Nancy Blackett has at last been relaunched, and is currently moored at Robertson’s boatyard where she will be allowed time to ‘take up’ as planks adjust after months of drying out – lately in very hot weather – ashore, which has resulted in some small leaks in the hull. Peter Willis and Neil Brooks have […]
Watch a behind-the-scenes video below, shot in 1973 during the filming of “Swallows and Amazons (1974)”. Sophie Neville, on a day off from filming “Swallows and Amazons”, watches the Well-Dressing Procession through Ambleside where the cast and crew were staying in the summer of 1973. Shot on 16mm film (Bolex). You can read the whole story […]
Work has finally started on the restoration of Shotley Pier, with the removal of unsightly concrete slabs at the shoreward end, and their replacement with reclaimed timber. The work began on 17th June, having been delayed from March by the national coronavirus emergency. The project is being carried out by Amicus Civil Engineering. A central […]
This weekend (June 19-21) was to have seen a triple event for the Nancy Blackett Trust: the first Brian Hammett Memorial Talk, our AGM and an open day aboard Nancy Blackett as part of the Suffolk Day celebrations. The first two have been postponed, hopefully to take place in September, and we hope to join […]
You can now catch up with the recent online marathon reading of Arthur Ransome’s The Picts and the Martyrs, the fourth marathon reading from the Swallows and Amazons series to have taken place in the past four years. The event was organised by writer and lecturer Chris Routledge, who was also behind the live readings […]
Watch a behind-the-scenes video below, shot in 1973 during the filming of “Swallows and Amazons (1974)”. Whilst the sun shone on Derwent Water the cast and crew of “Swallows and Amazons” set up to film Captain Flint, played by Ronald Fraser, being captured on his houseboat and made to walk the plank. The man featured […]
Nancy Blackett’s proposed relaunch on 2nd June has been postponed, following a test dip in the launch cradle on the previous day. This revealed two small leaks, the result of her planks drying out during her prolonged period out of the water, exacerbated by the recent hot weather. The new plan is for her to […]
Watch a behind-the-scenes video below, shot in 1973 during the filming of “Swallows and Amazons (1974)”. The actors and crew relax after lunch on the shore of Derwent Water in the Lake District. Suzanna Hamilton, Kit Seymour, Simon West and Sophie Neville wait for Ronald Fraser, playing Captain Flint, who walks down the jetty and […]
Following the recent relaxation of the Government’s Coronavirus ‘Lockdown’ Rules, and the resumption of work in Robertson’s Boatyard, Nancy Blackett is now scheduled to be relaunched on 2nd June. Her fitting-out will then be completed and she will be delivered to her summer berth at Woolverstone Marina. However under present circumstances, there is still no […]
Watch a behind-the-scenes video below, shot in 1973 during the filming of “Swallows and Amazons (1974)”, which is currently on the BBC until 16th May 2020. A montage of behind the scenes footage of the actors and crew preparing to shoot a swimming scene at Peel Island on Coniston Water for the feature film, “Swallows and Amazons”, […]
Watch a behind-the-scenes video below, shot in 1973 during the filming of “Swallows and Amazons (1974)”, which is currently on the BBC until 16th May 2020. Sophie Neville, aged 12, rowing a skiff at home in Gloucestershire in April 1973 when she was preparing to appear as Titty in the EMI-Theatre Projects feature film of “Swallows and […]
Sophie Neville, who played Titty Walker in the original Swallows and Amazons film (currently on the BBC), presents a selection of viewer letters and quotations received following the TV broadcast this April, together with some more behind-the-scenes photos of the film… I have just been watching on BBC catch-up, the famous and wonderfully entertaining film ‘Swallows and […]
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