Writers’ homes are sites of resistance and renewal | Letter

In response to your letters on preserving writers’ homes (25 August) Cyprus Well was the cottage home of poet Charles Causley (1917-2003) in Launceston, Cornwall. We are a small charity, proud to open the doors to aspiring writers, schoolchildren, residents and tourists as much as we can, year-round. We share Causley’s sanctuary of 50 years with those who love his work or write their own, as well as those who just want to immerse themselves in a peaceful and enriching environment.

Like others who run writers’ homes for the public, it’s not easy – particularly with weather impact on the building and demands on shrinking sources of funding. We owe everything to our volunteers and occasional private philanthropy, supplemented by grants and donations from trusts and foundations. It would be wonderful if the town council – some of whom knew Causley in his lifetime – would reconsider their position on supporting us, too.

The trust will keep going as best it can, providing opportunities to visit (and stay in) Causley’s home, bidding for much-needed funding, bringing leading poets to Launceston to work with schoolchildren, as well as in the library and independent bookshop, while championing Causley’s own work and supporting his beloved community.

It’s about the visitor as much as the writer – perhaps that’s the key. Enter a fine writer’s private domain, and you are reminded of the possibility of a world without such places. We can see these homes as sites of resistance and renewal, a mark of the living impact of creativity, and evidence of the importance of preserving it.
David Devanny
Chair, Charles Causley Trust