Dust Wrapper Design Cards and Notelets

Greetings cards and packs of notelets featuring four evocative cover images from Percy Westerman’s novels are available from Percy’s old school. The cards are blank for your message. Every purchase benefits the school’s bursary fund. 



Click on the Portsmouth Grammar School link for more information.

http://www.pgs.org.uk/pgs-association/development-office/merchandise/

Friends of Westerman Yarns

Friends of Westerman Yarns is a new initiative that has been developed through the annual Westerman Seminar’s. We initially aim to produce two newsletters a year and members are invited to submit articles, news items, letters, book information, finds, and reviews.

The newsletter; The Westerman Yarns, will have Westerman at its heart, but is open to other children’s literature related material that may appeal to members. Items published in the newsletter will not be posted on the blog for at least 12 months

Members will also receive advanced notice and priority booking for Westerman Yarns events.

There are no membership fees.

All newsletters will be sent by email as pdf files. However, if members wish to receive a paper copy, please send two, stamped, self-addressed A5 envelopes to cover a one year subscription to:

The Westerman Yarns
14 Court Close
Drayton
Portsmouth
PO6 2LU

Click here to join Friends of The Westerman Yarns

The Westerman Seminar 2013

The seminar at Portsmouth Grammar School on Saturday 16 November was a real departure from our previous programmes. We kicked off with an abridged performance/reading of the play of Captain Blundell’s Treasure by a talented group of students from Springfield School, Portsmouth who really captured the spirit of Westerman’s characters. After their performance they happily answered questions from the delegates about their perception and views of the play and the style of writing.

Steve Rudge showed examples of rare and unusual dust wrappers from his collection, looking at their introduction and development including some very unusual examples with advertising wrap-around’s that many of us had never seen before. I then gave out copies and discussed the story The Prisoner of War, written by Percy and included in a feature about him and his first book A Lad of Grit from a promotional paper printed by the company W. Pink and Sons Limited for circulation in the Portsmouth area at Christmas 1908.

The introduction of 'bring and buy' where delegates were invited to bring along spare books for sale was a great sucess and we will definately carry that through to the next seminar.  During the breaks there was plenty of time for networking and chat, and a few people have already offered ideas for the next seminar.

After lunch Greg Worwood discussed the use of dating Blackies annuals and periodicals using the production codes. These codes can also be used to track the order that books were published in any given year. I then shared the results of recent research including quotes, forewords, acknowledgements and press cuttings that are helping to build the Westerman story.

We closed the day with a presentation about the history and background to the rediscovered silent film of the Westerman book Haunted Harbour mentioned on the dust wrapper blurb of the 1936 book, followed by a screening of the film.

Acknowledgements
Our thanks to Portsmouth Grammar School for their continued support of the Westerman Seminar; The University of Worcester Research Archive for the loan of material from the Westerman Research Collection; The Media Archive for Central England, Brian Griffiths – Walsall Sea Scouts, Robert Crewdson and Greg Philpot for the Haunted Harbour film and information; Drama Students from Springfield School, Phelim Rowland and the loan of the script from The University of Worcester Research Collection for the performance of Captain Blundell’s Treasure; Greg Worwood and Steve Rudge for their presentations.

What a difference a day makes - The blue plaque unveiled

I never imagined that the installation and unveiling of a blue plaque would do so much towards raising the profile of Percy F. Westerman. The ceremony held at 55 Campbell Road, Southsea on a bitterly cold Friday afternoon, attracted around 60 guests and visitors, The News (regional paper) and a BBC South Today television crew, to witness the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth and children’s author, Michelle Magorian unveil the blue plaque in honour of Percy F. Westerman.

The plaque, unveiled on the 54th anniversary of his death, is on the house that was the Westerman family home from 1880 and is significant in the Percy F. Westerman story as the place he grew up, went to school, started his job as an Admiralty Clerk in Portsmouth Dockyard, met and courted the love of his life – his wife Florence, and most importantly, began his writing career, submitting features for the magazine ‘Cycling’.

After the unveiling we hosted a reception at the Portsmouth City Museum and took the opportunity to display a selection of books and photographs. The guest were very interested and surprised at the range and scope of the books and the attractive qualities of the dust wrapper artwork.

The children's author, Michelle Magorian was invited to  unveil the plaque after we learnt that she was born and spent time in her youth, at her home in Victoria Road North, just five minutes’ walk away from the Westerman home. Inviting a successful children’s author to unveil a plaque in honour of a successful children’s author from an earlier generation seemed the right thing to do.  We were delighted when she agreed, Michelle Magorian was, without any doubt, key to attracting the media and raising the profile of the event, and of course, Percy F. Westerman. We are very grateful for her kindness and support.

My gateful thanks to the Lord Mayor for taking part in the ceremony thereby giving the event ‘official’ recognition by the City of Portsmouth.

I must also thank the home owner for kindly allowing the plaque to be placed on the house and for allowing us access to documents essential in gathering the provenance needed, and to Diana Gregg for her help in deciphering those documents.

The plaque was unveiled on Friday 22nd February.

The link to the BBC South Today report:

The News - Portsmouth
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/author-honoured-at-portsmouth-plaque-ceremony-1-4819030

Blue plaque (top)
Michelle Magorian with Nigel Gossop (centre)
Photographs courtesy of Maureen Walder

Two views of Haunted Harbour

From these two editions of the same book it is clear to see that the blurb on the second was adapted from the first and that the reference to the film of the book has been removed. I believe that the reprint was published around 1950.

First Edition (1937) Blurb

Dick Hargreaves, P.L. and Jimmy Cotton his second, are directly “up against” Tom Redpole, “The Ferret” and indirectly against Apulgrab, smuggler and swindler-in-chief.

The “otters” take up camp near Haunted Harbour, and there comes Courtney Mills, of New Scotland Yard, on a vague quest. As the story proceeds we see Mills a prisoner and “The Ferret” temporarily elated over the theft of a mysterious “gadget” reported to be of enormous value. We see, too, the arrival at camp of an aeroplane, and what came of that; the flight of Apulgrab aboard the Katharina, and that yacht’s capture, and return to Haunted Harbour.

Up to the last, tragedy seems imminent, but the “Otters” play their part, Apulgrab & Co. Are thrown very much out of gear, and a strange secret is revealed.

Readers of this story will at once see why it has been filmed by Messers Kinescout Production – it is packed with thrills and striking

Reprint (1950’s) Blurb

Dick Hargreaves, Patrol Leader of the Otters, and his fellow Sea Scouts are directly up against Tom Redpole, “The Ferret” and indirectly against Michael Apulgrab, smuggler and swindler-in-chief.

The Sea Scouts take up camp near Haunted Harbour in Anglesey and there comes Courtney Mills, of New Scotland Yard, on a vague quest. As the story proceeds we see Mills a prisoner and “The Ferret” temporarily elated over the theft of a mysterious “gadget” reported to be of enormous value. We see, too, the arrival at camp of a plane piloted by Dick’s sister Joyce, and what came of that; the flight of Apulgrab aboard the Katharina, and that yacht’s capture, and return to Haunted Harbour.
Up to the last, tragedy seems imminent, but the “Otters” play their part, Apulgrab & Co. Are thrown very much out of gear, and a strange secret is revealed.

D/W Blurb
Percy F. Westerman.
Illustrator: John De Walton 

Tales of Pluck and Daring - The Life and Work of Percy F. Westerman

I have, at last, managed to publish some of the research
into the Percy F. Westerman story in a very nice booklet courtesy of Portsmouth Grammar School. The monograph produced as a limited edition was launched at the Westerman Seminar in February.

The booklet follows Percy from his days as a pupil at
Portsmouth Grammar School to his early work as a freelance journalist. It covers a little of his time spent in Lyndhurst and his subsequent move to his beloved Wareham and his iconic floating home ‘The Barge’ where he was to spend the rest of his days.

If you would like to receive a copy of Tales of Pluck and
Daring – The Life and Work of Percy F. Westerman (Monograph Publication No. 24) published by Portsmouth Grammar School at no charge, please email: reception@pgs.org.uk with your request.

A Memorable Weekend in Wareham

Westerman Yarns have had a busy few weeks in supporting Wareham Library, The Purbeck Information and Heritage Centre, The Redclyffe Yacht Club and Wareham Town Council in the delivery of the first celebration of Percy F. Westerman in the town where he spent the last 40 years of his life.

Westerman Yarns - inspiring another event
Following the success of the First Westerman Seminar my wife and I visited Wareham on the anniversary of the death of Percy F. Westerman back in February this year. Whilst we were there we approached Wareham Library and the Purbeck Information and Heritage Centre and suggested that it would be good to include Percy F. Westerman in their promotional material alongside T E Lawrence and Thomas Hardy. I was delighted when they called me a few weeks later to say that they wanted to arrange a special weekend in honour of Percy F. Westerman.

The event entitled ‘The Call of the Sea’ was held over Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th October.

The Westerman Yarns Exhibition
Westerman Yarns supported the event by producing a series of information panels for an exhibition currently on display in the Purbeck Information and Heritage Centre. The panels offer a brief outline of his life, following his journey from Portsmouth to Wareham.

The Westerman Yarns Reminiscence Project
On Saturday we launched a reminiscence project Thankfully, there are still people living in the area that had met or knew Percy and his wife Florence. The good news is that the project has got off to a flying start and we already have a number of interesting and useful stories, adding colour and detail to the Westerman research.
We had already met with a few Wareham residents with great memories including Michael Spilman whose father was a shipwright and who had carried out work on The Barge and Eric Axford whose mother worked for the Westerman’s and whose claim to fame was, that it was she and Florence wheeled Percy from The Barge into Wareham on a borrowed builders handcart after he fell and broke his leg. Their help has been invaluable in gathering and recording real memories that build on our knowledge of Percy F. Westerman.

If you would like to get involved in the project or know someone that may be able to help with information or memories or memorabilia, please email me at westermanyarns@gmail.com or pick-up a form from Wareham Library or the Purbeck Information and Heritage Centre.

The Launch
Everyone attending the launch was welcomed into Wareham Library by music from Hugh Elms and his wind-up gramophone. The opening ceremony was well attended and after the speeches and the official opening by the Mayor of Wareham and the Commodore of the Redclyffe Yacht Club, we were treated to a polished and entertaining performance by Wareham’s own shanty group The Wareham Whalers (right).

Raft Race
The Wareham Library ran a model raft building competition open to children and adults culminating with a race on the River Frome. Competition was fierce, but the pirates, made up from Redclyffe membership (see picture at the top of the page) ensured fair play and the safe return of all the rafts.

An Illustrated talk ‘The Forgotten Author’
During the afternoon I gave an illustrated to talk on Percy F. Westerman. The talk was launched with a musical introduction by Dr Rachel Johnson from the University of Worcester who played The Westerman Hornpipe on her recorder. The University of Worcester kindly loaned some of the Percy F. Westerman Collection for the weekend and Dr Johnson was actively promoting the research collection. After the talk, the audience were invited to stay for refreshments provide by the Wareham WI. One memorable moment was when Michael Spilman from the reminiscence project told us that he had just recognised his father working on the roof of The Barge in one of the slides shown in the talk.

Literary Guided Walk and Redclyffe Yacht Club
Sunday began with a literary guided walk led by David Kemp. A tough collection of Wareham’s finest braved the rain for the walk finishing at The Redclyffe Yacht Club who opened their doors to provided welcome refreshments and an opportunity to see their own display of photographs showing the development of the club founded by Percy F Westerman, their first Commodore.

Captain Blundell’s Treasure – Play Reading
If I was to have a favourite event from the weekend, it has to be the play reading by a band of Wareham volunteers who bravely agreed to take on this project. My wife and I travelled up to Worcester in early September and copied the script sending it off to Wareham Library, giving them just a few weeks to rehearse. The play was produced and directed by David Kemp and narrated by John Barclay (writer and poet). Considering that the group only had a few weeks to study the script, their performance was excellent and included a special guest, Dr Rachel Johnson (Research Librarian, University of Worcester) in the role of Marjorie.

Acknowledgements
I really enjoyed the weekend and would like to thank the following people who worked so hard to make it all happen with apologies for anyone that I have inadvertently omitted, Jude Leyman and the staff of Wareham Library, Liz Roberts and David Kemp, and the staff of the Purbeck Information and Heritage Centre, Rod Curtis, Town Clerk, Pam Boddy and Allen Wilkinson, Commodore, and the members of the Redclyffe Yacht Club and Eric Axford, Michael Spilman and Nigel Barnes, the friends of Westerman Yarns whose generosity, time, reminiscences and loan of material to progress research has been so valuable. Very special thanks to the University of Worcester and Dr Rachel Johnson for generously supporting the event with the loan of items from the Percy F. Westerman Collection. Finally, my wife Wendy, who is my rock in watching that I don’t run aground!
Viewing the Westerman Yarns display and Percy Westerman Collection from The University of Worcester.