Dorchester War Poetry Conference

Name: Dorchester War Poetry Conference
Start: 2025-11-08T09:30:00+00:00
End: 2025-11-09T16:00:00+00:00
Location: The Dorford Centre

Schedule

Sat, 08 Nov, 2025 at 09:30 am to Sun, 09 Nov, 2025 at 04:00 pm

UTC+00:00

Location

The Dorford Centre | Dorchester, EN

With the drums of war beating ever louder, what better time to explore the human cost of war, listening to the voices of those that lived through times of war and often, experienced it for themselves?
The Thomas Hardy Society is joining forces with other literary groups to give a stage to the words of some extraordinary writers: Thomas Hardy, T.E. Lawrence, Siegfried Sassoon and Edward Thomas, and discuss how they expressed themselves through the darkest days of war.
Participating societies are:

Thomas Hardy Society
T.E. Lawrence Society
Siegfried Sassoon Fellowship
Edward Thomas Fellowship
The War Poets' Association
Each group has a manned table at the event to provide additional information
Weekend Tickets include the Saturday evening concert
Saturday Only Tickets are also available
Member Discounts are available for the above participating groups
Weekend Itinerary
Saturday (The Dorford Centre, Dorchester)
0930 Registration
1000 Chairs’ Welcome
1015 War Poets Association – What is War Poetry?
1045 Coffee Break
1100 Thomas Hardy
1145 T.E. Lawrence
1230 Lunch
Visit to Keep Military Museum Grounds and Dorset History Centre (opposite venue) (Optional)
1400 Siegfried Sassoon
1445 Edward Thomas
1530 Afternoon Tea
1600 Plenary Discussion
1630 Networking
1700 Close
Saturday Evening
1730 Early Supper at The Rajpoot Indian Restaurant (optional)
1900 War Poetry Concert at St Mary’s Church, Dorchester
2030 Late Supper at The King’s Arms (optional)
Sunday, 9th November
0930 Coffee at The King’s Arms
1030 Wreath-laying at Dorchester War Memorial
1145 Reassemble King’s Arms
1230 The Prisoner of War Memorial Service at Fordington
1400 Sunday Lunch
1600 Wilfred Owen Performance (tbc)
1700 Close
There will be an exhibition set up in the Dorford Centre and the Casterbridge Room by local historian, Brian Bates, on Dorchester during WW1, and possibly a talk at 1130 on Sunday for those not attending the services.