To commemorate the 130th anniversary of Arthur Ransome's birth on Saturday 18th January, Roger Sturge, recently elected as the Chairman of the Nancy Blackett Trust, describes how Arthur Ransome influenced his life. He has taught biology in Bristol and Kenya, before subsequently working in school curriculum development and inspection, but his connections with Arthur Ransome started when his parents were taught how to sail by Roger Altounyan in Mavis, the dinghy that became the Amazon in "Swallows and Amazons". His family later regularly holidayed in Coniston, and early in the Second World War his mother rented Lanehead, the Altounyan family home and original of Beckfoot, as an evacuation home for mothers with young children. 

An experienced sailor, Roger Sturge writes:

"Like so many sailors today, my interest in sailing started with and has continued from my enjoyment of "Swallows and Amazons" and the other eleven books.

I learned the basics of sailing from reading them and have sailed since my mid-teens, starting on the Norfolk Broads at the age of fifteen. A particular influence was having been taken out in sailing dinghies, including Mavis (a.k.a. Amazon) on Coniston Water as a child and having met Arthur Ransome when I was too young to remember him.

The opportunity to sail his Nancy Blackett was not to be missed, and since 1998 I have been increasingly involved in the work of the Nancy Blackett Trust. It is a great privilege to have a part in the life of Arthur Ransome's "best little ship"."