A village phone box has been turned into a permanent exhibition as the county celebrates the 50th anniversary of Sir Peter Hall's classic 1974 film about a farming family - Akenfield.

The display - created thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund - officially opened in Charsfield, near Wickham Market, on Saturday, October 19.

The film tells the story of a farming family who lived for generations in a village based in Charsfield and its surrounding villages.

Jenny Hall (daughter of Sir Peter) introduces readings from the book Akenfield by Ronald Blythe  (Image: UEA)

The cast was not drawn from professional actors, but instead from Suffolk villages. A real-life local man - Garrow Shand - played three central roles as farmhand Tom Rouse, his father and his grandfather. 

These struggle through great poverty, physical hardship and the pressures of mechanisation, two world wars and a rapidly changing society.

The film was based on a best-selling book called Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village, which was written by Ronald Blythe - who died in January - and published in 1969. The book was translated into 20 languages.

It was based on the recollections of farmers, artisans and residents living near the author - who was based in Great Glemham - in Suffolk villages in the 1960s.

(Image: UEA)

In 1974, it was adapted for film by Sir Peter Hall and was seen by a television audience of 14 million viewers when it was first broadcast on ITV in January 1975.

It was the first film to be simultaneously shown on terrestrial TV and released in British cinemas.

It was described as “one of the best films - and certainly the most unusual - made in and about England”.

The phone box in Charsfield is a K6 ‘Jubilee’ model of the type designed by Giles Gilbert Scott to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of King George V in 1935.

The display includes stills from the film alongside explanatory text, produced in collaboration between CreativeUEA, Charsfield Parish Council and Great Yarmouth-based arts organisation originalprojects.

The gathering at Charsfield (Image: UEA) The anniversary celebrations will continue with a full day of events at the University of East Anglia on Sunday, November 24.

There will be a screening of the film, and of short  films created by sixth-form students in East Anglia for education project Akenfield Now (2018-2024). 

The project introduced the work of Ronald Blythe and Peter Hall to students who conducted oral history interviews with residents of the ‘Akenfield’ locality and made original films.

The event will also feature reflections on making Akenfield by Sir Peter Hall's daughter Jenny Hall.

The day will include an Akenfield-inspired performance by singer-songwriter Wes Finch, and Countless Edens, an exhibition of photography of Ronald Blythe’s home and garden in Wormingford, near Colchester, by photographer Mark Edwards, who will also discuss his experience working with the author.

A compilation of films representing East Anglia compiled by the East Anglian Film Archive - including rarely seen outtakes from the original film shoot - will be screened.

In 2020, the University of East Anglia (UEA) was awarded £76,300 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for a project to continue the oral history of the Suffolk communities who were the subject of the original Akenfield.

The Akenfield Now project was led by Professor John Gordon, of UEA’s School of Education and Lifelong Learning, and involved Suffolk residents and students from Kesgrave High School in Ipswich, Sir Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham, and UEA.

It aimed to introduce young people to oral history and film archiving and saw students working with the East Anglian Film Archive (EAFA), Norfolk Record Office, BBC Voices, Empty Vessel theatre company and oral historians, to make films to match oral history accounts of life in the area. The project was also the focus of a BBC Archive on 4 broadcast, also called Akenfield Now and presented by a student of Kesgrave High School.

Professor John Gordon said: "Akenfield is an important and thought-provoking representation of East Anglia which means a great deal to people in the region.

"It also reflects a spirit of cultural innovation that remains strong in the East of England. We hope more people can get to know Akenfield through our celebrations and the unique phone box exhibition originated by the Charsfield community”.

Jenny Hall said her father's work was filmed on weekends with no professional actors, no distributor, a synopsis rather than a script

“The film that my father, Ronnald Blythe and Rex Pyke made together in 1974 through their company Angle Films, was an absolutely bonkers endeavour," she said.

"But after filming finished, my father wrote to Benjamin Britten: 'It is quite amazing what the people of Suffolk have done." And he was so proud.

"It’s hard to put into words just how much this film meant to everyone who was involved, and how much it continues to mean to the extended community.”

Charsfield parish council chairwoman Jan Pedgrift said:  “Charsfield is very grateful to National Lottery players and the Heritage Fund ,  the University of East Anglia and East Suffolk Council for giving us a lasting legacy which celebrates the film Akenfield together with a temporary exhibition area to showcase our village talents now and in the future."