CANNON ON THE LAY

NEAPTIDE PROJECTS

(Salcombe) Ltd

PUBLISHING ~ SCRIPTS ~ SCREENPLAYS ~ MANAGEMENT

Cannon on the Ley

By David Cohen.

Cannon on the Ley is set in South Devon, England and tells the story of three young people, Charlotte Kingsley, Tom Skinner and Leroy Grant whose lives become entangled in one of those contests where two lads vie for the attention of a pretty girl.

The drama is presented against the backdrop of war preparations prior to the Normandy invasion of June 1944 and is therefore in a period where the Americans were arriving en masse for training and combined military exercises along Slapton Sands and the hinterland.

Although the book opens in present time, the main body of the account begins at Stokenham Church on 12th November 1943 when some of the local communities are told that they must vacate their homes, land and businesses and ‘be out’ by 20th December. Thereafter an Exclusion Zone would come into being, policed by the Allies and with severe penalties for anyone who might trespass.

In total around 3000 evacuees were involved in the exodus and almost to a ‘person’ they were co-operative. However, not so with Tom Skinner who managed his disturbed life in a lonely way and with an all consuming agenda to protect the butterfly habitat of a Devon Large Blue, which he’d long nurtured and now face oblivion as the military crash around the fragile land. Tom’s cause would not only test his local knowledge of the terrain, but then inveigle the reluctant co-operation of the coloured Yankee soldier, Leroy Grant. As for Charlotte, apart from dealing with the jostling for her attention, she joins a local admin team set up to manage the land evacuation and this leads to her becoming a conspirator in Tom’s ambition.

These website images will hopefully stimulate the minds of those who were in the South Hams during this troubled period, whether as civilians or with the military, whilst for those not around at the time, we offer them as a glimpse in to the way lives were led in the mock theatre of a war.

The publisher would welcome any comments which might lead to an improved website or better second edition of the manuscript.

Publication Date: Friday 6th April 2012

CANNON ON THE LEY