News | The Nancy Blackett Trust

Listen again to Paddling With Peter Duck

4th April 20204th April 2020

You can listen again this week to the 2011 BBC Radio 4 documentary Paddling With Peter Duck, where John McCarthy travels around the UK visiting and sailing in Ransome’s boats. The half-hour programme features John …

Brian Hammett Memorial Talk moved to September

19th March 2020

The inaugural Brian Hammett Memorial Talk with Julia Jones has been rescheduled to Friday 18th September. Existing bookings are being transferred to that date with the option of cancellation and refund for anyone who is …

Video: Exploring the Swallows and Armenians Exhibition in Carlisle

14th March 2020

It’s the final weekend of the Swallows and Armenians exhibition in Carlisle, so here’s an earlier video walkabout of it by curator Karen Babayan.

Video: More Derwent Water – behind the scenes of Swallows and Amazons (1974)

11th March 2020

Watch a behind-the-scenes video below, shot in 1973 during the filming of Swallows and Amazons (1974). Waiting around whilst filming Swallows and Amazons on the shore of Derwent Water in the Lake District: Albert Clarke with …

Video: Derwent Water – behind the scenes of Swallows and Amazons (1974)

4th March 2020

Video: The Amazon Pirates – behind the scenes of Swallows and Amazons (1974)

26th February 2020

Watch a behind-the-scenes video below, shot in 1973 during the filming of Swallows and Amazons (1974). Lesley Bennett and Kit Seymour, playing the Amazon pirates, set off with other members of the cast to film …

Video: Montage of Filming Around Coniston – behind the scenes of Swallows and Amazons (1974)

20th February 2020

Watch a behind-the-scenes video below, shot in 1973 during the filming of Swallows and Amazons (1974), as shot in-camera by Martin Neville, Sophie Neville’s father. The cast and crew of “Swallows and Amazons” variously prepare to …

New Arthur Ransome and George Orwell play to tour East Anglia

22nd September 202119th February 2020

A new play about Arthur Ransome and George Orwell goes on tour across East Anglia this spring and tickets are now on sale. Produced by Eastern Angles, Red Skies is based on the coincidence that …

Video: Coniston Water Camera Pontoon – behind the scenes of Swallows and Amazons (1974)

12th February 2020

Watch a behind-the-scenes video below, shot in 1973 during the filming of Swallows and Amazons (1974). Dennis Lewiston, the Director of Photography, is with Claude Whatham and the film crew of Swallows and Amazons on …

Swallows and Armenians lands in Carlisle

22nd September 202111th February 2020

An exhibition celebrating the Armenian connections of Swallows and Amazons opens in Carlisle, Cumbria, next week. Swallows and Armenians is a passionate and personal project by Appleby artist Karen Babayan which celebrates the inspirational Anglo-Armenian …

Julia Jones to give a talk about the Cruise of Naromis in Bawdsey this evening

8th February 2020

Julia Jones, author and owner of Arthur Ransome’s Peter Duck, will be giving an illustrated talk about her father’s Cruise of Naromis: August in the Baltic 1939. this evening in Bawdsey, Suffolk. The venue is …

Video: Filming at Bowness-on-Windermere – behind the scenes of Swallows and Amazons (1974)

6th February 2020

Watch a behind-the-scenes video below, shot in 1973 during the filming of Swallows and Amazons (1974) at Bowness-on-Windermere, the location for ‘Rio’ in Arthur Ransome’s story. Shot on 16mm film (Bolex)… You can read the …