ART Press Releases Now Available Online
We have now added a Press Release page to the News section of our website.
If you are a journalist, and you would like us to send you our future press releases, please contact us to let us know.
Read moreSwallows and Amazons Set Sail at the Bristol Old Vic
Final arrangements are being made for the Bristol Old Vic’s premiere of Swallows and Amazons on 1 December. In addition to the musical itself, the Trust’s Voyages of Discovery display is ready to be installed in time for the premiere. Work is also continuing on the More 4 TV Documentary, Swallows and Amazons – the Bristol Old Vic Sets Sail, which is scheduled for transmission on 11 December.
Read moreVoyages of Discovery at the Bristol Old Vic
We are very pleased to announce that our first Voyage of Discovery will take place at the Bristol Old Vic, where it will complement the Old Vic’s forthcoming production of Swallows and Amazons in December, 2010 and January, 2011.
Voyages of Discovery will provide theatre-goers with an introduction to Arthur Ransome’s life and to Swallows and Amazons, the first in his famous series of twelve children’s novels.
Read moreLetting us know what you think
We’re aware that many people will have thoughts and ideas, both about this website and about the Arthur Ransome Trust. We are very keen to hear your thoughts, especially any practical ideas or suggestions you may have at this early stage in the Trust’s development, when we’re starting to think in more detail about how best to develop the ideas outlined in our Projects section.
We have now finished enabling the comments facility on the website. Please note that this is currently pre-moderated, so there may be a delay between making you comment and its publication. We will, of course, try to keep any delay as short as possible.
Read moreWelcome to the ART Website!
We are pleased to announce the launch of our website; it is an important stage in the development of the Arthur Ransome Trust (ART).
The Trust was formed in February, 2010, and registered with the Charity Commission (no 1136565) in June. The Trust is dedicated to helping people to learn about, experience, understand, appreciate and enjoy the life and works of the English author Arthur Ransome.
Read moreWelcome to the Arthur Ransome Trust
.
Introduction
Welcome to the Arthur Ransome Trust (ART) website. The Trust is a registered charity (No 1136565) dedicated to the study, understanding and appreciation of the life and works of Arthur Ransome (1884 – 1967). The Trust’s main aim is to establish and develop a permanent Arthur Ransome Centre, based in the southern Lake District. We are also developing a range of other projects, whose aim will be to help people discover and re-discover Arthur Ransome.
Arthur Ransome
Ransome is today best known as the author of the twelve Swallows and Amazons novels, five of which are set on a fictional “lake in the north”, modeled on Coniston Water and Windermere, in the English Lake District. It has been said that the Swallows and Amazons novels “changed British children’s literature, affected a whole generation’s view of holidays, helped to create the national image of the English Lake District, and added Arthur Ransome’s name to the select list of classic British children’s authors,” (Peter Hunt, Approaching Arthur Ransome, 1992).
I seem to have lived not one life but snatches from a dozen different lives
These are major achievements in themselves. But there was far more to Arthur Ransome’s life and works than the Swallows and Amazons series alone.
In total Ransome published over 40 books and contributed to many more. He also wrote over 1,500 articles for newspapers and magazines on a range of subjects reflecting his varied careers and interests as an author, illustrator, story teller, critic, essayist, editor, war reporter, political journalist, amateur diplomat, suspected spy, bohemian, romantic, sailor and angler. Perhaps it is no surprise that he once wrote he had “lived not one life but snatches from a dozen different lives”.
We believe that many of those lives are reflected in and help to explain his works, just as his dedication to writing helps us to understand his life. The Arthur Ransome Trust aims to explore the links between Ransome’s works and his “dozen different lives” in ways that are interesting and accessible to all.
The Lake District
Arthur Ransome moved house many times. During his life he occupied twenty-five homes in Britain alone. He had close attachments to his birthplace, Leeds, to the places he knew in his Bohemian youth in London, and to the East Coast around the River Orwell. But Ransome was most deeply attached to the southern Lake District around Windermere and Coniston Water.
Not counting many holidays and time at school in Windermere, he lived in this area for some twenty-three years in four different properties. We see this area as the logical place to establish a permanent Arthur Ransome Centre.
An Arthur Ransome Centre
Our long-term goal is to establish a permanent public “Ransome Home”, to serve both as a centre for learning about Arthur Ransome and as a memorial to him in his spiritual home.
We envisage such a centre offering an exhibition space. Depending on its facilities, location and the Trust’s resources, it could also serve as a base at which, or from which, a range of Ransome-themed projects can be managed and run. These may include mobile exhibitions, public lectures, seminars and practical activities.
We recognize that this is an ambitious and long-term goal. We are, therefore, also working towards a range of shorter term projects, acting where appropriate with other interested organisations such as museums and literary groups.
Please use the links below to find out more about the Trust, our activities and plans, and Arthur Ransome.
We hope you enjoy your visit to our website.
