There’s just a week to go to our Marathon Reading of “We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea”, starting 9am next Saturday, 21st October.

We have our book, a First Edition, in honour of the book’s 80th anniversary (first published November 1937). We have our readers, including Griff Rhys Jones, Libby Purves and Sophie Neville. We have our venue: Pin Mill Sailing Club, where Ransome was a member. We even have a lectern.

We do, however, need an audience – so come along for all or part of the day, to enjoy hearing some great writing and to encourage our readers.

Meanwhile, to whet your appetite, here’s a Bookworm programme about Arthur Ransome and Nancy Blackett from 20 years ago, introduced by a much younger Griff Rhys Jones, with contributions from Hugh Brogan, Arthur Ransome’s biographer, and Peter Willis, now President of the Nancy Blackett Trust.