Westerman Seminar 2014 on tour

Plans for the fourth annual Westerman Seminar are almost complete.  The big change for this year is that, for this year only, we are moving destination from our established home at Portsmouth Grammar School to Wareham where Percy F. Westerman spent his last forty years, living and writing his exciting tales of derring-do for generations of young readers from his floating houseboat home ‘The Barge’ moored alongside the River Frome.

The seminar will be held in the Wareham Town Council Chamber.  As usual we will have a full programme of interesting talks from speakers including Dennis Butts, Dr Rachel Johnson and Michael Spilman.  In the afternoon we will take a short stroll from the Town Hall to the Redclyffe Yacht Club founded by Percy F. Westerman for an opportunity to view the exhibition ‘Ripping Yarns’ and the Tale of the Forgotten Author and to visit the spot where his iconic home 'The Barge' was moored. 

For the third consecutive year we have kept the ticket price at £15.00 and as usual registration will include refreshments and a light buffet lunch.   There will be plenty of opportunity to network with other delegates and to see some Westerman related material from collections including The Westerman Yarns, the University of Worcester Research Collections and some of the Percy F. Westerman books held at Wareham Library Reference Section.

Please email westermanyarns@gmail.com for booking information.

The Westerman Yarns Newsletter Issue 2

The second edition of The Westerman Yarns Newsletter has now been sent out to 'Friends'. If you have not received yours, please drop me an email.  If you would like to subscribe join Friends of The Westerman Yarns and receive a pdf copy of the newsletter, just follow the link in the right-hand column.

The Westerman Exhibition

Westerman Yarns have been invited to display the Percy F. Westerman exhibition ‘Ripping Yarns’ and the Tale of the Missing Author by the WW1 Remembrance Centre at Fort Widley on Saturday 9^th and Sunday 10^th November when the centre will offer free entry. 

This follows some Facebook comments and a letter in The News with criticism that the exhibition outlining the life and works of the prolific Portsmouth born children’s author had debuted at Havant Literary Festival in October and not in Portsmouth. 

I am very grateful to everyone at the WW1 Remembrance Centre for their kind invitation and for their support in ensuring that Percy Westerman and his Great War titles is a feature of their permanent display.

The exhibition is sponsored by J Edwards Funeral Directors (Bedhampton), Portsmouth Grammar School and Mercury Graphics of Havant.

News from The University of Worcester Research Collections

The University of Worcester Research Collections which includes the The Westerman Collection: The works of  Percy F. Westerman which has been an invaluable source of material for the annual Westerman Seminars has a new face.  Their new web page design is attractive and has an easy link to the Westerman Collection details and inventory.

The Alliance of Literary Societies

Despite all the things that I have said about following the words of Groucho Marx with his quote "I would never want to join a club that would have people like me as a member".  I am pleased to tell you that the Friends of The Westerman Yarns is now a member of the Alliance of Literary Societies (ALS). 

The ALS is the umbrella organisation, formed in 1973 for literary societies and groups in the UK.  Their aim is to provide support and advice on a variety of literary subjects, as well as promoting cooperation between member societies.

Winning the War of the Twitter Waves

I set up a Twitter account about two years ago, but had a number of issues with making good use of it.  The main one was it being hijacked by a number of people who used it to post inappropriate messages that appeared to have been sent by me. 

During the recent Westerman exhibition, I opened a new Twitter account to promote the exhibition and the related activities within the Havant Literary Festival.  I enjoyed this so much that I plan to keep using it. 

To find me, either click the link below or search on twitter for Percy F. Westerman.
Follow Westerman Yarns on Twitter

Coming Soon

I know that I have been neglecting the weblog recently, but in the words of the great John Lennon “Life is what happens when you’re doing other things.” Below are few ‘things’ that I am planning and will share with you very soon.

A review of the recent Westerman Yarns exhibition at the Havant Literary Festival

Details of the Westerman Seminar 2014.

The next edition of The Friends of the Westerman Yarns Newsletter.

Where you can see ‘Ripping Yarns’ and the Tale of the Forgotten Author - Plans to display the exhibition in other venues.