THE ANGELA THIRKELL SOCIETY

AIMS and OBJECTS

1. To honour the memory of Angela Thirkell as a writer; and to make her works available to new generations.

2. To publish an Annual Journal in which readers can share items of interest.

3. To encourage studies of Angela Thirkell’s writing and to suggest lecturers on her books to literary societies.

1. To give those who enjoy her novels opportunities to meet and to correspond, and also to obtain copies of her novels.

The Society was founded in the UK in 1980 when the aims and constitution were established. It has at present around 160 members in the UK, Ireland and Europe, with a thriving branch in North America, and members in Australia and New Zealand. Branches in Dublin, Wirral, Sussex and Yorkshire hold their own local meetings throughout the year as well as attending the national meetings and outings usually held in the late spring and in autumn.

The Society produces an annual Journal containing articles of interest to readers of the novels of Angela Thirkell, as well as newsletters. It has also published articles and short stories by Angela Thirkell, a childhood memoir by her son Lance, and the complete edition of the letters she wrote to her secretary, Margaret Bird, between 1950 and 1960.

Most Thirkell titles in the UK can now be found only in second-hand bookshops, but three were reissued by Penguin in 1998. Some titles have recently been issued in large print by Isis Publishing, who are also starting to produce audio-tapes of some of the novels.

Activities in former years have included a visit to the Burne-Jones exhibition in Birmingham in November 1998 (Angela Thirkell was the grand-daughter of Burne-Jones and was also the cousin of Rudyard Kipling and Stanley Baldwin), and in May 1999 a joint meeting with members of the North American Branch to travel on the Bluebell Railway, the inspiration for the line from Skeynes to Winter Overcotes, and explore the village of West Hoathly, where Angela Thirkell wrote August Folly. Other visits have been to Stanway in Gloucestershire, thought to be the original of Rushwater House, a residential weekend in York with a visit to Castle Howard and a talk on the correspondence between George Howard and Edward Burne-Jones, and numerous visits to Rottingdean, where Angela Thirkell used to stay with her grandparents and where she is buried next to her infant daughter. The next AGM will be held in London in the fall, 2004.

The annual subscription is £10 (2004), which includes a copy of the Journal. Regular mailings to members give details of forthcoming activities and opportunities to buy secondhand books and other publications about Angela Thirkell.

Further information is available from the Secretary of the Society, Penny Aldred.

U.K. email: Penny.Aldred@ntlworld.com.

OFFICERS and COMMITTEE 2004

PRESIDENT Kate Thirkell
VICE-PRESIDENT Thomas Thirkell
CHAIRMAN June Cox
VICE-CHAIRMAN Margaret Beard
SECRETARY Penny Aldred
TREASURER Edith Fearn
JOURNAL EDITOR Geoffrey Cox, Jane LeCluse
2ND-HAND BOOKS Jane Geach Davies

OTHER Thelma Bignell Sue Jenkins
COMMITTEE Valerie Ramsden Jane E Self
MEMBERS Elizabeth Stern

OVERSEAS BRANCH CONTACTS

IRELAND Mary Tierney, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
NORTH AMERICA Barbara Houlton, USA

If you wish to join the Society, please fill in the application form below and return it to the secretary

THE

ANGELA THIRKELL

SOCIETY

APPLICATION FORM

(for new members)

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(Mrs P Aldred, 54 Belmont Park, London SE13 5BN) with subscription

For information on setting up Standing Orders, please ask the Secretary