E F BENSON GHOST STORIES – 8, 9, 10 December

To raise money for FOAM we are planning a very special [and quite spooky] event in December.  Over three evenings, our fantastic readers will each be presenting a ghost story written by E F Benson.

Today the author is chiefly remembered, for his Mapp and Lucia novels, portraying social rivalry in the nineteen thirties in Rye, where he lived. However, it was for his ghost stories that he was best known during his own lifetime, creating tales that featured vampires, homicidal spirits, monstrous spectral worms and slugs and other entities of nameless dread, while at times having a comic dig at charlatan mediums.

We have chosen a selection of the most chilling and, to create a suitable atmosphere, the cellar at Lines End will be specially dressed and lit for the occasion. The event will take place at 7.30pm on Friday December 8th, Saturday December 9th and Sunday December 10th.  On each evening you will first assemble in the Lower Court Hall, you will then be led by lantern light to the cellar, where our four readers will be waiting with their scary stories. The event should finish at approximately 9.30pm.

Please note this event is not suitable for young children. Dress warmly, and wear sensible shoes, as the steps down to the cellar are quite steep.

At each performance we have room to seat just 25 people, so please book early. The price is £22.50 (plus booking fee) per person and includes a glass of mulled wine, or non-alcoholic equivalent. Tickets can be booked online at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/foam.    Scroll down and select the date you would like to attend.

In 2024, FOAM will be helping to fund vital maintenance to the West Elevation of the Lower Court Hall, please support our efforts, by attending this unique event.  We do hope you can join us.

In the forward to a collection of his ‘spook’ stories, Benson wrote:  “These stories have been written in the hopes of giving some pleasant qualms to their reader, so that before they go to bed, when the night and house are still, they may perhaps cast an occasional glance into the corners and dark places of the room, to make sure that nothing unusual lurks in the shadow. For this is the avowed object of ghost-stories and such tales as deal with the dim unseen forces which occasionally and perturbingly make themselves manifest. The author therefore fervently wishes his readers a few uncomfortable moments.”

If you need any further information, please contact Chris Chappell or any member of the FOAM committee. committee.foam@membermojo.co.uk