Stories on ‘Remembering Remembrance’ at Keyford pub

A sequence of stories, titled ‘Remembering Remembrance’, will be shared by local storyteller Mike Rogers at The Crown Inn, Keyford, on Wednesday 19th November at 7.30pm.

Mike Rogers, winner of the Frome Writers Collective Writers in Residence Short Story Competition in 2024, will read stories he wrote following his debut at the pub last month with a set of ghost stories.

He said, “Over a century since World War I ended, and 80 years since the atomic conclusion of World War II, the world has been speckled with blood shed in countless other conflicts, not all of which are dignified with the name of ‘war’.

“Yet in this country our remembrance of ‘the fallen’ is still symbolised by the poppy that grew in Flanders fields.

“Annually, at this time of year, when we think about the dead – Halloween, All Souls’ Day, and the growing darkness all encourage it – I sit down and write a Remembrance Story. It may be about name boards in traditional schools, mud and barbed wire, big memorials in London, or the way death tore through a little village – but I’m always asking: what have we learnt from this? I don’t have the answers, but I’m prepared to pose the questions. Are they ghost stories? One or two would qualify – but as I always say, what is a ghost but a piece of the past that refuses to go away?”

Mike hopes to find a slot in December to read some more stories, Christmas-themed this time, at The Crown.