Nancy Blackett Trust – Sophie Neville

Sailing the Nancy Blackett in Dutch waters – part two

Nancy Blackett, the 28 foot cutter that Arthur Ransome bought with Spanish gold, as he called his royalties from ‘Swallows and Amazons’, is an old lady now. Built by Hillyards of Littlehampton in 1931, she turns eighty-five this year and yet looks pristine. If you ever wanted to sail the Goblin in ‘We Did Mean To Go To Sea’ you must know that it was Nancy who took this starring role in Ransome’s novel, first published eighty years ago.

Nancy Balckett in Middleburg photo Sophie Neville — Nancy Blackett

I arrived in the Netherlands this summer to find Nancy receiving visitors at a nautical festival in Midddleburg, while a jazz band played on the quay. She was moored by a lifting bridge in the centre of town, neatly rigged and ready for anything. After taking a look at a number of old gaffers, her crew enjoyed a cold beer and walked down the canal to vittel-up at a supermarket before having dinner in what was once a packing house for silks and spices imported from the East Indies.

Nancy seen through the bridge in Middleburg — Nancy seen through the swing bridge in Middleburg

As the swing bridge rose the next morning, we made way and motored down the wide canal to Veere, mooring up by the grassy port bank.

After being granted permission to go ashore, I passed the historic town well and walked down lanes bordered by hollyhocks to visit the museums of this ancient port. They house a number of charts and medieval maps that would have delighted the Swallows, along with old photographs of Dutch natives in traditional dress. I was tempted to buy a pair of clogs to take home for Bridget.

We left Veere to explore the islands and creeks of the Veersemeer before sailing down-channel and through a modern lock into the Oosterschelde estuary formed by the River Scheldt. It was once an important shipping route that bought wealth to the Netherlands but is quieter now. I spotted a seal and watched a cormorant swallow a large eel, that wriggled and jiggled inside its gullet.

Windmill of Zeeland — A windmill of Zierikzee

After negotiating the impressive Zeelandbrug that spans the delta, we sailed down to Zierikzee where you can climb the church tower, if you dare, and look out across the once fortified town. The windmills, ornate spires and ancient buildings help one to imagine what life must have been like in the 1500s when it became famous as a trading centre for salt and madder. I found scold’s stones and a whaler’s kayak from Greenland at the Stadhuis Museum in Zierikzee where Veronica Frenks was once the curator.

Our skipper, Ian McGlynn, wondered if we could sail back under an arch of the Zeelandbrug instead of waiting for one section of the road to lift. Built between 1963 and 1965 the Zeeland Bridge is more than five kilometres long and hardly comparable to the arch of Potter Heigham but Mate Judy Taylor didn’t want to take any risks. We had Nancy’s new mast to consider.

It was only on our last evening-but-one that rain hit us. We’d had blue skies and sunshine all week. As the salt water was washed away from Nancy’s portholes I opened the pages of ‘We Didn’t Mean To Go To Sea’ to find Ransome’s illustrations and read the final passages of the Swallows’ unplanned voyage to Holland. The book is eighty years old this year and yet moves me still. There is Nancy, portrayed as the Goblin moored up in a foreign port, which is where we left her to be enjoyed by other members of the Nancy Blackett Trust.

A marathon reading of ‘We Didn’t Mean To Go To Sea’ is planned, to celebrate the 80 year anniversary of its publication, at Pin Mill Sailing Club on the Orwell in Suffolk on Saturday 21st October 2017.

To read more about Nancy or join the Nancy Blackett Trust please click here

Nancy has been featured by Country Life in a July issue you can read here

We Did Mean To Go To Sea by Octavia Pollock

Swallows & Amazons in Aldeburgh

The beach at Aldebrugh

Lovely Aldeburgh on the Suffolk Coast where

StudioCanal’s special re-mastered version of the classic film ‘Swallows & Amazons’ (1974)

Sophie Neville Q&A in Kendal

was shown at the Aldeburgh cinema with a Q&A afterwards with Sophie Neville who played Titty speaking to the actress Diana Quick.

'The Making of Swallows & Amazons' for sale after a cinema viewing

Sophie was signing the last first edition copies of ‘The Making of Swallows & Amazons’.

Aldebrugh Cinema seating 250

Opposite the cinema, books by Arthur Ransome, who once lived in Suffolk

Arthur Ransome's Books in Aldebrugh Bookshop adorn the shelves of the award-wining Aldeburgh Bookshop

Aldebrugh Bookshop in print The sun shone and holiday makers enjoyed the beach

Aldebrugh fishing

where you can buy fresh seafood and chat to the fisherman.

Aldebrugh lobster pots

Swallow, the lugsail dingy that starred in the 1974 film

Swallow with the initials WK

was sailing with the Aldeburgh Junior Lapwings who had a Swallows and Amazons regatta that weekend. You can read about what they got up to here.

blue chain on the sea shore

Thanks go to The Aldeburgh Bookshop for their sponsorship

Aldebrugh Bookshop bag

Were there any disasters? and other questions asked about making the film ‘Swallows & Amazons’ in 1974

On Saturday 26th September at 3.00pm the original film of Arthur Ransome’s book ‘Swallows and Amazons’ was screened at the Riverside cinema in Woodbridge, Suffolk as part of their celebration of ‘100 Years of Film’.

I was on stage to answer questions about how we made the film after the screening. Swallow, the dinghy we used on the movie was rigged up outside the cinema and admired by many.

Back in April, I was invited to a similar screening of ‘Swallows & Amazons’ (1974) also held to raise funds for the up-keep of Arthur Ransome’s yacht Nancy Blackett. As the film ended I was invited up on stage to answer questions about how it was made. Marc Grimston sent a list of these, so I could answer them here for those unable to get cinema seats.

As a child were you like Titty? In 1973, I was aged twelve and at five-foot two, was really too old and too tall for the role of Titty but it was easy enough to pretend to be nine years old. I was on-screen a great deal so it probably a good thing that I was old enough to cope with long filming days. I thought I was much more like Mate Susan but perhaps that made it easier for me to play Titty.

How many tried for the role of Titty? About 1,800 children originally auditioned for the six parts in ‘Swallows & Amazons’. Claude Whatham, the director, wrote inviting me to an interview. In the end there were five girls up for the part of Titty. You can read more about the final audition here.

Sophie Neville on stage with Peter Willis, President of the Nancy Blackett Trust

Had you read the books before? I had read most of the books in the series and loved them, so it was very easy to take on the part. We never had to sit down and learn lines because we knew what to say from reading the book.

Sophie Neville taking about Swallows & Amazons

Were they any disasters during filming? Swallow’s mast broke!

How did you stay safe with the snake? It was a real adder, but quite a tame one. I think they lowered its metabolism by keeping it cool.

How did they make the lion noises? It was a recording of a real lion.

How did you capture their boat? In one take!

How did they film the night scenes? We shot many of them inside Mrs Batty’s barn.

Sophie Neville with Swallow’s flag

When you filmed the approach to the houseboat it seamed as if Amazon was coming in fast, was she? Yes, she hit it quite hard!

How long did it take to film? We spent forty six days onset in total, which meant spending about seven weeks in the Lake District.

Do you still have the parrot? I don’t. The green parrot belonged to Mrs Proctor of Kendal where the residents were terrified of him.

What happened to Amazon? She is owned by a family living in Kent who love sailing her in the lakes. She was the same Amazon as used in the BBC serial of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ made in 1962, when Susan George played Kitty.

Have you been back to the island? Yes! I last returned with Nick Barton who is planning a new film adaptation of ‘Swallows and Amazons’.

Are there adaptations of any other Swallows and Amazon books? Yes, in 1983 I was able to work on the BBC serialisation of ‘Coot Club and The Big Six’, starring Rosemary Leach, Colin Baker, Henry Dimbleby and Julian Fellowes as one of the Hullabaloos. It was my job to cast the children and look after them during the three months we spent on location, which was great fun.

Click here for further details: Riverside Cinema in Woodbridge

How did Arthur Ransome influence your life?

Arthur Ransome was born in on 18th January 1884. This Saturday will be his 130th anniversary.

Around the world, those who loved his books will be celebrating his birthday. Around the UK, from the South Coast to Giggleswick in North Yorkshire and up in Scotland, various branches of The Arthur Ransome Society are holding events.

There will be a Birthday Parley in High Wycombe, another in Glasgow and one in Exeter. In the North of England they’ll be a cake with a secret message in the manner of Winter Holiday. There will also be a lunch party at the Devon Hotel under the castle at Arundel, on 19th January.

Saturday 18th January will mark the last performance of the Theatre by the Lake’s production of the musical Swallows and Amazons at Keswick in Cumbria when members of the audience are invited to come dressed up as pirates. There will be prizes for the best outfits. The Arthur Ransome Trust have had a display up in the Circle Bar since the play opened in November, which I gather has been widely praised.

I will be going to Shotley in Suffolk to help TARS EAST to celebrate from the Shipwreck Restaurant, whilst gazing out across the Orwell where Arthur Ransome spent so much time sailing.

As you can see in the Comments below, Pamela Copley has just written from Australia to say:

‘There is a celebration of AR’s birthday in a suburb of Melbourne on Saturday – straight after the AGM. There will be a member from the UK group too.

Cheryl Paget tells me that, ‘In New Zealand members have met in Auckland for a weekend of Ransome inspired activities. We have sailed under the Auckland Harbour Bridge in a 57ft ketch rigged deck scow, toured the historic naval town of Devonport and walked to the top of the dormant volcano of Rangitoto. We had a fiendishly hard quiz last night and ate a birthday cake to celebrate AR’s 130 birthday and today we are off to watch sharks. Come and join us next year for our annual birthday weekend in the South Island!’

Mikako Tarashima wrote from the Arthur Ransome Club in Japan to say:

‘We don’t have Ransome’s birthday event in this January. We would like to have a small exhibition in this year. Because in 2014, publication of new Japanese translation of Ransome saga will be complete. I am so happy that we can celebrate Ransome’s 130th Anniversary unexpectedly.’

The musical Swallows and Amazons will be performed in St. Louis, MO on January 25th and 26th by the Centre of Creative Arts (COCA). Produced by the COCA Theater Company, the musical is directed by Alec Wild and Shanara Gabrielle, with musical direction by Neal Richardson. The cast includes St. Louis actors Maria Knasel, Steve Isom, Taylor Pietz and Pete Winfrey.

So, this week, I ask the question: How has Arthur Ransome influenced your life?

What impact have his classic books, or the adaptations of Swallows and Amazons for film, television or the theatre, had on your family?

Do add a line or two to the Comments below.

Arthur Ransome's cutter the Nancy Blackett sailing on the Orwell — Arthur Ransome’s cutter the Nancy Blackett on the Orwell in July 2013

I am guilty of denial. When people asked, ‘How has Swallows & Amazons influenced your life?’ I’m afraid I used not to be that forth-coming, because I had moved on from acting in films. If you had asked me in 2010 I would have shrugged and said, ‘Not much.’

But then I stopped and thought again.

How much time I have spent exploring wilderness areas? I’d forgotten that it was the maps in Ransome’s books that attracted me to reading Cartography at university. I went to draw numerous maps all over the world.

I love living outdoors. I love fell walking, mud-flats, and being out on the high seas. I would drop everything to sail to China or the Caribbean tomorrow. I put this down to the fact that my father took us sailing and camping even before I read Ransome’s books. But who influenced Dad? Born in 1929, he was an avid reader of Arthur Ransome and would eagerly wait for the next book about the Swallows and the Amazons to be published. It would be a longed-for Christmas present.

It then occurred to me that John’s careful planning, Susan’s packing, Titty’s log and Roger’s humour still steer my life. The food, the phrases, the urge to travel, became part of my life long ago. I’ve lived under Swallow’s flag.

I for one, sail into the year ahead with Titty’s words still singing in my ears,

‘Here we are, intrepid explorers, making the first ever voyage into uncharted waters? What mysteries will it hold for us, what dark secrets shall me revealed?’

DSCF1067 — Aboard the Nancy Blackett at Buckler’s Hard

Sailing the Nancy Blackett

If you have ever wondered what Nancy Blackett is doing now – here she is. Built by Hillyards of Littlehampton in 1931 she was bought by Arthur Ransome with royalties from Swallows and Amazons and became both the inspiration and model for his book about the Swallows’ unplanned voyage to Holland ~ We Didn’t Mean to go to Sea, in which she was known as the Goblin. She also appears in Secret Water.

I was at the Royal Harwich Yacht Club to give a talk on making the BBC adaptations of two other Arthur Ransome books set in East Anglia, Coot Club and The Big Six.

I thought that people would rather be out in the sunshine but it was well attended.

After watching a clip of Ginger and Rosa, the BFI/BBC feature film directed by Sally Potter that starred Nancy Blackett, we wandered down to the jetty in front of the new club house, and grabbed a chance to go out on the Orwell.

Soon sails were being hoisted and we were underway, sailing down river in the evening light.

Conditions were perfect for Nancy, a 28 foot Bermurdan cutter.

I took the helm, whilst the others did the hard work.

We were soon sailing past Pin Mill, which also features in the book.

Some members of the crew were experienced sailors,

others had previously managed to avoid spending much time on the water, but we all had a wonderful experience and were sad when the sails were stowed for the night.

We saw a couple of Thames barges also coming in, as Nancy settled down after a successful day. Think of joining The Nancy Blackett Trust and sailing her yourself.

For more photos please click here

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Aboard the ‘Nancy Blackett’

A few days ago I was able to grab a chance and sail a yacht once owned by Arthur Ransome called the Nancy Blackett, ‘The best little ship I ever owned.’

Nancy had been brought up from her birth at Woolverstone on the River Orwell in Suffolk to Buckler’s Hard on the edge of the New Forest in Hampshire for The Arthur Ransome Society International Annual General Meeting held at Brockenhurst College near by.

Apart from being Arthur Ranomse’s model for the Goblin in two of his books in the Swallows and Amazons series ~ We Didn’t Mean To Go To Sea and Secret Water ~ the Nancy Blackett has recently appeared in Sally Potter’s feature film Ginger and Rosa.

I went to visit her when she was open to visitors at the Boat yard at Bucklers Hard on Sunday 26th May.

We emerged having wondered how Arthur Ransome managed to fit himself into the heads, which are right in the bows. Apparently he used to sit there smoking his pipe. How his wife squeezed herself in I do not know – she was 6’3″ tall.

On the morning of 27th May we had a quick look around the historic village of Bucklers Hard,

including the Master Builder’s Hotel,

before finding Nancy at the marina.

After climbing into our life-jackets, we left the mooring and motored down the Beaulieu River.

Once we reached the Solent, our sails were hoisted and we were sailing towards the Isle of Wight.

Peter Willis, Chairman of the Nancy Blackett Trust was with us.

It was exciting to take the helm as we made our way up to Lymington on a broad reach at about 4 knots, at first against, then with the tide.

Having left at about 10.00am we reached the Royal Lymington Yacht Club soon after 3.00pm and moored up for the night.

We had enjoyed perfect conditions and the most wonderful experience.

Nancy’s crew then welcomed aboard sailors from the Royal Lymington Yacht Club who were keen to see around her.

If you would like to sail the Nancy Blackett do visit her website and join the trust. The next meeting will be on Saturday 6th July when Sophie Neville has been asked to give a talk on ‘Filming ‘Coot Club’ and ‘The Big Six’ in Norfolk’.