How did the Swallows and Amazons Inspire You?

Calling all explorers, pirates, sailors, ship’s engineers, bird watchers, novelists, botanists and astronomers (to name a few):

Are you amongst those who’ve voyaged with the Swallows and Amazons to Wild Cat Island in your mind, or trekked to the North Pole, or hunted High Topps for gold? Or can you trace your passion for star gazing, geology or conservation to Dick Callum, or for writing to his sister, Dorothea? Did you decide to join the Navy in John’s wake, or become a pirate in Nancy’s…?

Swallows and Amazons at the Coniston Regatta

Come and join the fun at this year’s Coniston Regatta, taking place at Bank Ground Farm, from Thursday, 30 May to Saturday, 1 June. The Regatta will have a packed programme: traditional dinghies, steam boats and the National Trust’s Gondola dressed as Captain Flint’s houseboat afloat, and attractions ranging from fishing competitions to displays by local craftsmen ashore.

ART is bringing a Voyage of Discovery, with information about Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome, and the Trust’s plans. We’re planning to have fun too! So if you are in the Coniston area or planning a visit to the Lakes, please do drop by and say hello.

Farewell and Adieu

The Swallows and Amazons Musical’s national tour ended on Saturday, 19 May, with a rousing final performance at the New Theatre, Cardiff.

This also brought the Trust’s latest Voyage of Discovery to an end. Our mobile display had accompanied the tour, kindlly hosted by the Tour company itself, and by the host theatres. 

Swallows and Amazons Reach Cardiff

Swallows and Amazons, reaches the final destination of its 2012 UK tour this week, as it arrives at the New Theatre, Cardiff.

If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a new review to whet the appetite. Hopefully the reviewer is correct and it will be revived in the future. But where, when and how remains to be seen. So if you are thinking about going, do “grab the chance” and head to Cardiff whilst you can.

Setting Sail with Swallows and Amazons

The Swallows and Amazons musical made a great start to its national tour at the Chichester Festival Theatre on Tuesday. The first performance received a very positive audience reaction and the later performances during the week are already sold out.

We are grateful to the Children’s Touring Partnership for taking our Voyages of Discovery display with them on the tour. The display comes in two parts, one introducing Arthur Ransome’s life, the other Swallows and Amazons. Please do look out for it, if you are going to any of the tour venues, and we hope it enhances your enjoyment of the play itself.

Correction to Voyages of Discovery

Further to our previous news item, the Voyages of Discovery display will not be available at the Vaudeville, from 20 December – 14 January. The reason is that the theatre has insufficient space “front of house”, and needs to keep what it has clear at such a busy time of the year. In addition to the Swallows and Amazons Musical, the theatre is also presenting Potted Panto over the holiday period.

We are sorry to disappoint anybody who was hoping to see the display whilst the Musical is in London. We still expect that it will be available at the UK Tour venues from January onwards, hosted by the Children’s Touring Partnership and the participating theatres.

Voyages of Discovery with the Swallows and Amazons Musical

We are very pleased to announce that the Trust will be mounting a Voyages of Discovery display during the forthcoming Swallows and Amazons Musical Tour. The display will be kindly hosted by the Children’s Touring Partnership and the participating theatres. We currently anticipate it will be available from 20 December, at the Vaudeville.

Voyages of Discovery Finishes at Bristol

Our first Voyages of Discovery display closed at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre on the afternoon of January 15. The Old Vic’s highly-successful production of Swallows and Amazons ended on the same evening.

You can see the comments and feedback we received about both the display and the musical by going to the Voyages of Discovery at the Bristol Old Vic review page in the Previous Events section of our website, or go to our Galleries to see more photographs from Bristol.

We’d just like to take this opportunity to thank all at the Old Vic for their enthusiam and help, and to thank all those who took time to look at Voyages of Discovery and to comment on it.