Last call for 'Against the National Interest' tickets

There are less than two weeks to go until we perform Against The National Interest - our story of World War One conscientious objector Vale Rawlings - at Derby Museum and Art Gallery as part of the 2026 Derby Peace Week.

A few tickets are still available for this one-off performance, on Sunday September 20th, from the Derby Museum website. Doors open at 12.30 and the talk - with live performance elements - will run from 1pm to 3pm including an interval.

A standard ticket costs £5, concessions are £3 and there is a pay-it-forward ticket at £10.

What is Against the National Interest?

Against the National Interest tells the story of Vale Rawlings, a conscientious objector from Burton upon Trent, It is a talk with dramatic, live performance elements. Writer Elaine Pritchard acts as narrator and three actors read multiple roles as the story of anti-war activists unfolds.

Every word spoken by our three cast members is taken directly from original letters, official documents, and contemporary newspaper reports. Dan Tunks, who played Vale Rawlings in our 2024 production of Strikers! at Burton Town Hall, reprises that role here. He reads from letters that Vale wrote while he was in custody and they reveal the verbal abuse and occasional acts of violence Vale faced at this time. But there are also moments of happiness when he encounters compassion and kindness from some of his guards and from other like-minded prisoners. In this performance, Dan also reads the words of other people connected with the story, such as the sympathetic Labour MP Philip Snowden.

Also reprising their 'Strikers!' roles as Vale's sister Lily and his best friend Austin Smith are Caitlin Gill and Dominic White. This time they also read the words of other characters including Vale's wife Nell and the MP Charles Duncan. As Burton upon Trent JP Charles Harrison, Dominic speaks the words that inspired the event's title. As military representative at Vale's tribunal, where he sought an exemption from service, Charles filled in a card that still exists at Staffordshire History Centre saying it was not in the national interest for Vale to remain in civilian employment.

Why are Derby's Wheeldon family included?

When Elaine first discussed the idea of staging a show about Vale with Derby Peace Week organisers, they asked whether it would be possible to included the story of the Wheeldon family from Derby. This rather better-known story features a family whose alleged actions during World War One were seen as very much against the national interest. Alice Wheeldon, two of her daughters and her son-in-law were accused of conspiracy to posion the Prime Minister David Lloyd-George and the Leader of the Labour Party Arthur Henderson.

Elaine explained: "It was ideal to include the Wheeldons. I knew for a fact that Vale had met and helped Hettie Wheeldon, who stood trial alongside her mother, in the weeks before war broke out. But I think it's highly likely that they would have known each other through socialist and trade union circles as well as through the No Conscription Fellowship and the fight for votes for women. There are similarities between the stories. Both faced injustice and likely conspiracy from forces who disagreed with their beliefs.

"I have less original material about the Wheeldons, but the performance does include a touching article by suffragette and pacifist Sylvia Pankhurst that reflects on the Wheeldon case and a passionate speech given by John S Clarke over the grave of Alice Wheeldon and reported verbatim at the time. The perfornance also explains how Vale and Hettie met on a dramatic Sunday evening in Burton Market Place.

Who else has helped stage this performance?

Elaine and the cast are grateful for the support and help of Dan Webber from Derby Museums and Imti Choonara of Derby Peace Week.

The performance will begin and end with a specially-made recording of a rousing version of the patriotic First World War music hall song, The Army of Today's All Right. Thanks go to Hettie Baker who recorded this new version, in the style of Vesta Tilley who made the song a hit in the war years. Heather Gallagher created the recording. In the spirit of people reprising roles, a young Hettie sang the same song in Elaine's first play, The Godmother, staged in 2021 by pupils from Heather Gallagher's StageScreen performing arts school. The Godmother covered the story of Lily Thomas, another largely forgotten slice of Burton history.

Will there be any way of supporting Forgotten Burton Stories charities?

Elaine will have copies of her Vale Rawlings book, Friendship, Love & Truth, for sale at the event priced £15.99. This includes chapters about Vale's time as a conscientious objector but also looks at his early life, his controversial trial for assault and his work to regenerate the Burton area as a councillor between the wars. All proceeds from book sales will be shared between local charities YMCA Burton and SARAC. Also on sale will be four limited edition Vale Rawlings postcards, reprinted from original 1914 ones, that also raise money for our chosen charities.

Why was Vale's treatment as a conscientious objector so controversial?

If you saw Strikers! or if you've read about Vale on this website, you will know that he was only four feet 11 inches. This was why eye witnesses said it was ridiculous for a six-feet tall police inspector to claim that Vale punched him in the chest outside the so-called 'flycatcher girls' factory on Burton's Moseley Street weeks before war broke out. During the First World War, the minimum height for soldiers never dropped below five feet two inches. On top of this, Vale suffered from congenital heart disease and severe rheumatism, yet he was still passed in the top category, Class A, at his medical examination after he received his call-up papers. Join us on September 20th at Derby Museum to find out more!