Pupils from a Suffolk school spent a day visiting Nancy Blackett at Woolverstone Marina last week. Nancy Blackett Trust President Peter Willis was on hand to help show the children from Framlingham College Prep School around Arthur Ransome’s favourite yacht on 2nd October, ably assisted by Simon Jackson and Neil Brooks. The children happened to be […]
Nancy Blackett is currently holed up in her home berth at Woolverstone Marina with a suspected gearbox problem, writes John Smith, but it did not stop new member Kata Molnár and family visiting her on Sunday (7th Oct). They sent this lovely photo of them aboard along with the following message: “The book is the Hungarian […]
We’re sorry to be so nerve-danglingly jovial, but we have to say it – Christmas is coming! We also expect that you’ll be looking around for gift ideas, so we’ve come up with these special offers for you: “Swallows and Amazons” books and bookmarks How about an Arthur Ransome book with an exclusive matching bookmark? […]
Today, September 25th, 2018, marks the 80th anniversary of the launch of Arthur Ransome’s Selina King at Harry King’s yard in Pin Mill. The largest and finest of Ransome’s sea-going yachts, she was commissioned as a replacement for his Nancy Blackett. She was designed by Fred Shepherd, who came up with a handsome 35ft double-ended […]
We are very sad to report the death of Brian Hammett, a Vice-President and former Trustee of the Nancy Blackett Trust. Brian died on September 20th following a massive heart attack. He had been very ill for some time with kidney failure. Brian had been an enthusiastic supporter of Nancy Blackett since her restoration – […]
Arthur Ransome’s last yacht was a six-ton aft-cockpit Hillyard sloop which he had built to replace the centre-cockpit Lottie Blossom – which he and his wife Evgenia hadn’t got on with. They transferred the name Lottie Blossom to the new boat, and the new owner of the earlier boat renamed her Ragged Robin III, under which […]
Swallow, the restored dinghy from the original “Swallows and Amazons” movie, made a special appearance at the Kendal Torchlight Procession on Friday (14th September), writes Rob Boden… Each year Kendal has a Torchlight Procession through the town centre. I only noticed a week before that the theme this year was books and authors, so I made […]
Sophie Neville explores the stories of some of the boats that appeared in the original “Swallows and Amazons” film… I went on BBC Radio Cumbria recently, to ask if I could meet anyone involved in filming the original film of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ in the summer of 1973, since it was made on location in […]
A spotlight will focus on the Secret Life of Arthur Ransome and the Russian Revolution at this year’s Chobham Festival, writes Francis Batt in The Villager. A century on from the start of the Russian Revolution the festival’s ChobLit book event at St Saviour’s Church, Valley End, near Chobham in Surrey, will yield a big surprise […]
The Nancy Blackett Trust’s Chairman, Roger Sturge, is on a sailing expedition to the Isle of Skye with his appropriately-named yacht Wild Cat. He reports that it is a rather wild place, having seen hundreds of seals and a couple of dolphins, but thankfully there has been no sign of a Pterodactyl…
Arthur Ransome’s Nancy Blackett spent a week in the Norfolk Broads for the first time in 20 years back in July. You can read all our stories of her adventures here, and view our massive Flickr photo album here
Skipper Clive Fisher tells of Nancy Blackett’s expedition to ‘Secret Water’ this week, and how the crew of three intrepid explorers narrowly escaped being marooned on the mud of the ‘Red Sea’…
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