
Members of TARS at Duddingston Kirk Church
The Arthur Ransome Society Conference was from Friday 1st September to Sunday 3rd September 2017 at Edinburgh University. Here is an update with a member photo.
After registration the President of TARS Sophie Neville welcomed everyone.
The talks were as follows:
- Wilde Ransomed by myself
- Arthur Ransome and the Dymock Poets by Jeff Cooper, who is Lascelles Abercrombie’s grandson
- Nancy Blackett in Life, Literature and Life by Peter Willis
- Better than Gold: Arthur Ransome and the Carnegie Medal by Dr Lucy Pearson
- Call the Agent or How Children’s Books Can Save the World by agent Lindsey Fraser
- Faery Stories Which in the Time of Armaggedon Nobody Will Read by Mary Pritchard
- Arthur Ransome’s Rewriting of the Russian Folk Tale by Tatiana Bogdranova
- Caught in the Russian Revolution: The British Community in Petrograd 1917-1918 by Richard Davies
It was a privilege to be invited to speak and I had a most fulfilling and enjoyable weekend with interesting, friendly people of diverse interests.
On Saturday afternoon we were left to enjoy the delights of Edinburgh and along with Sophie I joined TARS member Malcolm on a walk to a nature reserve where we saw some deer and stopped off at an old church.
On Saturday night there was a splendid gala dinner with a dessert to die for!
The TARS bookshop and library were open throughout the weekend and I bagged the most beautiful hardback book for only £7.50 about Arthur Ransome in China.
I find the amount of places associated with this writer amazing. They include Chelsea, Camden, Russia, China, Suffolk, Wiltshire, Norfolk, Cumbria and Lancashire. There is also a French connection which you can read in a previous post.
I promised you films. Here is the first film shown at the TARS Conference.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/28f5riaa9qpvywt/The%20Genius%20and%20the%20Rebel.mp4?dl=0
It was made in co-operation with Lancaster Royal Grammar School and Lancaster Film Makers’ Co-op. Both films were highly praised.
The film shows the relevance of Ransome to older school students.
TARS, however, does have a junior magazine for children – Outlaws!
For more about joining TARS go to http://www.arthur-ransome.org.uk