Nancy Blackett has at last returned to active service after an enforced four-month lay-up. She sank at her moorings immediately after her seasonal relaunch at the end of April, leading to a long period of repairs and refurbishment, which included installation of a new engine and extensive electrical rewiring. The cause of the overnight submersion […]
The Nancy Blackett Trust’s contribution to the Felixstowe Book Festival on Saturday June 25th was part of a highly entertaining and successful day-long series of events under the title of Suffolk and the Sea. The day included items from Trust members Claudia Myatt, Jane Russell from chart publishers Imray and Julia Jones, who also curated […]
Suffolk author and sailor Julia Jones looks forward to the upcoming You Too Can Go To Sea event on 25th June at the Two Sisters Arts Centre in Trimley St. Mary, Suffolk – led by the Nancy Blackett Trust as part of the 2022 Felixstowe Book Festival’s Suffolk and the Sea Day… I was sitting […]
It was exactly 25 years ago today – June 9th 1997 – that the newly-formed Nancy Blackett Trust took over ownership of the Nancy Blackett, the yacht that inspired Arthur Ransome’s classic children’s novel We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea. She appears in the book as the Goblin, and was described by Ransome as […]
The mast at the former site of naval training establishment HMS Ganges at Shotley, Suffolk, which briefly features, anonymously, in We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea, is to be restored as part of a redevelopment scheme for that entire site. Dismantling of the listed 143-foot mast began on Tuesday (17th May). It had deteriorated […]
Uncommon Courage, the new World War II history by Julia Jones which was the subject of her Brian Hammett Memorial Talk last month, is now available online here  in the Nancy Blackett Shop with a 10% discount. The book details the exploits of yachtsmen such as Peter Scott, Maurice Griffiths, Ian Fleming and many others […]
For Nancy Blackett’s upcoming sailing season, we hope to have her back in the water by the end of April, following earlier delays incurred during her extended winter refit. We recently had an antifouling day, some photos of which (by Simon Jackson) are below. We plan to launch her now on 21st April at Robertsons […]
Sophie Neville reflects on her life with boats before, during and after Swallows and Amazons… I grew up with boats in the garden. My father owned eight at one time, including two coracles and a vintage river launch called Ottor that he renovated himself. Martin Neville with friends on the Norfolk Broads As a young man, while […]
Supper bookings for the Brian Hammett Memorial Talk this Friday (18th March) are now closed, but a limited number of £12 seat-only tickets remain available. Presented by the Nancy Blackett Trust and TARS East, the talk will be given by Julia Jones, present owner of Arthur Ransome’s Peter Duck, and well-known East Coast sailor and […]
Sophie Neville tells the tale of the tooth that went missing during the filming of the original Swallows and Amazons film, and how she got it back last year… In May 2021 I spoke to Helen Millican on BBC Radio Cumbria about making the original film of Swallows and Amazons in the Lake District, back […]
Sophie Neville reveals more behind-the-scenes memories of the original Swallows and Amazons film that she has received following another TV showing of the film… The original film of Swallows and Amazons was screened on Talking Pictures TV last summer. The BBC Radio 4 newscaster Alan Smith wrote to me afterwards, saying: “It’s Alan Smith here – lovely […]
The lighthouse tree lantern from the original Swallows and Amazons film still exists, and has an unexpected connection to We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea, writes Sophie Neville… I received an interesting series of emails recently from a stonemason called Philip Chatfield: “Hi Sophie, I was watching Swallows and Amazons, the old classic, on […]
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