Akenfield Exhibition Opens with Film Screening and Special Guests

Last weekend the museum celebrated the opening of the Akenfield Revisited exhibition with a special screening of Peter Hall’s iconic 1974 film Akenfield, shown to a packed audience at The Regal. Afterwards, museum director Jenny Cousins hosted a conversation with Jenny Hall (director of SHAKE Festival and daughter of Sir Peter Hall) and Polly Pike (daughter of producer Rex Pyke), who shared personal stories of their memories of Akenfield.

One of the audience members was Sue Dring, who appeared in the film as a child. Sue shared her reflections on both the exhibition and the screening:

“The exhibition was fascinating. I particularly liked the way in which you had created a room devoted to Ronnie Blythe and a room devoted to the film. I am sure he would have been very pleased with both. I also liked the map of places in Charsfield; the school, Baptist Chapel, Post Office etc. All very familiar. We used to live at Hill Farm – opposite Hall Road and could look down at St Peter’s and part of the street. It was quite poignant to see the mannequin wearing some of Ronnie’s clothes.

It was good to meet Jenny Hall and Polly Pryke and to hear their observations following the film. We were so lucky that Ronnie decided to ask children from Charsfield Primary School to be extras in the film. Obviously, at the age of ten I had no idea who Peter Hall was or what filming involved. I think we were rather surprised at the number of takes that were done for parts of the school scene (the old one). The great thing was that we weren’t told what was going to happen so our reactions were genuine and not rehearsed.

The teacher was strict but we were quite used to that as Mrs Clarke – on the whistle in Ufford playground – was very fierce. She would threaten to cut tongues out with a penknife and would knock children’s heads on her desk if they were a bit slow on the uptake. She certainly had respect as did Miss Quantrill (excepting Tom on that particular day…). We had to eat up every scrap of the school dinner and we had to sit there until the last pupil finished. You could only go to the loo at breaktime or the start of lunch. She was an excellent teacher though.

I know Garrow quite well as we are very friendly with other members of the Shand family. It was lovely to sit next to Garrow and Helen and chat about some of the characters in the film and his experience of being in Akenfield at twenty-three. He nudged me during the baptism scene and pointed out Helen all dressed up for the occasion in the chapel in her peaked cap and early Seventies outfit. I have seen the film umpteen times on DVD and about five times on the big screen and each time I spot more people that I knew and small details. This time I spotted the actual vicar, Cecil Fox, coming out of one of the houses in Charsfield with a briefcase and Garrow’s yellow van…”

Prior to the film screening, guests enjoyed an abundant spread of local produce and onsite-made goods prepared by the museum’s Learning Team Manager David. In honour of dishes featured in the film, the feast included rabbit terrine, Suffolk cheeses, Food Museum bread, seasonal fruit and veg and Peggy’s famous Suffolk rusks.

The Akenfield Revisited exhibition runs until April 2026, and tickets are now on sale for the Akenfield theatre production by SHAKE Festival, which will be performed at the Food Museum on 5 October 2025. Click the link to find out more.

The Suffolk Rusks were from the recipe used by the film’s leading lady and country woman – Peggy Cole.

Peggy Cole’s Suffolk Rusks

Ingredients

• 450g self-raising flour

• A good pinch of salt

• 170g fat (85g lard, 85g margarine)

• 2 eggs, beaten

• A little water, as needed

Method

1. Preheat oven to 450°F / 230°C.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Rub in the lard and margarine until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

3. Stir in the beaten eggs and mix to form a smooth dough, adding a little water if needed.

4. Roll out the dough to about 1 inch thick. Cut into rounds approximately 2½ inches in diameter.

5. Place on a baking tray and bake for 10–12 minutes.

6. Remove from the oven, carefully split each rusk in half, and return to the oven for a further 10–15 minutes or until golden brown.

7. Allow to cool.

Enjoy cold with plenty of butter and/or cheese.