Swallows and Amazons Live Reading Success

“Let’s hold a live reading of Swallows and Amazons,” the organisers thought. “How about on the shores or Coniston Water, at the heart of the landscape that inspired the book. What could possibly go wrong?”

Thankfully, very little in respect to the reading itself. It started on time, at 9.00am, with ““Roger, aged seven, and no longer the youngest of the family…”. Some nine hours later “mother and Vicky (were) coming down the field.” After some fifty readers, 31 chapters, nearly 100,000 words – and a lot of rain – they were only three minutes late.

From Coniston to the Kremlin Opens

ART’s new exhibition, From Coniston to the Kremlin: Arthur Ransome’s Russian Adventures marks the centenary of the Russian Revolutions with a remarkable story of war, revolution, amateur diplomacy and secrets. Produced in partnership with the Ruskin Museum, Coniston, it will be open at the museum daily until 3 September.

Treasures of the Brotherton

Leeds University have recently opened their new Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery. This is a permanent exhibition displaying artefacts drawn from the University’s extensive Special Collections Department. The gallery will also house temporary exhibitions, again using material from Special Collections. The Gallery are also developing a series of regular talks and events, open to the public. Entitled Tuesday Treasures, they take place on Tuesdays (oddly enough!) in the Sheppard Room. The latter is adjacent to the Gallery in the Parkinson Building, University of Leeds.

Voyages of Discovery Concludes at Brockhole

“Great Exhibition – makes me want to read the book.” “My grandchildren loved the exhibition and trail. Thank you!” “Never heard of it, but now I am going to read the books and see the film.” “I had heard of Swallows and Amazons but didn’t know anything about Arthur Ransome. I do now.”

These are just some of the comments from visitors to ART’s extended Voyage of Discovery, hosted by the Lake District National Park Visitor Centre, which drew to a close yesterday, 6 December.

ART Website Updates

Changes are afoot here at the ART website. We’ve done some spring cleaning (Susan would approve), re-worked much of the content (Dorothea and Titty would take a professional interest), and generally sought to make it more “ship-shape” (anything to please John and Nancy).

Old Peter Reaches One Hundred Not Out

Old Peter’s Russian Tales, Arthur Ransome’s classic volume of Russian folk lore, was first published a hundred years ago. The exact date is no longer known, but it was in either November or December, 1916.

It remained in print until December, last year, when the then publisher Jane Nissen retired and withdrew her edition. But it will be available again from 21 December this year, as we re-publish Old Peter alongside The War of the Birds and the Beasts, Ransome’s second collection of Russian folk tales. ART’s new edition will be the first to bring both books together. It is also the first fruit of our Buried Treasure publishing project.

The combined volume is available by mail-order from our new Shop, priced at £9.00.

Swallows and Amazons Movie Lands on DVD

Swallows and Amazons will follow its successful big screen run with its home entertainment release on 12 December. The critically-acclaimed movie (it has a very fresh 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, for example) will be available on DVD, Blu-ray and for digital download. 

Changes to Fundraising Regulation

As you may recall, the Fundraising Regulator was created as a new, independent regulator of charitable fundraising in July, 2016. Its creation follows the Etherington review into fundraising self-regulation, which made recommendations to strengthen charity regulation and restore public trust in fundraising. You can visit the Fundraising Regulator’s website for more information here.

The Fundraising Regulator will oversee all charitable fundraising. As such it replaces the Fund Raising Standards Board (FRSB), which ceased operating at the end of August.

Voyage of Discovery Update

Following a successful display upstairs at Brockhole, we have now relocated our Voyages of Discovery to Brockhole’s main exhibition area, next door to the National Park Visitor Centre’s shop. In consequence the display is now open daily from 10.00 – 17.00. If you are passing Brockhole, or exploring the Centre, then please do take a moment to drop in, to discover more about Swallows and Amazons and Arthur Ransome’s fascinating life and works.

Swallows, Amazons and Coots

“There is always more in life than meets the eye. The delightful and unique Arthur Ransome stories from Swallows and Amazons to Great Northern? have captivated us over the years. But now we learn, thanks to this fascinating book, that there are more aspects and depths to the stories than we ever imagined. In no way does this diminish them – on the contrary. By giving us a more profound understanding of the author, the adventures and exploits of his characters take on an extra depth and dimension. These are stories for children that no adult should miss.” (Virginia McKenna, OBE)