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To be staged by the newly formed Heritage Players with many members of the local community at Seaton Town Hall, from Tues 26th July – Sat 30th July at 7:30pm, with a Saturday matinee at 2:30pm. A story of an abandoned mother and daughter, smuggling, love, betrayal and the great landslip of 1839. It includes live, authentic folk music, song and dance of the period intertwined into the scenes as the story unfolds. Level and tiered seating. Refreshments available. All welcome. £8 adult, £4 children. Tickets available from Seaton Town Hall Box Office 01297 625699 from mid June. Here are some of the questions you may have regarding our community play. If you have any question not covered below, please contact us via the website. What are the aims of WINEFRED? I can offer some sponsorship, who should I contact to discuss this? Who took the location photographs? The first community play for over 30 years, in East Devon, is to be performed in July at Seaton Town Hall, by the newly formed Heritage Players. Winefred revolves around a 19th century local story with over 100 participants from the local area, of all abilities, performing all manner of roles both front and back stage. Winefred was chosen because of its relevance to the landscape of this part of the coast and to Seaton, its neighbouring coastal towns and rural villages. It’s a fast moving, exciting story of an abandoned mother and daughter, smuggling, love, betrayal and the great landslip of 1839. It includes live authentic folk music, song and dance of the period intertwined into the scenes as the story unfolds.
Winefred is based on the novel of the same name by the Victorian Devon parson, Sabine Baring-Gould, which has been adapted for the stage by John Seward who is a member of the Seaton Visitor Centre Trust.
Sabine Baring-Gould, who is best known for his stirring hymn ‘ Onward Christian Soldiers’ was also an avid collector of 19th Century English folk music, which owes much of its survival to him. Winefred will feature performances of the authentic folk music of the 19th Century, much of which will be Baring-Gould’s. Paul Wilson, of Wren Music, will co-ordinate and supervise the music and Seaton based dance teacher, Sara Perry, of Confi-dance will direct the dancing. Winefred is funded partly by the Seaton Visitor Centre Trust with a grant from Making It Local, a locally managed grants scheme in the Blackdown Hills and East Devon AONB areas. The extra funding has enabled tiered seating to be hired for the venue and also the folk music and song to be arranged by Wren Music, Devon’s folk and community arts development organisation.
The SVCT are grateful to all those who have helped in any way. Performances are Tues July 26th – Sat July 30th, 7:30pm, matinee on Saturday at 2:30pm. Tickets £8 for adults, £4 for children from Seaton Town Hall Box Office, from mid June, 01297 625699.
What are the aims of WINEFRED? The main aims of WINEFRED, as a catalyst for the aims of the Seaton Visitor Centre Trust, are to connect people to their local landscape, creating a positive impact on the environment, the community and the economy. Our aims are to: • Draw the community together to celebrate and learn
about their past and their landscape through a local story, not
only its people but most importantly the natural geographical happenings,
resulting in the famous Bindon landslip of 1839, between Seaton
and Lyme Regis and the formation of the Undercliff that we can see
today. The Seaton Visitor Centre Trust has applied and been successful by gaining most of the funding towards WINEFRED from Making It Local, a locally managed grants scheme in the Blackdown Hills and East Devon AONB areas, incorporating funding from the EU, Defra, South West RDA and Leader.” The remaining funding is being provided by Seaton Visitor Centre Trust and their supporters. For more information regarding Making It Local and the UK and EU Rural Development programmes please refer to www.makingitlocal.org and www.rdpenetwork.org.uk or http://enrd.ec.europa.eu. The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas.
Wren Music is supported by Arts Council England, Devon County Council and Exeter City Council and they have the Sabine Baring-Gould collection in their sole care and custody. They will work with the Director providing and creating a score to complement the play, using authentic Baring-Gould 19th Century folk music and tutoring the musicians. Paul Wilson, of Wren Music, will act as the Musical Director but will pass his skills to a local musical director, who will then run with rehearsals under his overall guidance. Find out all about Wren Music projects, community choirs and orchestras for young people and for adults, and Wren CDs and songbooks at www.wrenmusic.co.uk. Wren Music is a company limited by guarantee Registered in England and Wales No 6774932, and is a Registered Charity No 1128790 I can offer some sponsorship, who should I contact to discuss this? We have opportunities to advertise your company or offering via WINEFRED so if you would like to offer some financial support or sponsor some aspect of the play, in return for advertising (or if you wish to discuss another way to offer your support) please contact us through info@seatonvisitorcentretrust.org or phone 0776 280 8629. Thank you. Who took the location photographs? All photographs taken by David Shackleton BA Hons. Photographs taken on the 27th April and 29th April 2011, on location at Stepps House, Axmouth, Seaton Hole, Seaton and Beer Beach, Beer. Model release forms available for all actors used in photographs Copyright ©2011 David Shackleton. All Rights Reserved. This work may not be reproduced without the permission of David Shackleton. David is available for portrait and business commissions, for more information please contact daveshackleton@hotmail.com
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Welcome to WINEFRED - 
It is set in and around the hamlet of Seaton, the year of the catastrophic landslip between Lyme Regis and Seaton, with contrasting scenes in elegant Bath. The story includes the smuggling which was endemic to the coastline around Seaton, Beer and Branscombe at the time, and the real life smuggler Jack Rattenbury is one of the leading characters.
Penny Elsom, the Director and the Heritage Players are delighted to have Brian Rattenbury from Lyme Regis, playing Job, one of the main parts. He is the great, great, great, great grandson of Job (John Rattenbury) who was father to Jack, the infamous smuggler of Beer. The novel, by Sabine Baring-Gould, mixes fact and fiction and in the play Job plays an important part in Jack’s life although they were parted when Jack was born. Two local students play the main parts of Winefred (Lara Howard, Beer) and Jack Rattenbury (Alex Hall, Axminster) with coaching on the Devon dialect from another local, Jane Dickson.
The Heritage Players are a new group of drama enthusiasts
who have been working hard, over many months, with a Steering Committee,
to plan for the production of WINEFRED. They represent the local
drama societies, including Seaton, Colyton, Shute, Sidmouth and
Sidbury and have been commissioned to put on WINEFRED as a community
play by the Seaton Visitor Centre Trust. The Director is Penny Elsom,
who has written and directed two community plays amongst other dramatic
involvement, and who holds an MA (hon.) in Theatre Studies from
Exeter University and a LRAM in speech and drama from the Royal
Academy of Music. It is anticipated that the Heritage Players will
perform more productions about local heritage in the future. 
Wren Music is Devon’s folk and community arts development
organisation. Over 30,000 people of all ages take part in Wren Music
projects each year, in the community and in education, across Devon
and farther afield.