Cosford 2019

On Saturday March 16th members of the Orwell Society met at RAF Cosford, a museum, for a day of education on the period of the Cold War.

Members Paul and Sue Rowlands reflect on their day.

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With 2019 the seventieth anniversary of the publication of 1984, RAF Cosford and its museum of the Cold War was the perfect venue for a day of discussion and reflection about Orwell and the resonances today of his seminal novel. Members of the society had gathered from all parts of the country and it was a good opportunity to meet with other members drawn to the society by their interest in Orwell and the way his writing speaks with urgency to our modern world.

After a tour of the beautifully presented museum and a good lunch, we had a series of talks each from a different perspective and each of them engrossing and fascinating in their own right. Richard Blair’s account of life on Jura with his father, where Nineteen Eighty-Four was written, was touching and evocative. David Craik gave a historical overview of the politics of the era and the early use of the phrase ‘cold war’ in Orwell’s essay ‘You and the Atom Bomb’, and we heard a gripping account of life on the front-line of ‘The Cold War’, with Squadron Leader Joe Marsden’s account of piloting a Vulcan Bomber on stand-by maintaining the UK’s nuclear deterrent. Masha Karp rounded off the talks with her description of life under totalitarianism in the Soviet Union during this era.

A lively discussion followed – with refreshments and chance to visit the museum again before we left for home.

All in all, a fine way to spend a day – our first visit to an Orwell Society event but certainly not our last.

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