From Chris & Penny Morton
It's less than five months until TAS 2013, "The Rainbow Connection"!
Registration is now open, so check the conference webpage for exciting details (www.tas2013.info/) and register soon, so you don't miss out Remember, you don't have to worry about paying tax or tipping in Australia. This is a good time to come, as our dollar is falling at the moment.
It will be a week the equal of any you've ever experienced, with presenters second to none; a mix of tried and true speakers, plus locals with tangible connections to our favourite author, not to mention an exciting Nevil Shute film premiere; "FALLOUT" made recently about the filming of "On the Beach"
Amongst the hundreds of folk Nevil Shute met on his global travels sixty years ago, have you ever wondered just who inspired him to write of them in tales such as "The Rainbow and the Rose" ? Who was the young daredevil pilot who became a "Billy Monkhouse" or a "Johnnie Pascoe", risking his own life for that of a sick child ? What real life family's settlement led to the story of Betty Hoskins' daring rescue ? What remote settlement and rugged coast, barely accessible except by boat or small plane (or a five day walk) was the setting for the tale ? What would growing up in these circumstances be like ?
Come to TAS 2013 and meet these very people; hear their fascinating stories and gain insight into our favourite author's inspirations as he wrote his tale of a rescue in one of the world's most isolated spots, cradled between rugged mountain ranges, where the weather ranges from idyllic calm to gale force winds and relentless seas.
Tread the streets Shute trod, cruise the waters he sailed and step aboard the yacht that took him on one of his great adventures. Did you know that Hobart is the home town of another great nautical adventurer, the celebrated swashbuckler, Errol Flynn ?
When you're ready to book your accommodation, just contact The Old Woolstore's Courtney Bearman (groups@oldwoolstore.com.au) and be sure to mention the Nevil Shute Conference and the booking number 8434, to ensure the pre-arranged bed and breakfast rate for our delegates.
John Anderson has included an "Important Information" link on the conference webpage which, we hope, will answer most of your questions. Once you land in Hobart, you can take a shuttle bus to The Old Woolstore for $15.00 (or a taxi for $35-40.00).
From Alison Jenner
Wales Chapter - next meeting
The next meeting of the South Wales Chapter will take place on Saturday, 13th July, 2013, at 14:00.
The book selected is "Most Secret" so there will be plenty of discussion themes.
We intend to meet at the Village Hotel, off Fabian Way, Swansea SA1 8QY. The Starbucks cafe there has wifi access, should we need it.
*If anyone in the region would like to take part, but can't get to Swansea, we are prepared to travel to e.g., Cardiff (please contact me to negotiate another venue)
From John Douglas
boingboing.net/2013/05/01/the-techie-novels-of-nevil-shu.html
A nice piece of coverage for a batch of Shute novels. BoingBoing is a fairly big noise in the technological cutting-edge world. Lots of news, fairly big audience, heavy focus on social media, breakthrough technology, futurist thinking.
Glad to know that there are some major Shute fans lurking out there in the (relatively) younger generations.
From Shoshana Knapp
Mark Frauenfelder's blog praises Nevil Shute's novels and mentions the Foundation
boingboing.net/2013/05/01/the-techie-novels-of-nevil-shu.html
Self-explanatory, and cheerful to read.
From Deborah Vietor-Englaender
Deborah gives some comment to Keith Minton's email from last month:
Jean is not rescued from assault, Joe stole some of the chickens for her, that is all. That was why he was crucified. And he was not left for dead.
Nor was Willstown poverty stricken. People were not badly off, the problem was that men didn't want to go there to work.
From Fred Erisman
Model-making Shutists might want to know that RS Models, a small Czech maker, has just released 1/72 scale kits for two versions of the Airspeed Envoy -- military and civil -- one of the last designs to come from Airspeed while Shute was at its head. The latter version includes decals in the livery of the Portsmouth, Swansea, and Isle of Wight Airline, which seems irresistible. Kits can be had from Hannants in the UK and Squadron in the US.
From Matthew Sproston
I recently spent 3 days in the German town of Friedrichshafen as part of a 2 week vacation in Bavaria & Austria. This delightful town on the shore of Lake Constance was the location of the Count Zeppelin's airship factory and is home to the Zeppelin museum.
It is also, as far as I am aware, the only location where you can book an airship flight. I arranged a flight for my wife and I several months in advance. In addition to the novelty of seeing and boarding the airship itself, we enjoyed some breathtaking views during our half-hour trip over the surrounding area.
The Zeppelin museum contains interesting history and artefacts on the Hindenburg and airships in general, and we discovered that the modern ship is 3 to 4 times smaller than the mighty Hindenburg. There is a model of the R101 but sadly not Nevil's R100.
I wondered if the town could be a possible location for one of the society gatherings in the future?
From THE EDITOR
The newsletter is early for a change. I will be camping with my son this weekend. No computer, no internet, nothing, so I can't put out the newsletter on the first. The weather looks good for the weekend. See you next month.
