HRH Prince Charles receives the first copy of Under the Surface…
Matilda Temperley will be presenting her new book at a private launch at The Seed Factory
6-9pm Thursday 31 July
Just before Christmas 2013 fields across the Somerset Levels began to flood. This has happened countless times before but for the second year running the waters did not recede.
Two decades of neglect of a complex network of drainage ditches and man-made rivers meant that the winters subsequent record rainfall was unable to escape to the sea. For the first three weeks of this disaster, residents were effectively left to their own devices, children were ferried to school on tractors, farmers were forced to evacuate animals trapped by rising flood water.
Over January and February 2014, the scene evolved from one of beauty and fun to a toxic landscape of dead animals, raw sewage, destroyed homes and ruined livelihoods.
The was a man-made disaster caused by the failure to maintain the balance between conservation and the flood defences that have survived for centuries. It is a lesson for which the people of Somerset have paid a high price.
This book documents the unique community of the levels and highlights the failures in river management, which led to this disaster.
Images by photographer Matilda Temperley, captions by the community. Foreword by Michael Eavis of Glastonbury Festival.
Please Contact Sarah at Ebenezer Presents either by E-mail or telephone 07879 206543
If you can’t get to the event, you may also purchase the book online HERE
