In a time of war, they refused to kill

Simon Heywood first brought his unforgettable “Out of the Silence” to Northampton's Storytelling at the Feast of Fools in 2017. Back by popular demand, Heywood tells the at times harrowing, utterly gripping, and occasionally comic story of the sixteen thousand who refused to kill. Of the millions conscripted in 1916, they claimed the new right to Conscientious Objection. They included Quakers, Churchgoers, trade unionists, and together the “conchies” embarked on a bitter and courageous war against war itself. Their stand split families and communities. They suffered ridicule, torture, and imprisonment. They played cat-and-mouse with the state. Some were forced to the front; others went willingly, or toiled at home. Some went mad; some died. Drawing on first-hand accounts, letters, diaries and memoirs, storyteller and former peaceworker Simon Heywood brings the voices of conscientious objectors out of the silence. Simon Heywood completed a PhD on contemporary storytelling at Sheffield University's National Centre for English Cultural Tradition in 2001. He now lectures and researched in folklore, storytelling and creative writing at Derby University, and has published poetry, fiction and non- fiction. He shared Best Documentary Award at the 2005 Strasbourg Film Festival for Contempt of Conscience . Among other publications he is the author of The Legend of Vortigern (2012) and South Yorkshire Folk Tales (2015). More details of Storytelling at the Feast of Fools are at http://www.storyfeast.uk/ Tickets are £11.05 at Storytellling at the Feast of Fools: Simon Heywood - (wegottickets.com). As always, doors will open at 7.00 for a 7.30 start. There is paid parking in the Council Car Park right next door. Bus routes close by.