Sunday 10th May 5pm, £10
Maureen Jennings
Behind The Scenes: What television is really like
Maureen Jennings is the originator of MURDOCH MYSTERIES a television series that has become one of the longest running series in Canadian history. It also airs in over a hundred countries including the UK. She is the creative consultant and writes an episode a season. Believe me, it’s a different world.
Maureen Jennings was born and raised in Birmingham. A proud Canadian she is also a true anglophile and an honorary Salopian and a great friend and supporter of the Castle Bookshop.
Photo of Maureen receiving the Grand Master award last year from Crime Writers of Canada.
Tuesday 12th May 6pm, £10
Stephanie Mocroft
Two New Views Of The Teme
Stephanie Mocroft has studied local history for twenty years and has been delighted by the response to her first book, “Teme over Time”. Its aim is to celebrate a little-known part of Worcestershire. While researching the Teme valley she came upon two pictures of the Teme at Ludlow which she had never seen before. One dates from the 16th century, the other from the 19th. In her talk “Two new views of Ludlow” she will describe the images and the two people, one a man, the other a woman, who made them.
Thursday 14th of May 6pm, £10
Rory Knight Bruce
The Return of the Native
Rory Knight Bruce is best known as an author and journalist for the national press
and magazines, including The Spectator, Country Life and The Field. Whilst an editor
at the London Evening Standard he answered an advertisement for a woodland
cottage to rent near Craven Arms, ten pounds a week, no electricity. It became his
Shropshire home from 1988 until 1995.
He became a joint master of the local
foxhound pack and immersed himself in the timeless landscape and people of the
Clun Valley. Here he recounts those treasured experiences, lunches with John
Osborne, village hall dances, remembering Bruce Chatwin and A.E. Housman.
His memoir, ‘An Unanchored Heart’ (2022) and collection of sixty poems ‘Sins and
Sensibility’ (2025) recall those and other memorable times and encounters.
Friday 15th May 6pm, £10
Matthew Evans
My Aunt George
I am a retired TV director. I live in Ludlow, I am a photographer, a potter, a grand-dad and now a trainee at Ludlow Bookbinders. I am also George Eliot’s great-great-great nephew. It’s a relationship that has been slow to develop.
George Eliot is one of the great philosopher writers of her generation, or any generation. But I held her at arm’s length for far too long… her being ‘family’ didn’t help.
Finally circumstance and shame pushed me into confronting my Aunt George.
I would like to tell you about this much-too-late awakening, at 6pm, May 15th.
Saturday 16th May 6pm, £10
Archie Hunter
The King of The Tree Elves of Ludlow
Meet local author Archie Hunter who will be discussing his new book a follow-up to the Castle Bookshop bestseller The Tree Elves of Ludlow. The new king of the elves has disappeared.
As a last resort the elves turn to humans for help and once again Henry with Tom and Flora step into a parallel world to try and find the lost king.
A story steeped in ancient folk-lore, ghostly encounters and a battle againt the evil goblin empire. The odds of sucess are slim but with the help of a beaver family, talking nettles and a magic long bow there is hope. A magical coronation in Ludlow Castle hangs in the balance. Archie lives in Shropshire with his wife Milly.
Sunday 17th of May 5pm, £10
Clifford Liles
A Square Peg in a Round World
Clifford Liles lives in Herefordshire but has travelled, lived, and worked in several countries across Europe and in Australia. He is the author of the evocative poetry collection A SQUARE PEG IN A ROUND WORLD – A JOURNEY IN VERSE published by Black Pear Press. He takes you on a global odyssey through both untamed wilderness and urban landscapes. Spanning continents, the poems traverse World Heritage Sites and bustling metropolises across Australia, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, and the USA, before ultimately returning to the tranquillity of an English garden. Clifford convenes the monthly Hereford Poetry Stanza group, has won or been placed in many competitions, and has been published widely in literary journals. www.cliffordliles.com
“These are haunting, atmospheric poems that take us on a journey through a labyrinth of jumbled shadows and an earth soaked in centuries of rage to a land where growth is at least a possibility.” Mandy Pannett, The Daedalus Files (SPM Publications, 2021).
Tuesday 19th May 6pm, £10
Caroline Willcocks
Anne Boleyn - Saint or Shrew ?
Anne Boleyn is the most notorious, glamourous and celebrated of Henry VIII’s queens. For many today she is an early feminist, a woman who dared to stand against a King. A Protestant icon, it was her that was the catalyst for England’s withdrawal from the Church of Rome.
But she wasn’t greatly liked. Her temper and impatience made her unpopular, as did the fact that she ousted the beloved Queen Katherine of Aragon as King Henry’s consort. In the streets of London she was called a “goggle-eyed whore.”
So what is the truth about this Queen who was so much loved and hated? Caroline Willcocks, author of Anne Boleyn novel “The Duty of Women”, uncovers the many sides of this complicated, charismatic woman who changed the course of England’s history.
Caroline Willcocks has worked in freelance journalism, the theatre and refugee charities. Now a full time writer she lives in Herefordshire with her husband the poet John Pare, a cat and a dog.
Friday 22nd & Saturday 23rd May 6pm, £10
Starkadder Theatre Group
Pride and Prejudice: A Rehearsed play-reading
Jane Austen's best-loved tale of romance between MR DARCY and MISS ELIZABETH BENNET tackles the differences of status, sex, wealth, and social disparity. But, despite their own personal pride, and their initial prejudice against each other, there is also a deep affection -- both are equals in intellect, and both claim their own space ... not one being superior to the other.
Starkadder Theatre Group is comprised of local, talented actors. We present Jane Austen's own words and dialogue, but with a modern soundtrack.
Thursday 28th May. 6pm, £10
Geoff Cooper
The Curious Desire To Explore The Alternative
This memoir is about the authors first 35 years set in the 1960s, 70s and 80s England. It’s not only a personal recollection but a social history of a time before the internet and the smart phone.
Although incredibly shy as a boy it didn’t stop Geoff from travelling overland through Asia on a shoestring on more than one occasion trying to avoid conflict in countries at the time. As well as travel there are tales of girlfriends, pubs music gigs and festivals and long distance running but not those of a typical teenager or young adult.
One unusual desire was to go out dressed as and see what it was like to be a girl which led to some interesting and compromising situations. This begs the question who will deliver the talk and readings from the book – Geoff or his alter ego Nicky?
Friday 29th May 6pm, £10
Brian Anderson
Kilpeck Church: England’s Most Perfect Medieval Gem
Described by Nikolaus Pevsner as 'one of the most perfect Norman village churches in England', this modest and well-preserved building is tucked away in the Herefordshire countryside. Built around 1120, Kilpeck Church has a fascinating history, with links across medieval Europe and to the 2nd Crusade in the Middle East.
Join Wirral based Brian Anderson, retired architect, photographer and educator, for an informative and richly illustrated talk featuring his stunning photographs taken on three visits to the church.
You will see the C12th work of the Herefordshire School of Romanesque Sculpture at Kilpeck, including corbels of fantastic monsters from the Bestiary, as well as faces of everyday people from the medieval world have a vigour and directness that is still fresh and powerful today. Many writers and artists have been inspired by Kilpeck, including painter and printmaker, John Piper.
This presentation is a must for all lovers of history, architecture, sculpture and decoration. Kilpeck Church will truly dazzle and amaze you. Brian has given this popular talk across the UK. Here is some audience feedback when he gave this talk at Marlborough College Summer School.
‘Amazing presentation, Brian's commentary was vivid and wonderfully descriptive.’
‘Thank you so much for a most entertaining lecture’ ‘Thanks, an excellent and authoritative speaker, I was amazed at how much detail he was able to bring out.’
‘Great talk, well illustrated and very interesting’
Saturday 30th May 6pm, £10
Emma Woodhouse
The Life and Trials of the Infamous Mary Newton
Emma Woodhouse is an author, historian and academic. She writes within the Victorian timescape, encapsulating real history and real people in her novels. The author of four novels and a non-fiction book, Emma specialises in writing about working-class Victorian women who defied the social structure of the time. She speaks at conferences about these women, and about the ethics of fictionalisation, and is currently writing her second non-fiction book.
The Life and Trials of the Infamous Mercy Newton
In December 1848, Bridgnorth was rocked by an arrest that was nationally debated in newspapers. Mercy Newton was sent to Shrewsbury Prison for a crime so heinous that crowds amassed demanding she be hanged. But was she guilty? This fascinating historical true crime case will give you cause to question your own perceptions as the details unravel.
Sunday 31st May 5pm, £10
Rebecca Pells
Eighteen Minutes that Changed the World
The clock began ticking the moment a German torpedo struck the steel hull of the RMS Lusitania on 7 May 1915. Aboard the ship, 1,959 passengers and crew felt a dull thud - followed by a brief, eerie silence - before panic erupted. Less than twenty minutes later, the great liner disappeared beneath the waves. Only 764 survivors were ever accounted for.
The sinking shocked the world, sparked conspiracy theories implicating Churchill, and -with the heavy loss of American civilian life - became a pivotal moment that helped draw the United States into the war.
Amid the global outcry, in Queenstown, Ireland, lives had been irreversibly changed, as survivors searched desperately for loved ones, combed morgues and beaches, and nursed injuries. Among them were Anita and Elmore Pells, frantically trying to find their ten-week-old son, John, torn from his father’s arms when they leapt into the sea.
ABSENT LIVES is a novel inspired by these true events, telling the story of what happened to this young family. Anita and Elmore were the author’s great aunt and uncle, and she will share how she uncovered their story through family photographs and extensive research, along with readings from the book. She will also be happy to answer questions and sign copies of ABSENT LIVES.
Rebecca Pells lives in the heart of the Shropshire countryside. Following careers in banking and the charitable sector, she embraced her creative passions, becoming a full-time artist, with her work collected across the globe. Her focus has now turned to painting with words. Her debut historical novel, ABSENT LIVES, marks the beginning of this new journey — an exploration of memory, loss and the quiet power of untold stories.
www.rebeccapells.co.uk
Saturday 6th June 6pm, £10
Bernie Mintz
Confessions of a Chef
When you first meet Bernie Mintz, author of Confessions of a Chef, he is by no means your typical bruiser chef. Small in stature but under that low rise build, is a guy with the spirit of a bear, as in the meaning of his name Bernard.
He begins his career as a lowly commis chef. Bernie says his induction into the kitchen was painful, frenzied, ice cold and wet, double paneed and deep fried.
Behind the kitchen door or inside the mansions of the wealthy, Bernie has sharpened his skills high above 30,000 feet on private jets.
He tells us one day he can be catering for high court judges and royalty, the next flipping burgers on a van and emptying portable toilets.
His pages ooze surprises, some steamy and some very aggressive. No sorbet to cool down the next courses of many a situation.
He says chefs have to have an excellent sense of urgency, never panicking. When the restaurant fills suddenly and 50 people want full à la carte meals and you’re on your own behind 12 burners, you just have to get on with it.
At the end of service if you feel proud of what you have achieved, you’ve done a good days work.
Having your own restaurant relies on 100% support and patience from the family bearing all the weight of your stress, and the best suppliers of fresh food who are your umbilical delivery to success.
Bernie tells you the greatest pleasure of the hard work you put in is when customers give you great praise for your culinary art.
He tells you that he doesn’t regret a moment of all his experiences even if unpleasant.
Unlike the builder or the architect this book is a reminder of his work that has been consumed, with no tangible evidence it ever existed.
Sunday 7th June 5pm, £10
Rosy Gee
A Perfect Village A Perfect Crime
Rosy Gee settled in Herefordshire after she met her second husband and was inspired to write her character-driven mystery after hearing the story of a local woman who went missing. Having always been a writer, her mind went into overdrive and The Mysterious Disappearance of Marsha Boden was crafted. This is Rosy’s first attempt at writing a crime novel and it has received some glowing reviews, with one reader referring to her as a modern-day Agatha Christie! Rosy is happiest when sitting at her laptop writing mysteries set in the English countryside, after listening to whispers in the hedgerows.
Tuesday 9th June 6pm, £10
Melita Thomas
The Kings Pearl
Henry VIII and his daughter Mary
A fascinating insight into the early life of Mary I during her time in Ludlow
Historian, author and scholar, Melita Thomas, is determined to provide us with a different image of Mary I than the scurrilous one history has provided us with.
Melita appeared on BBC2’s Lucy Worsley Investigates illustrating that far from being ‘bloody’, our first Queen Regnant was far more lenient than those who preceded her or those who followed.
Melita’s talk at the Castle Bookshop is based on her book, The King's Pearl: Henry VIII and his daughter Mary, and focusses on Mary's period as Head of the Princess's Council for Wales and the Marches, so de facto Princess of Wales, when she lived in and around Ludlow. The talk delves into the politics around her appointment and looks at how a spirited and clever woman could carve her own niche in a male-dominated world. The talk also provides us with a glimpse into Mary’s daily life, its structures, duties, and pleasures.
Friday 12th of June 6pm, £10
Gareth Owen and Pam Scobie
A cycle of poems inspired by the Misericords in St. Laurence Church
A cycle of poems inspired by the Misericords in St. Laurence Church
But you young men who see this face of wood
Would walk from Ludlow town to Bethlehem
To win one loving glance from these bright
Had you but lived
Had you but lived
Had you but lived and known me then
Poems by prize-winning poet, Gareth Owen. Read by Gareth & Pam Scobie
Saturday 13th June 6pm, £10
Paul Thompson
The Cock and Bull of Jake Thackray
An event not to be missed! Following two fantastic previous visits, biographer and musician Paul Thompson returns to Castle Bookshop to celebrate again the comic genius of Jake Thackray, with a fresh mix of colourful readings, insights into Jake’s remarkable life and performance of some of his extraordinary songs. He will be accompanied by Nadine, a guitar Jake once owned and named.
Hilarious, irreverent, poignant, fanciful, quirky, poetic, imaginative, original. Jake Thackray was a storytelling genius who loved using words to entertain, move, surprise and provoke. He is one of our greatest but least celebrated songwriters.
Paul Thompson is co-author of the acclaimed biography, Beware of the Bull – The Enigmatic Genius of Jake Thackray, which was one of the Daily Telegraph’s best music books of 2022. He is also the editor of Jake Thackray – The Unsung Writer, an anthology of his prose writing.
www.paulthompsonmusic.co.uk
Friday 19th June 6pm, £10
Pam Scobie & Chris Griffin
Back to Back
‘Let go of the past
It can never come back to life
As you would wish.’
‘I guess it only goes to show
the people that you think you know
are sometimes other than they seem,
and always more than we can dream.’
‘Surface appearance
Best not be the full extent
Of your attention.’
Chris Griffin & Pamela Scobie, who each call Ludlow home, present their witty and provocative verses about: new attitudes, old wisdoms, Covid’s Metamorphoses, mask lifting, shape shifting, breaking free, letting go and ultimately accepting… inevitable life changes…
Two minds, each writing about the ups and downs of life in their own inimitable styles…
Saturday 20th June 6pm, £10
Danielle Burton
Anthony Woodville:
Governor of Edward Prince of Wales
Anthony Woodville was the brother-in-law of Edward IV and spent much of the last ten years of his life in Ludlow as Governor of his nephew, Edward, Prince of Wales. What do we know about how the education and experience of this young prince might have looked like in Ludlow.
Tuesday 23rd June. 6pm, £10
Clare Smout
Shakespeare’s Tragic Lovers: Romeo and Juliet vs Antony and Cleopatra
This first of two talks on Shakespeare and Love explores the writer’s most famous stage lovers. Clare compares and contrasts the young and idealistic Romeo and Juliet of Shakespeare’s early career with the more mature and cynical pairing of Antony and Cleopatra. Despite their differences, both couples are headed for misunderstandings and eventual tragedy, none of them able to endure life after their beloved’s death.
Clare Smout is a local Shakespeare specialist who spent the first half of her career working in theatre and the second half as a writer, academic researcher, and university lecturer. She runs regular courses on Shakespeare at Ludlow Assembly Rooms and elsewhere.
Friday 26th June. 6pm, £10
Clare Smout
Shakespeare’s Love Poems: The Sonnets, plus Venus and Adonis
Long before Shakespeare became famous as a playwright, his racy narrative poem about Venus’s courtship of the beautiful but reluctant Adonis was a runaway erotic success, the most frequently republished poem in English of its period. Sixteen years later, Shakespeare’s collection of Sonnets was released; its apparently autobiographical love-triangle of a poet, an anonymous ‘Fair Young Man’ and the mysterious ‘Dark Lady’ have gripped readers’ imaginations ever since. Discover more in this second of two talks about Shakespeare and Love.
Clare Smout is a local Shakespeare specialist who spent the first half of her career working in theatre and the second half as a writer, academic researcher, and university lecturer. She runs regular courses on Shakespeare at Ludlow Assembly Rooms and elsewhere.
Saturday 27th June 6pm, £10
Cora BB
In the Shadow of the Linney
In the Shadow of the Linney, is historical fiction based on a true character, Elizabeth Charmer, who was born and bred in Ludlow. All other characters are fictional.
Life in 19th century England was often harsh, especially for those born into poverty. This rigid class system and limited opportunities meant that survival was a daily struggle for the lower classes. Cora B B’s In the Shadow of the Linney vividly brings these realities to life through the story of Elizabeth Charmer, a young woman navigating the unforgiving world of Ludlow during this era. Her journey reflects the social challenges that many faced, shedding light on the resilience and tenacity required to endure.
Follow Elizabeth’s journey through the streets of Ludlow, her home in The Nag’s Head Yard in Corve Street, the Inn’s and ale houses of the town, the churches she visited, the beautiful walks she took. The reason she spent time in Shrewsbury Gaol. The men she encountered on her journey! Elizabeth’s resting place, St. Leonard’s Corve Street. - Walk the walk, with Elizabeth and Cora.
Discover Cora’s own link between her home town of Wolverhampton and Ludlow and why this fictional book, with a true character was written.
(reviewer -‘Loving this book! It’s had me smiling, shocked, tearful moved and wanting me to read more..’)
Tuesday 30th June 6pm, £10
Rachel Spence and Chris Kinsey
Night and Day - a poetry reading
“What hath night to do with sleep?” wrote John Milton in Paradise Lost. For poets Rachel Spence and Chris Kinsey, the night skies shine with imaginative possibilities. In poems inspired by their nocturnal voyages, their companions include wild geese, fairy lights, foxes and, of course, the moon.
As the sun rises, their poems shift in tone, colour and texture. Both keen lovers of landscape - Rachel is based in Ludlow, Chris in Newtown - they offer poems that hymn the hills, fields, rivers and towns which are the backdrop to their days. Chris observes a 'blackbird ransacking moss'. Rachel notices 'the whiplash of an otter's tail.'
Rachel Spence's latest book is Daughter of the Sun (The Emma Press, 2025). It was Highly Commended in the Forward Prizes 2025. For more info: rachelspence.co.uk
Previously BBC Wildlife Poet of the Year, Chris Kinsey's most recent collection is From Rowan Ridge (Fair Acre Press, 2022). A commission by Fair Acre Press which focuses on border landscapes, it was described by Fiona Sampson as a 'joyous and transformative book'.
Friday 3rd July & Sunday 5th July 6pm, £10
Play by Gareth Owen, starring Annie Muscutt
Margaret Born a rehearsed play reading
A rehearsed reading of a Hardyesque drama, set in rural, Victorian England, telling the story of Margaret’s crime and subsequent punishment,
Saturday 4th July 6pm, £10
The Folk Collective
Folk Poetry and Song
Life…it’s a funny old thing isn’t it? The Folk Collective see life from a different angle. At The Castle Bookshop, The Folk Collective present a programme of Poetry and Folk Songs all about life as part of the bookshop’s 2026 season of live appearances.
Some poems and songs will be humorous, some will be serious, some will be really quite dark. But all of them will be fun! Many of the poems and songs are written by the members of The Folk Collective themselves.
Don’t miss Folk Poetry and Song by The Folk Collective (Kim Olyett, Martin Olyett and Julian Mount). You’ll never think about life in the same way again!
This is totally different show from last year (which was extremely well attended!)
Tuesday 14th July 6pm, £10
G R Lane
‘A Lane by the River’
G R Lane is a local author of two books on angling, ‘By Onny, Teme and Clun’ and ‘A Lane by the River’. He has recently written his first novel, a historical romance set in and around Bewdley.
G R Lane has fished the River Teme for more than half a century. It is more than just fish that keep him coming back it is the kingfisher, the dipper, the otter and the sound of running waters. He writes about the fascination of fishing, how angling is much more than just catching fish. Along with the skills needed to catch a fish, it is learning about what goes on below the surface of the river. He describes angling as a way of reconnecting to nature and taking part in the preservation and conservation of rivers and streams.
Tuesday 21st July. 6pm, £10
Ashley Mantle
The White Ship Disaster – how one maritime disaster led to civil war
On the night of 25 November 1120, a ship sailing from the port of Barfleur in Normandy to England struck a rock and sank shortly after leaving harbour. Of the three hundred people onboard, only one, a lowly cook, survived. It was a medieval maritime disaster to rival that of the Titanic and one that changed the course of English and Norman history forever. This was no mere merchant ship but one that contained many of the upper echelons of English and Norman society, most disastrously, William Aetheling, the only legitimate male heir of King Henry I of England and duke of Normandy. In the aftermath of the disaster, Henry, an ageing king, attempted to secure the succession in an unprecedented way – by making his only other legitimate child, his daughter, the ex-Empress Matilda, heir instead. However, when Henry died on 1 December 1135, it was not his daughter who inherited the throne but his nephew, Stephen of Blois, resulting in the civil war known as the ‘Anarchy’.
In this talk, author Ashley Mantle will chart the fascinating story of the build-up to the White Ship disaster, the event itself and how it led to the Anarchy.
Ashley Mantle is an author and historian who specialises in the Angevin and Norman periods of English history. He has written two books, King John: A Brief History and his latest release, Uncrowned: Royal Heirs Who Didn’t Take The Throne. He is currently writing a, Henry I: In the Shadow of the Conqueror, due to be released by Amberley Publishing in 2027. He lives in Worcestershire.
Friday 31st July 6pm, £10
Linda Hart and Max Hunt
Poems of the Sea
The sea is a perfect subject for poetry. It conjures up so many images -- of tempestuous storms, gentle breezes, high cliffs, pebbled beaches, gallant ships, courageous sailors. Linda Hart and Max Hunt have been trawling through oceans of verse to find poems with a watery theme. A.E. Housman’s observation on poems about the sea gets us off to an amusing start before many more poetic responses sail into view (by Matthew Arnold, Alfred Lord Tennyson, John Masefield, Lewis Carroll, Gillian Clarke, Stevie Smith, Robert Graves, John Betjeman, Robert Frost, etc.) The readings span approximately 1,000 years: from an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet concerned about a cold, hungry, wretched seafarer to Roger McGough recounting his family’s seaside staycation during Covid.
Saturday 1st August. 6pm, £10
Annie Muscutt
Wings of Words Storytelling:
A Pilgrim’s Progress
Annie Muscutt is a local lady of the shire, passionate to the core about storytelling. After many happy years of teaching, Wings of Words Storytelling was created to bring that passion from the classroom into the wider world of storytelling and has since basked in the warm appreciation of many different audiences.
Join Annie as she brings this famous landscape to life, in a world that maps the path to heaven along God’s highway. Walk alongside Christian, as he endeavours to reach his destination of the Heavenly City, though his journey is fraught with temptations, deadly foes and those who seek to beguile and confuse him. A Pilgrim’s Progress is a tale of faith, courage and loyal friendship, celebrating those that enhance our lives and reflecting the path we all walk in life, pursuing happiness through the goodness of our actions.
Tuesday 4th August 6pm, £10
Roger Whitmore
Fantasy in hardback
An informal talk about writing a fantasy novel. The inspirations and thoughts that went into my written journey for my book The broken rune staff and its subsequent follow on Seikyre. Legacy of the broken rune staff. And the ups and downs of getting it noticed and into bookshops with the tag, self publication.
Friday 7th August 6pm, £10
Leslie Scase
The Victorian Obsession with the Supernatural
Where did their interest come from? What were the new nineteenth century influences?
And what happened when science met the supernatural?
Join Crime Writer Association member Leslie Scase author of the Inspector Chard Mysteries as he explores the uncanny world of the late Victorian age
Saturday 8th August 6pm, £10
Stephen Palmer
Anarchy in the Secret Garden
Stephen Palmer is a Ludlow-based author of music and anthropology books.
His two recent music books were about the British punk revolution of 1976/77 and the group the punks loved to hate, Pink Floyd.
In this talk, Stephen will investigate the energy, fury and explosive music of punk. He will describe the origin and rise of prog rock titans Pink Floyd.
The talk will then compare and contrast 1970s punk philosophy with the themes of Pink Floyd, asking: were they so different after all?
Although punk was a working-class movement emerging from dirty London streets, while Pink Floyd were composed in the main of Cambridge architecture students, both punks and Floyd fans saw much in their conservative, class-conscious, money-minded society to inspire notable music. For every 'Anarchy In The UK' there was an 'Us & Them.'
This talk will transport you back fifty years to the music and social issues of the 1970s.
ROOFTOP THEATRE PRESENTS
Wednesday 12th to Saturday 15th August. 7pm, £13
By Simon Bolton
Who Wears the Trousers?
Wendy’s got a new job in Ed Walters’ Ludlow Trouser Factory. The pay’s good and the future looks bright. She’s set to marry Dennis, but how will the happy couple cope as Wendy’s wages outstrip his and she wants to buy a new bungalow on Sheet Road?
This new musical play follows the lives of the young lovers and those of the people involved with Ed Walters’ game-changing business that from the 50s to the 90s made Ludlow “the trouser capital of Europe”.
Tuesday 18th August. 6pm, £10
Clare Smout
Fabrics, Clothing and Theatrical Costumes in Shakespeare’s England
In this first of two paired talks, Clare discusses images of the incredible embroidered fabrics worn by Elizabethan I and of the equally elaborate (and sometimes outlandish) costumes designed by Inigo Jones for the Jacobean court masques. She outlines the legal restrictions on clothing and the implications for everyday life and for those in the theatre trade. She ends by
examining the importance Shakespeare’s contemporaries placed on keeping up with fast-changing fashions.
Clare Smout is a local Shakespeare specialist who spent the first half of her career working in theatre and the second half as a writer, academic researcher, and university lecturer. She runs regular courses on Shakespeare at Ludlow Assembly Rooms and elsewhere.
Thursday 20th August. 6pm, £10
Clare Smout
The Art of Portraiture in Shakespeare’s England
In this second of two paired talks, Clare offers a whistle-stop tour of her favourite portraits from the world of Shakespeare. She will be exploring grand court depictions of leading political figures; the exquisite 2-inch miniatures of Nicholas Hilliard, designed originally as love gifts; humbler paintings of parents with their children; images of theatrical personages and plays of the day – and the occasional wildly bizarre creations and cases of misattribution.
Clare Smout is a local Shakespeare specialist who spent the first half of her career working in theatre and the second half as a writer, academic researcher, and university lecturer. She runs regular courses on Shakespeare at Ludlow Assembly Rooms and elsewhere.
Thursday 21st August. 6pm, £10
Gareth Owen
Gareth Owen reads poems funny, sad and wistful in the Secret Garden, Castle Square Bookshop
Guinevere knew straight away
When King Arthur came to call
By his cheery cry of 'Honey I'm home!'
And the clanking in the hall.
Saturday 22nd August 6pm, £10
Caroline Wilcocks
James Stuart, Duke of York - the truth about the brother of Charles II and future King.
James II visited Ludlow in 1687, and the town’s civic regalia commemorates this. History paints James as stupid, licentious and stubborn. But did you know that he genuinely loved his wife? That he sincerely wished to establish religious toleration, and was friendly with William Penn, the Quaker? He was an affectionate father and a loyal brother. His relationship with Anne Hyde is a true love story, with several surprising twists and turns.
Following her novel, ‘Anne and James’, Caroline Willcocks examines his life, his career and his many loves, and suggests that in James’s case, history has been written by the victors, who had no reason to praise him.
Caroline Willcocks has worked in freelance journalism, the theatre and refugee charities. Now a full time writer she lives in Herefordshire with her husband the poet John Pare, a cat and a dog.
Sunday 23rd August 2pm, £10
Jem Roberts
The Folklore of British History
Very few histories of Britain begin any later than 40BC, with the invasion of Julius Caesar – because the folk he was slaughtering hadn't bothered to write anything down. However, the Britons had been preserving their history stretching back millennia via gossip around the tribal camp fires, leaving us with a wealth of ancient pseudo-history which no serious historian would ever touch with a bargepole. Thankfully, Jem Roberts is not a serious historian, but an author, storyteller and folklorist whose folktale anthology TALES OF BRITAIN finds a new way to look at our island story, from the origin tales of Princess Albina of Albion and Prince Brutus of Britain, right through to more modern inventions, such as the Loch Ness Monster, this is an hour of story-based British history from an entirely new folky angle.
Sunday 23rd August 3.30pm, £10
Jem Roberts
Blackadder’s Britain: A look at the history of fake news
History has known many great liars, but not as many as we currently have running the world. In this hilarious historical lecture, official Blackadder chronicler JF Roberts looks at the history of FAKE NEWS and shameless historical propaganda, both via the Blackadder version of history, as explored in his book The True History of the Black Adder, and throughout the history of History, as in his brand new multimedia historical non-fiction series, Histories of Britain, which traces the long history of lying propaganda from the invasion of Julius Caesar to the crimes of Donald Trump. Books will be available to have signed, both from the bookshop and from the author direct.
ROOFTOP THEATRE PRESENTS
Wednesday 26th to Friday 28th August. 6pm. £10
By Simon Bolton
Sharp Objects: A Rickards Fairytale
Rickards Ironmonger’s shop in Ludlow has been in business for generations…until recently.
Now closed, the building is steeped in history - infused into the damp, graffitied plaster, peeling wallpaper and scattered objects; all left behind as the shop doorbell rang its last.
Two photographs of the same shopworker, fifty years apart, discovered on a dusty shelf, have inspired a fairytale of the loves and lives haunting the premises, all too soon to be swept away for ever.
Saturday 29th August 6pm, £10
Emily Howes
Mrs Dickens
Emily Howes is a writer and existential psychotherapist. Her first novel, The Painter’s Daughters, won the Mslexia Novel Prize judged by Dame Hilary Mantel, and was one of The Times’ ten best historical novels of 2024.
Mrs Dickens, Emily’s second novel, tells the story of Catherine Dickens, who bore her husband ten children over the course of a twenty-two-year marriage, climbed Vesuvius, wrote a cookbook, yet still couldn’t live up to the Victorian ideal of the Angel in the House.
‘Mrs Dickens has my whole heart. Will undoubtedly be one of my books of the year…I was enthralled’
Jennie Godfrey
‘A beautiful, heartbreaking, immersive novel, which brings a woman's silenced story back to vivid, irrepressible life. A story about the cost of male ambition, and the courage it takes for a woman to reclaim her own narrative. Howes' distinctive voice is so warm, so relatable, so companionable; readers will fall in love with Kate, or "Mrs. Dickens'
Roisín O'Donnell
‘Powerful, tender and evocative, Mrs Dickens is a deeply thoughtful contribution to our understanding of the life of Catherine Dickens’
Harriet Constable
Tuesday 1st September 8pm, £10
Shropshire Rivers and Spanish Songs
Discover what happens when Shropshire creatives collaborate on a homage to the river Clun followed by a poetic and musical celebration of Catherine of Aragon's sojourn in Ludlow Castle.
Entitled River Clun, the 20-minute film of the Clun was shot by local film-maker Faith Limbrick. This intimate glimpse of the river at its most lush and verdant, is enhanced by music from composer Jeremy Jameson, whose studio is in Chapel Lawn, sonnets by Ludlow poet Rachel Spence, and a song, Living Waters, by acclaimed Welsh singer-songwriter Deborah Rose.
Since making River Clun, Rose and Spence have performed live together several times. Tonight they offer a combination of poetry and songs inspired by the rivers Clun and Teme and by Catherine of Aragon who spent her honeymoon at Ludlow Castle when married to Prince Arthur.
Afterwards Rose, Spence and Jameson will talk about the making of River Clun and there will be an opportunity for questions from the audience.
Welsh-born, Shropshire-based singer songwriter Deborah Rose has performed alongside Judy Collins, Jimmy Webb, and presidential candidate Marianne Williamson. An award-winning artist, Deborah’s music blends poetry and the psalms, and her voice touches all who are in her presence. Her latest album, Atlas, has been described by critics as “intelligent, literate and often downright beautiful.”
Jeremy Jameson is an ex-session drummer and a former cabinet maker and joiner. He now runs his own recording studio in Chapel Lawn, Shropshire and is embarking on composing scores for film.
As a poet, Rachel Spence has been described by Ella Frears as possessing "a steady hand and a wild, beating heart". A sonnet about Ludlow's river Teme from her latest collection Daughter of the Sun (The Emma Press, 2025) was highly commended in the Forward Prizes.
Friday 4th September 6pm, £10
Brian Anderson
On Top Of The world
Join Wirral based, photographer and adventurer, Brian Anderson on his 2011 voyage on one of the world’s largest and most powerful nuclear icebreakers, ’50 Years of Victory’, as it hammers its way through 4m thick ice in the Arctic Ocean, towards the Geographic North Pole at latitude 90 degrees N.
In this lavishly illustrated talk, you will hear his fantastic adventures from this expedition, and see his images of the 75,000 horsepower ship breaking ice. You will also see some of the stunning wildlife on the tundra and around the ice, including guillemots, kittiwakes, skuas, walruses, seals, arctic foxes and some very close encounters with polar bears and cubs in this remote Arctic wilderness.
Brian will also recount some humorous anecdotes on the way and introduce you to some of the amazing people he met on the voyage, including the Captain, Dmitriy Lobusov and ‘North Pole Pat’, one of the passengers.
This talk is not to be missed by armchair travellers and lovers of nature.
Tickets can be purchased in person from:
The Castle Bookshop,
5 Castle St, Ludlow, Shropshire, SY8 1AS
(01584) 872562 or
email enquiries@castlebookshop.co.uk
These are outdoor events so come dressed for the weather.
Seating is on garden seats and benches so you are welcome to bring a cushion.
Dogs welcome but some authors may prefer dogs not seated in the front.
In the unlikely event that a talk or show is cancelled no refunds will be given but tickets can be exchanged free of charge for another event.
Castle Bookshop reserves the right to amend the programme and cancel events at any time.
Castle Bookshop
5 Castle Street
Ludlow
Shropshire SY8 1AS
01584 872562
enquiries@castlebookshop.co.uk