Masefield Matters

14/06/2026

A big thank you to Captain Roger Francis and Captain Kevin Slade (Merchant Navy Association) for giving an interesting and engaging talk about life in the Merchant Navy, and careers at sea to John Masefield students last week.

John Masefield joined the training ship HMS Conway, aged just 13. He later became an officer in the Merchant Navy.

His time in the Merchant Navy profoundly shaped his life and career, inspiring his most famous nautical poems and his official accounts of merchant seamen in wartime.

05/06/2026

Artists and trail designers - we need you! Could you design the future of John Masefield's legacy with an engaging literary walking trail around Ledbury! Visit our website to find out more (commissioning brief is available via a PDF link)

www.ledburytowncouncil.gov.uk/masefield

Masefield Matters is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with thanks to National Lottery players, and Herefordshire BID.

01/06/2026

We're celebrating John Masefield's 148th birthday in partnership with Shakespeare's birthplace Trust with a carefully curated day about Masefield's connection to Shakespeare and Stratford, and about memorialisation of a town. 20 students from John Masefield High School joined Rev Dr Paul Edmondson and Dr Nick Walton for a wonderful day of learning and exploring.

And of course, no birthday celebration would be complete without a 'box of delights' and a candle to blow out on the cake

The National Lottery Heritage Fund

14/05/2026

As we celebrate the decision for the memorial to take the form of a trail in Ledbury, we begin to prepare for the commissioning phase. We will be releasing a brief in June in the hope of finding someone who can bring this vision to life! Keep your eyes peeled....

12/05/2026

11/05/2026

Have you spotted our event in the amazing festival programme? Feat. board member and JM expert Dr Philip W Errington and Sara-Jane Arbury. Tickets available from the Ledbury Poetry website.

'Perhaps best known for his work in later life as Poet Laureate, in 1915 John Masefield joined the British Red Cross as an orderly in France. After returning home, he wrote about the horrors of war that he experienced in four books: Gallipoli, The Old Front Line, War and the Future, and Battle of the Somme. An opportunity for history and poetry enthusiasts alike to hear from leading authority on Masefield, Philip Errington, with Masefield’s poems brought to life by Sara-Jane Arbury.'

Kindly sponsored by Nigel and Alison Falls

08/05/2026

Chair of Masefield Matters, Justine Peberdy said: “Thank you to everyone who contributed to the public consultation. John Masefield’s memorial will be a lasting asset for Ledbury, inspired by his life and works, and shaped by our communities.”

See our blog page (link in bio) for more information and what's next in this exciting stage of the project.

This project has been made possible with a grant of £222,220 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with thanks to National Lottery players.

08/05/2026

John Masefield was a highly prolific writer, and had a career spanning around 65 years. In that time he wrote poetry, verse and prose plays, novels, non-fiction and autobiographies. Here are some suggestions on where to start. A full list of Masefield's publications can be found at the John Masefield Society website.

If you'd like a biography of John Masefield, 'John Masefield: A Life' by Constance Babington Smith is a concise summary of his life and how his experiences impacted his work.

04/05/2026

Join Masefield Matters Board member Tim Keyes at 2:30pm for a talk on 'Masefield's Herefordshire Paradise'.

For more information about how to get to the venue, click here https://www.bigapple.org.uk/blossomtime/

01/05/2026

Judith Masefield is best known for illustrating a number of her father's works, including 'The Box of Delights', 'Right Royal' and 'The Dream'. She also wrote books herself, including 'Mary's Spinning' and 'the Marvellous Merlad'. Her younger brother Lewis was also an author, and had aspired to continue writing, though his life was tragically cut short. His novel 'Cross and Double Cross' was his only work published in his lifetime, but another novel 'The Passion Left Behind' was published posthumously with a 19 page preface written by his grieving father.