Subject: Signalling to Mars 11 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++++ Virtual Tars ---|:.::.:.|.____ 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 + + + + an unofficial Electronic Newsletter for Members + + 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 [but not too intellectual we hope] + + + + e-address: peter@physics.otago.ac.nz + + [more addresses at foot of message] + + NB: any mail received Will Be Publishable unless Marked + + Otherwise!! This includes senders' + + identities! [name and email address] + **Arthur Ransome Page on World Wide Web** http://newton.otago.ac.nz:808/peterhtdocs/arthurpage.html We're not junk emailers! IF YOU DO NOT WANT THIS NEWSLETTER please send Reply to that effect _______________________________________________________________________ ISSUE NUMBER 11 February 1995 THE FIRST VIRTUAL GENERAL MEETING OF VIRTUAL TARS WILL COME TO ORDER! This issue of Signalling to Mars is devoted entirely to procedural matters: appointing Officers of the Electronic Branch, welcoming some new members, and some other small items. There are now heaps of Tars and some "intending Tars" getting this. To avoid wearing-out our poor old e-mail server, in future s2m will only be sent to TARS members, although it is readily available on the World Wide Web at the address given above. Speaking of the 'Web pages, there is now a new one called "Arthur Ransome Picture show", full of nice colour photos of AR people and places. I'd really like some more material for this. E-mail me if you have anything. Also, any contributions to the "Reviews, criticisms and essays" page, ideal for any old newspaper articles about AR that some of you may have kept. Peter Dowden, Signaller SOME NEW MEMBERS of Virtual Tars: From: Message for Ian <100116.1401@compuserve.com> My name is Ian - I've been an AR fan all my life and probably know his books word for word, except Missee Lee which for some strange reason never did click for me. From: Message for George Lang Hello, my name is George Lang. I am 14 years old and live in a place call Abingdon in Oxfordshire, England. My parents are both Scottish. I have two sisters one older and one younger. None of them are like me and are nuts on A.R. I sail on the River Thames which flows through Abingdon. We sail our own boat an Enterprise class, her sail number is 4202 and called Aeron. I sing in St. Helens Church choir. I go to secondary school called John Mason School. I work/run for the school paper called The Insider, (I do the finance and PR). I have read SA 14 times, I know it so well I can tell you the story backwards, I have read the other books about 12 times (my parents think I am nuts, so do I some times). I also like science and computers (not games computers).> I noted that you did not tell everybody about your self is any of the s2m, how about it? ... OK George, I'm Peter Dowden, peter@physics.otago.ac.nz; I worked here in the physics department until recently doing data analysis and some publishing, now I do occasional work here as Department Webmaster and lots of network surfing in my spare time, of which I now have plenty! I drive a schoolbus every morning and afternoon, leaving the middle of the days free. I sail dinghies and teach sailing to kids at a local Yacht Club. I read all the AR books again and again, but only discovered WDMTGTS when I weas about 15 [wow! Great discovery!]. I found out about TARS in 1991 when I wrote Christina Hardyment a "fan letter" about her book. From: Message for Christopher Sharp <100272.3646@compuserve.com> My name is Christopher Sharp and I'm the secretary/newsletter editor and general dogsbody for TARS Midland Region Junior Section. At the age of 14 I hope that I can claim to be the youngest cyber-Tar replying to the beginning of issue 1 as seen in Signals 2. You can read my newsletter sections in Signals and I also produce a 6 page Pigeon Post. If reading the page in Signals gives you eye strain then ask nicely and I'll send you a floppy disk with a Microsoft Word For Windows version 6.0a or compatible file type (PKzipped). Warning - un-zipped data file is over 1.5MB. I would also like to put part of it on the World Wide Web arthurpage at some time if possible. Ahoy there to David Thewlis, Doug Faunt, Sam Coupland and any other Virtual Tars who I met at the AGM and have forgotten to include. I was wondering what TARS gets up to on far away continents? If any Coots and Foreigners read this they might care to tell me what they do for meetings. Its all go here preparing for the next edition of Signals and accepting the large quantities of work that is being sent in by our local junior members. If there are any junior or family members of TARS reading this perhaps they would like to send me some work and I will try to see that it gets published in a junior section in the next Signals. However, please note that the wonderful colour images that I'm receiving are not publishable as Signals is only in black and white! Like this email! Any colour work received for Signals will be returned to the sender for them to convert it to black and white. Do any Virtual Tars frequent literary forums? If so which ones are likely to mention AR? Thank you. Point of interest: Theres a letter in the December 1994 issue of The National Geographic about TARS. And last month those TARS members who don't get the BBC Radio 4 Going Places programme on the World Service missed out on a talk by Dave Sewart about AR on the Broads. A.R. First Lieutenant Christopher Sharp :-) From: BarbSBurt@aol.com (Barbara Burt) Now I know why we needed to get on the internet! If this is a way to communicate with other TARS (we're actually TARSUS), hooray! Is there a bulletin board where we can find a few like-minded friends? Let me know how to go about joining in. We are a sailing family--two girls with their own sailing dinghy and two parents with an ancient wooden sloop designed by Laurent Giles, same boat designer who did Ransome's Peter Duck. We'd like to go to the UK this Spring or Summer to join in on some TARS events and would love to connect with people who could advise us about accomodations, etc.. I am a neophyte on the 'net but am enjoying discovering its potential. Our family can be reached at my address: barbsburt@aol.com Look forward to hearing from you! Barbara Burt VIRTUAL TARS VGM Chaired by: The Signaller Agenda: 1: Appointment of Officers 2: Our Charter for the Electronic Branch 3: Our Branch Name APPOINTMENT OF VIRTUAL TARS OFFICERS: [I]: ADMIRAL The Candidates: 1: Doug Faunt Nominated as Admiral by: Himself, reluctantly... Nominated as Vice Admiral by Peter Dowden, in view of his reluctance to be Admiral extracts from Doug's political speeches: "I just don't want to be reponsible for communications by letter, etc. that I'm not good at following through. I'll cheerfully carry the flag at the AGM." "I'm willing to be Returning Officer, but don't think I'm close enough to TARS Central to be Admiral." "I'm going to the AGM again this year, and expect to go to the Literary weekend in October, as well as including the Lake District and Lewis on my trip to Scotland in August." 2: David Thewlis Nominated as Admiral, by: Bob Barcus David's speech: "The bottom line is probably that I would accept the position of Admiral if there wasn't anybody else who could/would do it, or if there were any reason to believe that I could do a significantly better job than any of the other candidates, but I don't see any reason to believe this is true." 3: George Lang. lang@solg2.bnsc.rl.ac.uk. Nominated for the position of Junior Admiral, by Himself George Lang's speech: "Well when I read your e-mail about the e-mail AGM you did not put a position for a junior admiral, his job to be the junior rep." Of the three candidates, two seem reluctant to act as sole Admiral, and one prefers the title Junior Admiral. Since the WILD CAT had 3 Captains and 2 Mates, I feel that it is possible for the Branch to have three admirals, an Admiralty of Admirals in fact. I therefore move that this be so, and that David Thewlis, Doug Faunt and George Lang be appointed Admirals of the Electronic Branch. ALL THOSE IN FAVOUR, say "aye" quietly to yourself. Let us know if you disapprove. (If they later wish to appoint a First Lord of the Admiralty from among themselves, they are welcome to do so, but risk being unpopular with the inhabitants of Alma Cottage) [II]: Secretary and Signaller There have been no nominations or volunteers. The existing Signaller happily accepts the job of Secretary and reluctantly accepts the job of Signaller until someone else offers to help. THE CHARTER OF THE ELECTRONIC BRANCH Virtual Tars is a worldwide Electronic Branch of The Arthur Ransome Society which connects all regions of the Society. By using international electronic information networks, we aim: 1: to encourage communication between isolated members and regions of the Society, and 2: to promote the Society and its aims to other network users. ALL THOSE WHO THINK THIS IS OKAY, say "aye" quietly to your computer. If you have any other ideas, let us know. OUR NAME If you happen to think the name "Virtual Tars" inhales, you are most welcome to suggest an alternative. Some people call it e-Tars or Cyber-Tars, both of which I quite like. END OF THE MEETING Now go and have a cup of tea. LETTER FROM BOB BARCUS ABOUT "COOTS IN THE NORTH" [Originally addressed to Bill Wright] From: KBVX48A@prodigy.com (MR ROBERT K BARCUS) Thanks [Bill] for your research on the characters and timeline of AR's S&A series that was published in "Signalling to Mars" No. 9. When memory gets a little hazy, your chart will be handy for keeping things in order. You inquired about "Coots In The North". I bought the book a couple of years ago by mail from England, and would be happy to send it to you if you haven't already acquired a copy from another source. I would caution, however, that you will probably find it, as I did, a disappointment. It seems that Hugh Brogan, while working on his "Life" of AR, chanced on the first fragmentary chapters and the partial outline of an untitled 13th S&A story in AR's desk at Abbot Hall. These fragments, with Brogan's italicized speculations to fill the gaps, were published by Cape in 41 pages with the title above supplied by Brogan. The remainder of the slim 144-page volume is an introduction of AR by Brogan and six AR short stories about fishing, ghosts, and Baltic sailing. For those who know AR only from the dozen S&As, these latter stories show an interesting "other side". The "Coots" chapters only tantalize those who have fervently wished for more of the children's adventures. In them, the Death & Glories stow away on a cruiser being trucked from the Broads to the Lake District. Their object is to visit the D's who are staying at Dixon's farm. They arrive at Rio, head down the lake toward the farm, and then attempt to "salvage" a capsized sailboat by grabbing the hair of one of the "drowning" crew. This proves to be none other than Captain Nancy, who punches her "rescuer" in the nose for his efforts. And that's it! The story ends there. The biography and other accounts of AR's life suggest that the formidable Evgenia constantly trivialized the children's series, and offer the possibility that more might have been written if she had been supportive. In the bare bones in these 41 pages, one can see the beginning of another dandy adventure combining the cast from the Broads with that from the Lake District, brought together by a common acquaintance with the Ds. Think of the possibilities for mischief from the Death & Glories under the command of Captain Nancy!