Laxfield & District Museum was delighted to host one of the last opportunities to spend an evening with Charlie Haylock.

Charlie is retiring from public speaking at the end of this year after a fascinating and varied working life. 

His love of folk music brought him to The Laxfield Low House and that led to a chance meeting, which meant Charlie engaged with his love of storytelling and the Suffolk dialect and accent.

Books followed. His first publication was "Sloightly On Th'Huh!' which was published in 2004 and was a surprise best seller. According to Ipswich Waterstones, it was the best seller in the whole shop that year, outselling "The Da Vinci Code" which topped most the best-seller lists that year! Charlie went on to produce seven more.

Charlie’s mission to research, preserve and share knowledge of the disappearing Suffolk dialect and accent is a nod to his Suffolk roots. His paternal grandfather was the village blacksmith at Snape, Charlie’s mum was the daughter of the publican of The White Horse at Edwardstone.

His contribution to Suffolk’s history was recognised in 2023. Charlie was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Suffolk.

Doctor Amanda Hodgkinson in her oration said, "We are delighted to recognise his immense contribution to the county as a tireless ambassador for heritage, culture, the preservation of dialects and his scholarly work on the history of the English language. We share with him his love of this region, his belief in the transformative nature of education for all and applaud him for the joy he brings to so many of us."

Another testament to his specialist knowledge is the fact that he was dialect coach for actors, including Ralph Fiennes, on the Netflix film 'The Dig'. And Charlie entertained