During this coming week “Swallows and Amazons” will be celebrated over several days with a series of events held in the Lake District.

"The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974)" by Sophie Neville

“The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974)” by Sophie Neville

Sophie Neville, president of The Arthur Ransome Society, will be at the Braithwaite Institute near Keswick tomorrow (May 24th) to give a 45th anniversary talk on ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’.

She will be speaking about the scenes from the 1974 “Swallows and Amazons” film that were filmed on Derwentwater, with Lady Derwentwater playing the part of Captain Flint’s houseboat. Sophie played ‘Titty Walker’ in the film. The event starts at 7:30pm and tickets are £3 on the door (the postcode location is CA12 5RY).

Over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend (25th -28th May) ‘Swallows and Amazons re-visited’ is the theme of the Arthur Ransome Society’s International Annual General Meeting at Coniston Water. Members of the UK’s second largest literary society will be visiting the houses where Arthur Ransome lived, exploring the Coppermines valley, and sailing on Coniston Water in the dinghy Swallow from the 1974 “Swallows and Amazons” film.

Their guest of honour will be Barbara Altounyan, whose father Dr Roger Altounyan inspired the character of Roger Walker in “Swallows and Amazons”. He later invented the asthma inhaler, improving the lives of millions of sufferers.

Ambleside Library’s Local History Day is on Wednesday 30th May, where author David Banning will talking about his book “An A-Z of Cumbria and the Lake District on Film”, which has a forward by Sophie Neville.  This event is at 2.30pm and should be booked in advance for £1.

Later in the summer, on 28th July, Sophie Neville will be giving a Q&A and demo on visual effects at the Alhambra Cinema in Keswick at 2.00pm, after a screening of the 1974 “Swallows and Amazons” film in association with the Keswick Convention. The dinghy Swallow from the original film will be on display.