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FROM John
Anderson j.c.anderson@mail.com
A
review of
2017
Although
we didn't
have an
international
conference
this year,
it's been
an active
year for
the
Foundation
in all its
many
forms.
Book
groups are
the
mainstay
in the US,
UK and
also, new
this year,
in the
Netherlands.
The
Dartmouth,
Tri-state
and Cape
Cod
chapters
meet
regularly
- in the
case of
Dartmouth
on the
first
Saturday
of each
month.
In the UK
we met in
February
at
Chalgrove
near
Oxford for
a
discussion
of
Pastoral.
This was
our
“Hartley
Magna” for
the day.
The day
included a
visit to
an old
manor
house, the
nearby
airfield
and the
back room
of the Red
Lion pub
which
accommodated
the large
number of
attendees.
In May we
met at Kew
Green,
west
London,
for a
discussion
of Most
Secret.
Amongst
those
attending
was Dr
Mike
Morrogh,
now
retired
from
Shrewsbury
School,
who lives
in that
area.
Aviation
scholarships.
The Fleet
Air Arm
Officers
Association
(FAAOA)
run
gliding
scholarships
for 17-21
year old
candidates
and the
Foundation
decided to
support
one of
these
(Nevil
Shute
gained his
glider
pilot's
certificate
at the
Yorkshire
Aeroplane
club in
1930) The
FAAOA
selected a
candidate,
and
scheduled
the
training
week to
take place
at RNAS
Merryfield
in August.
However
for
technical
reasons
this
airfield
could not
be used
and a
planned
move to
Lee on
Solent was
not
feasible
because of
logistics
problems.
So, for
the first
time in
many
years,
this
Scholarship
programme
had to be
postponed
My
contact at
FAAOA,
assures
me that
the
scholarship
will take
place
during the
Easter
holidays
in 2018
and our
donation
will be
carried
over to
next year.
Lending
Libraries.
Our thanks
go to
Laura
Schneider,
Nancy
Anderson
and Andy
Burgess
who run
the US, Oz
and UK
lending
libraries
respectively.
Full
details
are on the
Foundation
website.
UK
reunion
weekend.
This took
place on
22nd -23rd
September
and was
based on
the
Beaulieu
river with
15 people
attending
including
a number
of first
timers. On
Saturday
we met at
Exbury
house
where John
Stanley
took us on
his guided
tour
relating
to the
shooting
down of
the Exbury
Junkers,
which is
the
central
event in
Requiem
for a
Wren/Kindling.
On Sunday
the venue
was
Bucklers
Hard which
is full of
shipbuilding
history
and was a
hive of
activity
in the
build up
to D-Day,
After a
visit to
the museum
and other
attractions,
we took a
30 minute
cruise on
the
beautiful
Beaulieu
river,
followed,
of course,
by a cream
tea. We
were lucky
– the sun
shone
throughout
the
weekend !
A major
event this
year was
the
publication
of Richard
Thorn’s
biography
“Shute:
the
engineer
who became
the prince
of
storytellers”
This is a
very well
written
biography
with
impeccable
research,
setting
Shute’s
life and
writing in
the times
through
which he
lived,
with great
detail of
his life
and
travels
during his
Australian
years.1950-60.
Andy
Burgess’
review is
on the
website.
A member
of the
Dutch book
group
brought in
an article
from the
Dutch
women’s
magazine,
Libelle,
about the
wartime
experiences
of Carry
Geysel-Vonck
on which
Shute
based the
story of
Jean Paget
in “A Town
like
Alice”.
Joost has
kindly
translated
the
article
into
English
and it
will be on
the
website
very soon.
(Editor: already on: http://www.nevilshute.org/Misc/Carry's%20story.pdf)
Please do
let Joost
have news
of your
Shute
activities.
He is
always
pleased to
hear from
you.
On behalf
of the
Foundation
Board I
wish all
readers a
happy and
peaceful
New Year.
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