MMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMM MMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMM MMM M MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMM MMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMM MMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMM MMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MXXXXXXXMMMXXXXXXXX/.\\\XXXXXMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMM MMMM MMMMM XXXMXXMXXXXXXXMXXX/.:.\\\\XXXXXXXMMMMM MMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MM XXXXXXXXXXMXXXXXX/:__:.\\\\\XXMXXXXXXXMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM ++++++++++XXXXXX/:| |:.\\\\\\XXMXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXMMMMMMXX ++MM++++++++++++|.|__|.:|: . |XXXXXXXXXXMMXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ++++++++++++++++|:.:.::.| : |XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXMXXXXXXXXXXXXX ++++++++++++++++|.:..:.:|. :| signal station +MMMMM++++ ---|:.::.:.|.____ and observatory ++++ ++++ M M ++++++ ++ SIGNALLING M M M M aaaa rrr sss ++ ++ TO M M M a a rr s + + M M a a r ss + + M M a aa r s + + M M aaa a r sss + + + + Newsletter of the E-mail Group of + + The Arthur Ransome Society + + + +Content is the personal opinion and the intellectual property + + of the contributors and does not reflect the opinion of TARS,+ + any other person or group. Any mail received Will Be Publish-+ + able unless Marked Otherwise. This includes senders' identi- + + ties and email addresses. We're not junk emailers! IF YOU DO + + NOT WANT THIS NEWSLETTER please send Reply to that effect. + E-Mail Group of The Arthur Ransome Society: Secretary: Peter Dowden World Wide Web: http://newton.otago.ac.nz:808/~peter/arthurpage.html _________________________________________________________________ ISSUE NUMBER 14 (May/June SIGNITORIAL from the signaller [Peter]. This issue is "14-and a half", to clear up some loose ends from No 14. One of our 3 Admirals, George Lang has come up with a great idea for Signalling to Mars, and will become Associate Signaller in charge of this new project. He also has suggested that the admirals write introductions ["admiraltorials"?] to issues from time to time: his is the first, over to you, Admiral.... from: George Lang Peter said in the last issue that contributions had been a bit thin. So he and I have agreed that we set up a theme system. From the start of next issue (15) we shall be running a theme system. You can write anything about these themes, however short it will be included. The first themes will be on the books, so next issue the theme will be Swallows and Amazons. You could write about the films, AR's writing style, the area, Characters, etc the list is almost endless. Here is the table for the themes. We will first go through all the books in turn then they are blank for your suggestions. If you have any send them to me. ...................................................... : Theme : Issue No. : :........................................:...........: : Swallows and Amazons : 15 : : Swallowdale : 16 : : Peter Duck : 17 : : Winter Holiday : 18 : : Coot Club : 19 : : Pigeon Post : 20 : : We Didn't Mean to go to Sea : 21 : : Secret Water : 22 : : The Big Six : 23 : : Missee Lee : 24 : : The Picts and the Martyrs : 25 : : Great Northern? : 26 : : Coots in the North and Other Stories : 27 : : ? : 28 : :........................................:...........: If you have anything unconnected (with any of the themes) Peter will of course put this in anyway when ever there is enough room. *S2M*S2M*S2M*S2M*S2M*S2M* That's my try at a flag. * * S *********** S 2 * *S*2*M* * 2 M *********** M * * *S2M*S2M*S2M*S2M*S2M*S2M* Adm. George Lang From: lang@solg2.bnsc.rl.ac.uk ------------------------------------- ... so let's have some articles about the book _Swallows and Amazons_ . I'll write a small Dictionary of Wallacallawalla, the language with which the Best of all Natives talked to the Explorers. And I am looking forward to the next Admiral's Guest Editorial, take note, Lords of the Admiralty! We welcome Daryl to the wingarmsectionorgroup... and some hangers-on, who I hope will think about joining TARS, including Your Full Name whoever you are! Peter [sig] ------------------------------ MORE ON THE NAME of the electronic wing arm section or group: The votes on naming votes have proved inconclusive: E-Tars 1 Virtual Tars 2 plus one "I suppose" who voted for another. The Cachalot 1 TARS-NET 2 MARS 1 I am inclining myself towards "Virtual Tars" after all, as [1] it has been in existence all this time [2] that's what people probably think we're called [3] I'd have to do heaps of work changing the name on all our Web pages! As I said, the above is inconclusive and I'd like the name TARS-NET to get a "fair go" as we say in these parts, but if I get some sort of indication of general agreement I'll treat that as a result. By the way I heartily agree with Brad that we style ourselves an E- mail group, not an "electronic group": abusing my wide-reaching influence as a Media Baron, I have effected this change imediately! ------------------------------------- proposal: alt.books.arthur-ransome I have proposed on the Usenet News groups rec.arts.books,rec.arts.books.childrens,alt.books.reviews,alt.config that an "alt" newsgroup for Arthur Ransome be established. I have no idea what to do next and the computer admin staff here are hostile to people who get enjoyment from the Internet and won't help me. So can anyone carry this further? In the meantime, check out the discussion on the above mentioned newsgroups, and add your thoughts on the proposal. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I'll tell you some other time Peter MORE ON THE AGM Thanks to all the people who have written AGM reports, more follows here. CORRECTION The "Mr Williams" quoted in Christopher Sharp's AGM Report last issue is in fact Mr William Alderson. Christopher only mentioned this wrong name once, the Signaller edited-in the mistake a couple of extra times. Signalling to Mars apologises for any offence caused to Mr Alderson and his friends. Also, as Christopher urged readers of his report, "Please don't hold me to these figures...": Doug reports, >BTW, Chris's figures are a little high. The figure given for the US >for recruiting by E-TARS was given as 50%, which may even so be high, >but there has been a nice jump. Not that we in the electronic wing arm section or group should be any less pleased at our achievements! TARS is by all accounts growing merrily and we are an important part of this. TARS AGM 1995 -- CHICHESTER From: dthewlis@northcoast.com THE 1995 AGM of TARS was held in Chichester (pronounced CHIchester to the doom of Susan and myself, who kept wanting to say ChiCHESter) and surrounding locales. It was rather spread out, but very successful indeed. We arrived on Friday afternoon at our B&B in the Chidham area, and I motored down to the camping area at Cobnor campsite to see if I could find Peter Roche, who had managed to get me into the Dick Callum Cup finals (more of that later). I found Peter for about three minutes, but spend about half an hour chatting with Fiona Haughey, the Juniors Coordinator for TARS. Saturday morning was registration at Chidham CP School. They had about 145 pre-registrations and certainly a dozen or so on-site registrations (since the badges looked different). The only two "overseas" visitors (that is, folks who came from overseas specifically for the AGM) were Doug Faunt from Oakland, and myself from Eureka. There were two or three Japanese families, all of whom were members of The Arthur Ransome Club of Japan, but I gather they were all resident in the U.K. and regular participants in TARS activities. On Saturday, the events that were on were a tour of Portsmouth historic ships (Victory, Mary Rose, Warrior, etc.) or a Nature Reserve tour. We had done an equivalent tour of Portsmouth last year so planned to go on the Kingsley Vale walk. Unfortunately, I've developed a problem with a tendon in my left foot that has me on a walking stick and limping, so we decided not to try the walking tour (which I discovered later went about 5 hours instead of 2, so it was the right decision!) Saturday evening was a Barbecue, campfire and shantey singalong at the campsite. It was great fun although I missed part of the shantey singalong (but I bought Jim Andrew's "TARS Ahoy!" shanties tape, so I can sort of "fill in" on some of what I missed). I also had a conversation with Roger Wardale, who asked if we (TARSUS) would tackle the question of what ultimately happened to the SELENA KING. She was one of Ransome's boats in the late 1930s; he sold her after the war, and to quote Roger: "(Peter) Davies did not keep Selina long, although she remained on the East Coast for several more years before moving to the South of England. In 19563 she sailed for Bermuda where she changed hands several times, until an American bought her a few years ago and took her away from the island. I have been unable to trace her whereabouts since that time." As Roger has found it very hard to pursue his investigations from England, he hoped that some of the TARSUS folks could take up the search from this side. I told him we'd take a shot at it, and Doug Faunt and I discussed this briefly later in the weekend. Sunday morning we went on a tour of Chichester Harbor (this was also on for Monday morning). The tour left from Itchenor Quay and lasted about 90 minutes. It was both interesting and entertaining (the boatmaster and tour guide was an expatriate Londoner who knew his local history and legends and had a very amusing and apparently endless set of tales about the area). We saw MARY RANSOME, which was to be actually moored at Itchenor Quay on Monday and thus part of Monday's tour) and passed several other boats flying the TARS burgee. Of course each time we did so there was much applause, shouting, and other appreciation by the boatload of TARS. Sunday afternoon was the AGM itself. I'm not going to try to report on the meeting (wait for Kirsty Cochrane's Minutes for that!) but the highlights (to me) were: - Brigit Saunders, the President, welcomed everyone and talked about the ways in which TARS was expanding, how important communications were between members, and gave a strong supporting comment for the Virtual TARS (e-TARS) resolution later on the agenda. She also added that on 17 May 1995, TARS Russia was formally launched. - Kirsty Cochrane, the Secretary, indicated that TARS membership now stands at 1275 with a current growth rate of about 17.5%. She felt that electronic communication and e- TARS were responsible for some of the growth, especially in the U.S. - The new Amazon Press publication is RANSOME AT SEA: NOTES FROM THE CHART TABLE, which is the collected logbooks of his sailing. The next one will be RANSOME AT HOME. - TARS has reached a point at which they must decide whether to Incorporate, which they will probably have to do, for liability reasons if nothing else. If so, they have to decide just how to deal with the regions and the international groups, the latter probably having a lot to do with the laws of the countries in which the international groups exist. This promises to be a big item over the next year and will undoubtedly be on the 1996 AGM Agenda. - The Resolution to make e-TARS or Virtual TARS an official group of TARS passed. This is the electronic TARS "group" spearheaded by Peter Dowden of New Zealand, who has created a World Wide Web Home Page for TARS and Arthur Ransome, and who is editor of SIGNALLING TO MARS, the e-TARS newsletter. Some folks were concerned about copyright issues, and there was a lot of discussion about what might and might not be done electronically. The consensus seemed to be that electronic communication was here to stay and a Really Good Thing to keep the far-flung members of TARS in touch. It was decided to make the group an "Arm" of TARS rather than a region (since everyone involved with e-TARS is obviously in some other Region of TARS anyhow, with the exception of a few people where there might be no TARS region at all). - Robin Anderson reported that the COCH-Y-BONDDHU appeal was now more than fully subscribed at £4380, and that she would be launched August 26th, weather and boatbuilders permitting. He also added that there were several options as to where she would ultimately wind up, including the Ruskin Museum in Coniston. Subsequent to the meeting, Doug Faunt and I talked with Brigit Saunders about the REMEMBERING ARTHUR RANSOME video she and her husband have just made (see Page 11 of the Spring, 1995 DESPATCHES). Apparently she has received only two orders from the U.S. and consequently cannot afford to have a NTSC (U.S. format) video master made from the U.K. PAL master. She needs somewhere near ten orders to make it worth doing, and hopes that we can drum up some extra interest! Finally came the moment Doug and I were NOT particularly looking for, which was the Dick Callum Cup final. They had seven groups of four people: one for each U.K. region plus an "overseas" group and a juniors group. Unfortunately only two people (Doug and myself) really counted as overseas. The count was made up by one person who was a proxy for a member in Australia, and Fiona Haughey, the Juniors Coordinator, who said she could proxy for all overseas Juniors. In the event, I wasn't very contributive, partly because I never did get a chance to reread the books prior to the event, and partly I think because it took just long enough to really understand the question that the time limit was up or someone else had spoken! At the end, the Northern Region won, with the Juniors coming in second. The Overseas group finished next to last. Curiously we were actually second or third until the final round, which turned out to be "sudden death" when any group could come up with the answer (previous rounds, the questions were on a rotation basis until a group missed, with some other twists from Peter's devious imagination). It was interesting that, although Peter had a special stack of questions for the Juniors, they were not watered down at all. However, the Juniors stack didn't include questions from the purely non-fiction books like the biography or Nancy Blackett. I was very impressed with the Juniors group! (It was even more interesting that the Northern group, who won, turned out to be a family group who had prepared for this by suddenly hurling questions at one another an unexpected moments during mealtimes, evenings, and what-have-you for weeks. Perhaps the most impressive part was that they were still speaking to one another!) Monday morning Susan and I went on the Chichester Cathedral tour, which was particularly marked by the tour guide, a retired school teacher. He referred to himself as a Royalist and a Cavalier, and did not approve of Cromwell or the Roundheads at all. (He also didn't approve of Modern Art, and got to point this out frequently, as the last bishop but one of the Cathedral was a great modern art fancier, who had had the old pulpit melted down and recast into a very modern one, and had several very large modern art pieces commissioned for the cathedral.) And that's the Tale of Dave's AGM, in excruciating detail. BTW the quote from Roger Wardale is from NANCY BLACKETT: UNDER SAIL WITH ARTHUR RANSOME, Page 253. --------------------------------------------- From: alan_hakim@uk.ibm.com To: peter@physics.otago.ac.nz X-Sender-Info: Alan Hakim AWHAKIM at EOSVM Mailpoint C2C, Internet: alan_hakim@uk.ibm.com North Harbour 7-253762 IBMMAIL: GBIBM7PD Subject: S2M14 - 2 items 1. Monsieur Ransome in French As a result of conversation with Margaret Ratcliffe at the AGM, I have received from her photocopies of the title pages of FIVE Ransome books published in France. The originals are in the Leeds Public Library. The titles are: Hirondelles et Amazones Le Vallon des Hirondelles Le Tresor de Peter Duck Hirondelles dans la Neige Le Club des Foulques The first is translated by G.Guillemot, the rest by G.Guillemot- Magitot; perhaps the same person after marriage? Illustrations to the first two are by Clifford Webb, which made me think they were published in the 30s but Anne Dicky says they were 1945. They were published in a series "Heures Joyeuses", by "Editions de l'Amitie, G.T.Rageot" in Paris. So Roger Wardale was unduly gloomy. I think he was right about AR's dispute with the publisher, but it wasn't as soon as he feared. 2. "The Far Distant Oxus" Anne Zink's query - yes, the books were written by Katherine Hull and Pamela Whitlock, and get regular mentions at TARS events. The latest is in Brigit's video "The Ransomes Remembered", which includes shots of "Oxus", which is still in print. The other book was called, I think, "Return to Bokhara", but it is many years since I read it, so I could well be wrong. They have been discussed at the two TARS Literary Conferences. Katherine died quite young, but Pamela stayed a close friend of AR, and he appointed her his Literary Executor along with John Bell, her husband. She has now died, but he continues in the post - and is a good friend of TARS. From: Braganza@aol.com Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 19:38:57 -0400 To: peter@physics.otago.ac.nz Subject: Re: #2(2) Signalling to Mars 14 Dear Peter, Whilst considering names for the Arthur Ransome Society on the Internet I think it would be worth considering something that isn't too Tech-ish. ie: E-TARS, TARS-NET etc. Those names, to me, seem very corny and get lost amongst all the other tech-y words already out there. I think we can be a little more clever than that. There must be some nice word play on the word 'Internet' revolving around 'net' ie: fishing net. The Internet being the biggest 'net' of all, who was the biggest and best fisherman of the lot? The captain of the Cachalot, that's who! Why not just call it 'The Cachalot'? Best regards, Richard Evans The exiled Englishman in Los Angeles BTW, I found a copy of the 1898 edition of -Furtherest North-, rebound, at a bookstore in London with the asking price of #110. You might want to put it out for people. I'll pass on the bookstore info to anyone who's interested. They take credit cards and have a FAX number. I picked up a 1896 edition in the original binding last year for about the same price, so I don't need it. 73, doug From: LEETHA YEE <76512.1544@compuserve.com> To: peter Subject: happy find Dear Sir, Pardon me if you got a message from me earlier. I tried to send you an e-mail message, but my computer got hung up, so I have no idea if it actually was sent. Anyway, this has been an extraordinary month. Earlier this year, I bought my first computer and I went online in February. This month, in one of the forums, I saw a mention of Swallows and Amazons and I wrote to the person in England who had posted it. He in turn found me a place to buy two videotapes: The Swallows and Amazons movie starring Virginia McKenna and the TV series. (I just spoke to WH Smith yesterday and they are mailing them to me). He also mentioned the Arthur Ransome Society and gave me the address to write to. Well, lo and behold, a day after I posted the letter and ordered the videotapes, I browsed around the Internet, searched Ransome, and came upon YOU. This has made me very happy indeed. I can't wait to explore the Web Page in more depth. And I hope you don't mind if I correspond with you if I have questions. This has been a great weekend indeed. Sincerely, Leetha Yee (at least one Ransome fan in the U.S.) Dear Peter, I browsed around the Arthur Ransome page today. I feel like a kid let loose in the candy store. You've done a wonderful job. My first quest way-back-when was to find all the books in the Swallows and Amazons series. Suddenly, I have a new quest --finding everything listed on the Page .. walk books ... bios. Egad. Anyway, about that mention in the forum. I belong to Compuserve --- and it was just a small 2-3 message thread in the New Member Forum. One person had asked about penpals for her child and good books to read ... and this fellow in England messaged her back to say that the Swallows and Amazons series was his recommendation. I wrote to this fellow in England about finding those videotapes ... I had been searching in London and other places in England since 1986 when I saw the movie on American television ... but to no avail. But he located them at his local branch of WH Smith. I happened to order them thru the WH Smith in Malvern -- telephone 1684-572919. (Greg is the tape orderer.) But I am assuming that since WH Smith is a big chain, you could go to any of them. Indeed, Greg told me that WH Smith is the EXCLUSIVE carrier of the Swallows and Amazons tapes. Again, there are two I have ordered: the movie from the 1970's starring Virginia McKenna. And a videotape of the television series: Swallows and Amazons Forever. (Don't know what year that TV series ran. It never made it here to U.S. television that I know of. And I work in television, so I tend to keep up on this stuff). Again, thanks for the thrills I've gotten zipping around the AR page. It's going to take a lot of time to explore all of it .... what fun. Also, I have a copy of The Autobiography of Ar with prologue and epilogue by Rupert Hart-Davis. It says first published 1976 .. I think there was a question mark by that entry on the page. I hope you don't mind ... but I'm sure to write again with questions. Regards. Leetha Yee (sorry for being long-winded. Probably not good netiquette.) SOME MORE NOTES FROM ADMIRAL GEORGE Well the stuff you have just read should have been sent two weeks ago so now I will write a sort of up to date bit. Well its nice to see that we are properly sorted out so you (Peter) have got to change the title bit. I did not go to the AGM as my father was in Japan, as I am the only AR mad person in our family so it would be unfair for me to take my mum and two sisters along. They older ones doing exams as well. [snip] I was in the shower and it came to me that once a year we should have a census to find out where the readers are. This could be used as a directory for menbers so they could look up people email addresses, instead of trying to read the Cc list at the begining. [snip] Well I did mean to write somthing short and sweet. But as ever it's a master peace. I think thats it. I will go and do some homework now, or shall I continue to read Pigion Post. Ops I've started again.. Bye I am having dificulty with sending emails from home. Its a long story. George. From Dave Sewart who doesn't have email The Far Distant Oxus was Pamela Hull & Katherine Whitlock (I think). The story is well documented how AR took the copy to Cape saying somthing about "I have the best childrens book written this year" & bullying them into printing it. Actually its quite a fun book. Ted Alexander has some for sale (an unsold crate of them recently came to light at Capes). John Bell (AR's literary executor) married Pamela. The AGM was splendid. My highlight was getting aboard Warrior (1860). A ship so powerful in her day that she would probably have defeated the combined navies of the world - yet technically she was only a frigate, a fifth-rate! She has been restored very cleverly (glass-fibre cannon & such like) but it is well done, even her engines rotate though thay can not steam. Doug may have bent his car door, but we saw a French car using the (in)fameous Bosham car-wash (the road in front of the village is tidal). We also visited Birdham, where AR had such trouble with the 'Boy Scout' (see AR at Sea). Dave Sewart From Doug: I think we should make our mailing list public, as far as possible. Publishing a directory would be a good idea, with people submitting as much information as they are willing. The US region publishes the entire mailing list. From: alan_hakim@uk.ibm.com Subject: An Earthling Speaks Up Peter, The following (including the above title) was sent me by Jill Goulder for transmission on to you and S2M: A friendly Martian supplies me with (hard) copies of Signalling to Mars, as I *hate* sitting in front of my computer and am wedded to my fax. (Is there a dual-media Martian out there who would fax me the newsletter & feed any faxed signals from me into the system? +44-171-924-7546) The AGM at Chichester was a hoot when it came to Virtual TARS - but I did agree with the theory that you're a *publication*: subscription is free to Martians, but perhaps for a low fee you could provide fax or hardcopy to Earthling TARS, who'd *LOVE* to read your stuff. N.B. MARS is a *perfect* name for you lot out in the ether - aren't you Martians? See you all one day. Jill Goulder. SO HOW ABOUT IT? ANYONE HELP HERE? From: "Brad Henry " Peter, Electronic Group's Name ======================= You were asking about names etc. in Signalling to Mars No. 14. Here are my thoughts: The overall entity that we are discussing consists of a co-ordinator (yourself), a list of participants a newsletter and a means of communication amongst them. This overall entity requires a name and a description. The participants need a suitable descriptive term and the newsletter must have a title. (1) Entity Name. The obvious name (and the one for which I have voted) is TARS-NET. This incorporates the name of the parent organisation; what we are talking about is a network of TARS. (2) Entity Description. An initial suggestion for this is "Electronic Group of The Arthur Ransome Society" - a good starter. Now, "Electronic" suggests to me and perhaps to others: transistors, diodes, coils and solder etc. such as is found inside a tape recorder or transistor radio - the stuff we messed around with in Physics labs at school. I suggest "E-Mail" as an alternative. (Yes I realise the E stands for electronic but the overall term represents a definite concept and it is undoubtedly E-Mail that we all use as our means of communication). Secondly "Group" has a feeling of autonomy about it but we are certainly part of TARS overall. The term "Section" definitely suggests part of a whole. Other suggestions were Wing and Arm - now while these have the suggestion of "part" they do have a definite military feel about them. So: "The E-Mail Section of The Arthur Ransome Society". (3) Term For Participants. Suggestions have been E-Tars, Cyber-Tars, Net-Tars and Virtual Tars. Cyber-Tars sounds rather like science fiction and I am sure that Dick would have nothing to do with it! Virtual Tars. Getting back to Physics again I seem to recall that Virtual meant the opposite of Real; I am quite sure that we all feel real. This leaves E-Tars and Net-Tars which both sound quite reasonable but my personal preference is "E-Tars" (ie. E-Mail TARS). (4) Newsletter Title. "Signalling to Mars" That is a brilliant title, couldn't be bettered. Summary: We E-Tars are all E-Mail participants in TARS-NET : The E-Mail Section of The Arthur Ransome Society! Just some suggestions, Brad Henry. From: Your Full Name Saw your comment about not knowing the names of the girls who wrote The Far-Distant Oxus. I happen to have a copy and their names are Katharine Hull and Pamela Whitlock. I see by the cover that my copy is an abridged edition. It was done so well, I didn't even realize that it was abridged! It is the first printing of the abridged edition published in 1969, still in the paper cover. I have seen the movies of the Swallows and Amazons and think they did a very good job. I was very surprised to see this page, though I am a newcomer to the Internet. From: Daryl Carlson Dear Peter, I am new on the net and was happy to find you and Virtual TARS. As most TARS members, I first found A.R.and his wonderful stories as a young lad of 11 or 12. It was so long ago it is hard to remember.I am now 61. For many years I kept looking for his books without success. Then last year my wife and I realized a lifelong dream and spent a month in the U.K. While visiting that marvelous village Hay On Wye, I purchased three of the S&A series. Several days later, in conversation with a breakfast companion at a B & B in Glastonbury, I mentioned how thrilled I was to find Ransomes' books. She became excited and asked if we were going to the TARS annual meeting the following week in Ambleside. Lo and behold, she was a TARS member from Canada and on her way to the meeting. She filled me in on TARS. Up to that point I was not aware of it's existence. She promised to send me an application. She followed through,I joined, and here I am. One Question, you mention a membership number. I am unaware of any. I looked back through the data sent me with out success. October this year will see my wife and I back in England for a week in the Lake District. Rain or shine I hope to locate as many of the sites used by A.R.in the books as I possibly can. I also hope to make contact with other TARS members in person. Is any one out there on the net going to be in the area Oct. 14-20 ? Peter,thanks for your page, I very much enjoy it. The walks listed are great and I look forward to doing them in person. By the way, we visited your beautiful county in 1981 for 2 weeks (all on South Island). It is high on our list of places we must go back to see again. Three cheers for Wildcat Island, Daryl Carlson Ships Boy (I don't sail so I can't very well be an Admiral) END of Issue 14 and a half Start writing your articles on _Swallows and Amazons_ for next issue!!