Souls, Oxford. His previous books include a celebrated study of Edmund Burke.

Kate Innes was born in London and lived and worked in America and Zimbabwe. She is now based in Shropshire and this area provides inspiration for both her fiction and poetry.

She trained as an archaeologist and a teacher, and then worked as a Museum Education Officer around the Midlands. After the arrival of her children, Kate began work on her medieval novel 'The Errant Hours' which was published in 2015 and became Book One of The Arrowsmith Trilogy.

Kate has delivered lectures at the University of Wolverhampton and the University of Chester at Shrewsbury – exploring indie publishing, historical fiction and running a creative writing workshop for undergraduates.

Dr Simon Elliot is a Trustee of the Council for British Archaeology, and an Ambassador for Museum of London Archaeology. He speaks and lectures regularly and widely on his research to history societies and archaeological groups, and most recently presented his 'Ragstone to Riches' presentation in the Guildhall in the City of London where he explained how the Roman city was built using ragstone quarried in the upper Medway Valley where he lives. He is also the co-director of Roman villa excavation and regularly carry out other archaeological field work.

William Hague, The Rt Hon Lord Hague of Richmond, is a politician, biographer, columnist and chair of the Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales.

He served for 26 years in the British House of Commons until he stood down in 2015.

In that time, he served in many senior roles, including Leader of the House of Commons, but is best known as the Leader of the Conservative party, 1997-2001, and First Secretary of State and Foreign Secretary, 2010-2014.

He has chosen one of his favourite topics and will deliver a talk about William Pitt the Younger - following on from his hugely successful book: ‘William Pitt the Younger: A Biography’ (Harper Perennial 2005).

For more information go to https://www.marchesoftime.co.uk/ or email marchesoftime@gmail.com