To mark the 130th anniversary of Arthur Ransome's birth on Saturday 18th January, Peter Willis, co-founder and former chairman of the Nancy Blackett Trust, and Contributing Editor at Classic Boat magazine, tells the story of how Arthur Ransome influenced his life – one day on the Orwell…

Arthur Ransome has an ability, maybe unique among authors of children’s books, to inspire an active involvement among his devotees. As a child I somehow ended up sailing on the Broads after reading "Coot Club". It was 20 years ago this summer that I first set eyes on Nancy Blackett.

I had been invited, along with other TARS members, to witness a race between her and Peter Duck on the River Orwell. I was completely captivated by her, and deeply moved by her literary significance. (I was also delighted, in a different way, with Peter Duck, which won that race.)

So when, two years later, Nancy Blackett came up for sale, I sort of sleepwalked, a step at a time, into setting up the Nancy Blackett Trust. An idea, letters to a few fellow-TARS, some donations, and there was nothing for it but to move forward.

Nancy Blackett has been a major part of my life ever since, and I am pretty sure that she was instrumental in landing me, ten years ago, the best job in the world for this boat-mad journalist, on Classic Boat. So I have a lot to be grateful to her, and Ransome, for.

Happy birthday Arthur!"