Coot Club


CHARACTERS D.'s--Dorothea, Dick Callum
Coots--Tom Dudgeon, Bess (Port) & Nell (Starboard) Farland, Bill, Pete, Joe (Death & Glories)
Admiral (Mrs Barrable)
William the Pug
Hullabaloos--James, Ronald, Livy, a fat man, and one more woman
Frank Farland (A.P.), Dr & Mrs Dudgeon, "Our Baby" Dudgeon, Mrs McGinty, Jim Woodall, Simon Fastgate, George Owdon, Mr Tedder, Ratty (Joe's rat), Robin (stomach-ache boy at Acle), Mr Jack & Mrs Whittle, Mr Hawkins, Old Bob, Breydon pilot, (Richard Barrable), (Mrs Millett...has houseboat with china upset by Hullabaloos), (Walters...works in Mr Farland's office), 4 Yarmouth wreckers
guard, porter, and ticket inspector at Thorpe terminus, stationmaster at Wroxham station, farm boy (with milk for Teasel), grocer in Horning, battery man in Wroxham, boy watching for Margoletta at Potter, "Stop Me and Buy One" boy at Potter, eel-man by Horning Hall, old sailor (same as later old man?) on bridge at Acle, provision boat man, boy in Yarmouth by figurehead, sailor on schooner by quay in Yarmouth, man on railway bridge in Yarmouth, signalman at Herringfleet swingbridge, man on the Corporation Yacht Station, 2 men on bridge at end of New Cut, eel fisherman at Beccles, boy on Post Office bicycle at Beccles, harbourmaster at Oulton, man working on dismantling sailboat at Brundalll, signalman at Reedham railway bridge, young man and girl at Berney Arms, old fisherman at Yarmouth
 
SETTING Norfolk Broads
 
TIME 22 April - 6 May 1932
 
BOATS Titmouse
Teasel
motor-launch
Death and Glory
Flash
Sir Garnet
Dreadnought
Margoletta
Teasel's dinghy
Dr Dudgeon's fishing boat
the Farland's rowing boat
Come Along
Welcome of Rochester
 
TIMELINE

(numbers are days, names are chapter titles)

1

22 April
Just in Time • Disappointment • What's the Good of Planning • The Only Thing To Do • Aboard the Teasel • Put Yourself in His Place

2

(23 April)
Invitation • The Innocents • The Making of an Outlaw

3

(24 April)
Lying Low

4

(25 April)
Lying Low

5

(26 April)
Lying Low

6

(27 April)
Tom in Danger • Under the Enemy's Nose • The Titmouse Disguised

7

(28 April)
The Titmouse Disguised

8

(29 April)
Neighbours at Potter Heigham

9

(30 April)
Neighbours at Potter Heigham • Port and Starboard Say Good-Bye

10

(1 May)
Southward Bound • Port and Starboard Miss Their Ship • Through Yarmouth • Sir Garnet Obliges Friends • While the Wind Holds • Come Along and Welcome

11

(2 May)
The Return of the Native

12

(3 May)
Storm Over Oulton

13

(4 May)
Recall

14

(5 May)
Recall

15

(6 May)
The Rashness of the Admiral • The Titmouse on the Fog • William's Heroic Moment • Wreck and Salvage • Face to Face

-

Postscript
 
NOTES • Nell Farland has curly hair and is right-handed; Bess is left-handed.

• Mr Farland is a solicitor with his office in Norwich

• Mrs McGinty is a widow of an Irishman but was born in Glasgow

• "Our Baby" is a boy.

• On their train journey from home to Norwich, the D.'s came through Ipswich and Colchester

• Tom's birthday was probably not too long before the story starts, as the stuff from Norwich was a "birthday present" (probably bought with birthday money).

• The Blacketts are away with Uncle Jim; the Walkers are in the south with their father who is home on leave.

• Mrs Barrable was Mrs Callum's school mistress long ago; she is a painter and the sister of a famous portrait painter; she was born at Beccles.

• Mr & Mrs Callum are at a conference of archaeologists up on the Roman wall (near Carlisle).

• Mrs Farland died when the twins were babies.

• The Margoletta was let from Rodley's of Wroxham.

• The twins go away to school; Tom and the Death & Glories go to school locally.

• The Teasel had been moored for over a week prior to Day 1 of the story.

• There seem to have been other run-ins with George Owdon previous to this story--Mr Farland refers to him as "your dear friend George" in a sarcastic manner.

• Jim Woodall thinks the Grizzled Skipper is the most likely boat to win the championship, and which Flash will challenge.


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