The Arthur Ransome Society, also known by its

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

Tars, and whose members refer to themselves as ''

Tars Tars or TARS may refer to: Organisations * The Arthur Ransome Society, based on British children's author Arthur Ransome * Teen Age Republicans, a youth wing of the US Republican Party * TARS, an abbreviation for ''Transporturi Aeriene Româno-Sov ...

'', is a society whose goals are to "celebrate the life, promote the works and diffuse the ideas of

Arthur Ransome Arthur Michell Ransome (18 January 1884 – 3 June 1967) was an English author and journalist. He is best known for writing and illustrating the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series of children's books about the school-holiday adventures of childre ...

". It is based at the

Abbot Hall Art Gallery Abbot Hall Art Gallery is a museum and gallery in Kendal, England. Abbot Hall was built in 1759 by Colonel George Wilson, the second son of Daniel Wilson of Dallam Tower, a large house and country estate nearby. It was built on the site of the o ...

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, south-east of Windermere and north of Lancaster. Historically in Westmorland, it lies within the dale of th ...

, England. Arthur Ransome is best known for writing the

Swallows and Amazons series The ''Swallows and Amazons'' series is a series of twelve children's adventure novels by English author Arthur Ransome. Set in the interwar period, the novels involve group adventures by children, mainly in the school holidays and mainly in En ...

of children's books in the 1930s and 1940s.

History

In 1984,

Christina Hardyment Christina Hardyment (born 1946) is a British writer who has written on a wide range of subjects including parenting, food, gardens, children's books, domestic life, and British history. Personal life Hardyment lived mainly in England, save f ...

had written an account of her own investigations into the real-life places and real-life people in Arthur Ransome's stories. As a direct result of this book, ''Arthur Ransome and Captain Flint's Trunk'', people interested in forming a society dedicated to Arthur Ransome had been leaving their contact details at Abbot Hall, where, following his death in 1967, his widow Evgenia had donated various articles, including his writing desk. In 1989, Christina followed up on these contact details by sending an appeal for funds to restore the dilapidated ''Mavis'', the supposed prototype for Arthur Ransome's ''Amazon.'' The response to this appeal was overwhelming and in June 1990 The Arthur Ransome Society was formed. A particularly large sum came from the

Arthur Ransome Club {{nihongo, The Arthur Ransome Club, (アーサー・ランサム・クラブ: Āsā Ransamu Kurabu), ARC was founded in Tokyo, Japan, in 1987. It is believed to be the first organization dedicated to promoting and celebrating the works of Arthur ...

(ARC) of Japan. The ceremony was attended by Christina Hardyment, Tamami Nakayama of ARC and Brigit Sanders (née Altounyan), a prototype of the character Bridget Walker. Brigit Sanders was President of TARS from 2000 to 2009. In 1997, the society was incorporated as a

Company Limited by Guarantee In British, Australian, Bermudian, Hong Kong and Irish company law (and previously New Zealand), a company limited by guarantee (CLG) is a type of corporation used primarily (but not exclusively) for non-profit organisations that require legal pe ...

TARS now

TARS produces several regular publications, holds many recreational and scholarly events and maintains a Ransome-themed website. TARS has a wide international membership base which includes branches in Australia, Canada, US, Japan and New Zealand. In the UK there are 6 different regions: Scottish, Northern, Midland, Eastern, South Western and Southern, each with its own leadership committee. They also organize local events which are open all members. Every year one region in the UK takes its turn to host the International Annual General Meeting (IAGM). TARS has a subsidiary, Amazon Publications, which publishes both original books and reprints of books associated with Ransome. Not to be confused with Amazon Publishing, Amazon Publications publishes books relating to Arthur Ransome and his works, available to TARS members only. The Arthur Ransome Society has a substantial physical library of books and other materials, most of which are available for borrowing by members. There are strong links with the

in Japan but no formal association.

References

External links

The Arthur Ransome Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arthur Ransome Society

Society A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Socie ...

Literary societies