A new play based on the wartime experiences of a young woman evacuated to Borth in the 1940s will be performed in Aberystwyth next weekend.

This Small Heaven is based on Rosemary Hall (née Jagger), who was evacuated to Aberystwyth as a student at Chelsea College of Physical Education.

Her memories were collected and curated by her daughter, Aberystwyth artist and university staff member, Alison Pierce.

Alison kept voice recordings of stories her mother told of her time at The Grand Hotel in Borth, PE training on the beaches and attending the dances at the King’s Hall.

After Rosemary’s death in 2019, Alison found a box in the bottom of her mother’s wardrobe. Inside were letters sent between Rosemary and Fred, her former sweetheart, and a bittersweet story of carefree and happy days mixed with tragedy and loss.

They shone a light on what life was really like for students in Aberystwyth during World War II, and the events that shaped the resilient person that Rosemary would become.

Kate Sullivan, who coordinates the Aberystwyth at War project funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, commissioned the Creative Learning department at Aberystwyth Arts Centre to produce a piece of community theatre based on Rosemary’s stories.

The script is based on Alison’s audio recordings as well as Rosemary and Fred’s letters and blends verbatim lines and photographs of Rosemary’s time in Aberystwyth with dramatised scenes of what her time here might have been like.

It features a cast of 27 who take us from cricket on the beaches of Borth to a quickstep in the King’s Hall and moonlit walks on the prom.

Alison said: “The play serves as a reminder that people during World War II were not so different from today. We share the same anxieties, fears, sadness, joy, and gratitude, all hoping to find ‘this promised goal’, and holding on tight when we do.”

Anna Sherratt, who has written and directed the play, said: “It is lovely to be rehearsing with a wonderful cast to stage a moving true story, which is often strikingly close to the things we are experiencing now. I am grateful to Alison for her work in carefully and diligently preserving her mother’s memories, which she has generously shared with the project so that others can learn about and experience a snapshot of wartime Aberystwyth. I’d also like to thank Kate and Dr Sian Nicholas for their incredible support in research and development for the script, Amanda Trubshaw and the staff at Aberystwyth Arts Centre for the work behind the scenes to make this production possible. This is a magical opportunity to travel back to 1940s Aberystwyth, and not to be missed!”

This Small Heaven is at Aberystwyth Arts Centre today (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday), 28 and 29 January at 7.30pm.