In October we decided to have a special meeting to send our very brave member Joan off to China with all of our best wishes. She completed a trek of the Great Wall of China for the Alzheimer's Society and did incredibly well, raising £5,250.32 (and counting) for this brilliant cause.
A few members met Joan at the Bank and the rest of us convened at The Imperial. There were a few small gifts, a good luck balloon and a bottle of fizz, complete with a sparkler, to help send her on her way.
The book to be discussed was Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons, which only a select few of the group had finished. Others had managed to get part of the way through, while a couple had given up entirely.
It was generally agreed that it was a book very much of its time and very different to the children's literature of today. Jeanette pointed out that her daughter would have asked for a return to Harry Potter should she have tried to read it to her when she was growing up.
While the language was quite outdated, there were some nice descriptions and it seemed like a very pleasant way to spend a summer. Some of the younger members of the group (ahem, Emma) had to have the term 'duffer' explained to them.
The parents seemed quite lax in letting the children go off and have such adventures, but then finding a way to take adults out of the equation is always a challenge for children's authors. It was agreed that it was really nice to see the character of Captain Flint aka Uncle Jim getting involved and playing along with the kids' hijinx.
Overall, it was decided that the book should be awarded three stars out of five.
Member Joanne with the real-life Amazon in The Lakes
On November 2nd, the group will be discussing Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee at Rosa 12.
