Book Launch with Ken Worpole

No matter how many skies have fallen: back to the land in wartime Britain

3pm Sunday 1st August 2021

Nottage Institute

Wivenhoe Quay

Tickets £5.00 ( Tea & biscuits included)

To book call 01206 824050 0r email

Writer and social historian Ken Worpole will be joining us for a presentation and conversation about his fascinating new book on the Frating Hall Farm community, No Matter How Many Skies Have Fallen.

On Lady Day, 25 March 1943, a group of  Christian socialists and pacifists inspired by religious and communitarian ideals and the writings of DH Lawrence and John Middleton Murry, took possession of a 300 acre farm in Frating, Essex, creating a self-sufficient community of up to 50 adults and children  – and a sanctuary for refugees and prisoners-of-war – which lasted for twelve years. The story of this  has never been told before.

No Matter How Many Skies Have Fallen recreates the life of the Frating Hall Farm community through the recorded memories of the children who grew up there, combined with archive documents, letters and photographs – creating an enquiry into the passionate ideals of the back-to-the-land movement in wartime and post-war England, especially strong in Essex.