(Mon 29th / 7.30pm / £3/£4)

Local historians Dave Cullum and Kev Davis examine how
and why in the 18th and 19th centuries ordinary people
risked life and limb to carry tin, tobacco, brandy and
much more into the country under the nose of Customs
and Excise. Many others plundered the wrecks that
regularly washed up on the West Country’s long coast
line, knowing that this was their customary right, as
the discarded goods were regarded as the sea’s
‘commons’. Were they radicals, looters, folk heroes,
or a combination of all three?

The evening also features the film WHISKEY GALORE!
Based on a true story, a group of Scottish islanders
attempt to plunder 50,000 cases of whiskey from a
stranded ship. Only an (English) home guardsman stands
in their way. An Ealing classic that still has a
resonance in the 21st Century.