The life of a wartime writer and broadcaster will be remembered in a three-day celebration around the Shropshire town where he lived and worked.
Simon Evans was a postman who found fame with five books about rural life and shows on BBC radio before his death, aged just 44 in 1940.
He has been honoured in Cleobury Mortimer, where he worked for 14 years, with a 17-mile (28km) walk called the Simon Evans Way, based on his postal round.
This weekend will see guided walks tracing his footsteps along the way with a “Walk on the Home Front” considering his life as a World War One survivor writing before and during World War Two, as well as to the summit of nearby hills Titterstone Clee and Abdon Burf, which Evans refereed to as “my brother” and “my sister”.
Tomorrow folk group Whalebone will also be playing a show from 7pm on Saturday at Cleobury Sports and Social Club.
But the centrepiece of the celebrations will be a photographic competition held from Saturday to Monday at Cleobury Mortimer Library, with the theme of documenting the rural life Evans loved, wrote and talked about, in the area he lived.
Graham Simpson, of the Friends of Cleobury Mortimer Library, said he had been bowled over by the number of entries received for the “My Simon Evans Way” competition.
He said “We hoped people would send in photographs that gave their impression of the countryside, farming activities or the leisure activities that typify this part of south Shropshire and we’ve had a great response.
“I can’t keep up. It’s way in excess of 70 photographs now,” he said adding that competition judge Claire Carter would have a difficult job ahead.
All entries will be on display at the library on Saturday, alongside historic photographs, memorabilia and artifacts connected with Evans himself.
