First Vale talk booked with Burton Civic Society

Elaine Pritchard, author of the new Vale Rawlings play Strikers!, will be giving her first public talk about the life of this forgotten Burton man.

Burton Civic Society has invited Elaine to be guest speaker at its meeting on Wednesday, October 16, 2024, at the Riverside Church on High Street, Burton upon Trent, DE14 1LD.

The meeting starts at 7pm and entry is free for members of Burton Civic Society. Non members are asked for a donation on the night.

All donations from the evening are to support Burton YMCA and SARAC charities.

Elaine said: "I am thrilled to be giving my first talk about Vale and it is so kind of the civic society to donate the donations from non-members on this night to the same two charities that our project is supporting.

"There will be things in this talk that are not in the play and vice versa. So, it will be lovely if the talk encourages more people to book tickets to come and see our community cast tell Vale's story in our dramatic, rehearsed reading at Burton Town Hall on Friday December 6."

Like a radio play on stage

A rehearsed reading means that actors will be playing the characters from the play, but without period costumes and without making exits and entrances from the stage.

Elaine explained: "The cast will sit on the stage throughout, like a choir, and they will stand when it's the turn of their characters to speak. They won't have to learn their lives off by heart and will have the script in front of them. But they will have rehearsed and be able to act their part - not just read it. In that way it's like a radio play on stage."

The cast, drawn from the local community, will be playing the roles of Vale, his family and friends as well as a host of characters who lived and worked in the town and those who visited. It looks at some of the big news stories of the early 20th century - such as the fight for votes for women, and the outbreak of World War One - through the eyes of Burtonians.

At the heart of the story is a strike that broke out in 1914 when young factory girls working on Moseley Street, in a factory making flypapers, took a stand against their low pay. Many of them were aged 13 to 17 and were getting as little as a few shillings for a 55-hour week handling unpleasant chemicals and toxins.

If you know a group that might be interested in a talk about Vale, his life and times, do get in touch with us through the Vale Rawlings Project email address that you will find at the bottom of this web page.

Tickets for Strikers! are now on sale through the Burton Town Hall website, or you can ring the box office on 01283-508100 or visit the Brewhouse box office, off Union Street, in person.