The Nancy Blackett Trust has recently hosted a flurry of Activity Days, giving more local children a wonderful chance to explore Nancy Blackett, be introduced to Arthur Ransome’s classic stories and learn about the East Coast, writes Sue Coales…

The Activity Days kicked off with two visits from Chelmondiston School on April 24th and 26th. Thirty children, the head teacher and several other members of staff came for the first day and the kids were wonderful! My timetable all worked, the weather stayed fine, the kids were so enthusiastic about it all and we got through so many activities – map reading, model boat making (and sailing them in water trays!) pirate games and much more. On the second day we had thirty more older children, from 9 to 11 yrs. We mostly repeated the activities of the Monday but adapted some games for the older ones and added in compass teaching and expanded on the map reading. 

In May we had two further Activity Days. On May 20th twenty-one Girl Guides came for a day at Pin Mill Sailing Club and visited Nancy Blackett by walking along the beautiful footpath to Woolverstone. The children were amazing and tried everything with such joy. 

May 27th saw another Activity Day, this time with the 1st Holbrook Scouts. The sun shone and we all had a great time! Here is a photo of the children when they had tracked down Alma Cottage using their maps of Pin Mill.

The afternoon was spent on Nancy Blackett, listening to stories in her cabin and playing with sails on deck. We hope to see them all again next year!

We had another Activity Day on Thursday 1st June with the Gainsborough Library Girls’ Group from Ipswich. The weather has been amazing for every day so far – and eighteen girls aged between 9 and 14 were introduced to Arthur Ransome, his books and, of course, Nancy Blackett!

They loved visiting Nancy, sailing the model boats they made on classroom ponds at Pin Mill Sailing Club, and watching Harry King’s boatyard in action at Pin Mill. A great day for us all!

To find out more about the Nancy Blackett Trust Activity Days and for information on booking one, please go to our Activity Days site.

Photo credits: Sue Coales