Saturday 25 May, 5pm, £25, Student or NHS workers, £10
Messum’s Restaurant will be open serving a two-course menu for £35 per person. Seating at 7pm  VIEW MENU

Wartime letters between the actress Celia Johnson and her husband Peter Fleming read by their daughter, Lucy Fleming, with Simon Williams.

These touching and amusing letters from Celia to her husband, Peter, tell of her experiences during the war – coping with a large isolated house full of evacuated children, learning to drive a tractor, becoming an Auxiliary Policewoman, grappling with the mysteries of cooking – all the while accepting offers, to act – for David Lean, Noel Coward films, broadcasts, and ultimately in 1945 starring in the classic film Brief Encounter.

Peter Fleming was away for most of the war – he writes about his adventures and trials working on deception in India and the Far East.

Not only are the letters highly engaging, but they also provide a fascinating historical insight into that time of true austerity and fearfulness.

“It is an evening that will charm you, intrigue you and make you laugh, cry and remember the terror and trivia of life during WWII.” – Joanna Lumley

“Lucy and Simon’s reading of the wartime correspondence of her parents’ (Celia Johnson and Peter Fleming) is a lovely reminder of the fast disappearing art of letter-writing. Their letters are funny and romantic and somehow transport us to a world that seems more decent and less selfish than our own.” –  Julian Fellowes

“I wasn’t prepared for how funny the letters were, nor how touching. Those war years seem to have formed one of those rare Elizabethan-like pockets of time which imbues everyone with humour, articulacy, honesty.” – Nicholas Shakespeare