Snowdrops in Sawrey

Dear Beatrix Potter Lover, The days are getting longer and summer travel plans are being made. The dates for the Society's Autumn and Winter Gatherings are listed in the side bar, and details on the Spring Meeting appear below, in case you find yourself nearby and able to attend. For those Members who have yet to renew their Society memberships, this is the last chance to do so in order not to miss the April Journal and Newsletter which will be on its way, loaded with goodies, in two weeks' time. Whetting the appetite for a stop in Sawrey, or fuel for the imaginations of armchair travellers, Phillip Price sends this report from London, which he compiled using conversations with Caroline Windsor, an administrator at Hill Top, and Mandy

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Marshall, at Castle Cottage (who also provided the above photo): "Springtime in Sawrey Sawrey is slowly emerging from what has been a fickle winter, much colder than last year with snow, frost, rain, wind, and the odd bright day. Hill Top opened for the season on February 14 and the first visitors on entering the house were greeted with Rosemary Ackersley's arrangement of primulas and primroses from her greenhouse in Hawkshead, and pussy willow from her garden. Outside, Peter Tasker, the gardener, has been digging over the borders and exposing, to the delight of the local robin population, several meals of plump earthworms. Snowdrops, the heralds of Spring, are in bloom, crocus, winter aconites, and an early Viburnum. No daffodils as yet, but they are in bud. Further afield lambing has begun, while at Castle Cottage, in addition to snowdrops, an early rhododendron against a west facing wall is beginning to show signs of life. Happy Easter!"

Recently:

Congratulations to BPS Member, Barbara Gibson, who won second prize in the Cape Cod Creative Arts Center Members' Show for her watercolor, "Beatrix's Garden". The show runs until April 1, so drop by and have a look if you are in Chatham, MA. The painting is of the garden at Castle Cottage - one of a number Barb did last summer in Sawrey.

articles about Miss Potter and the Society's efforts and events. Go here to learn more about the Society and to find the Membership form for download.

Save the Date: Beatrix Potter Society Autumn Meeting September 12, 2015 Sloane Club, London Winter Gathering December 5, 2015 Sloane Club, London

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Barb Gibson and the winning painting.

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art announced the 2015 winners of its annual awards. Of interest to us is the winner of the Angel Award in recognition of generous resources, crucial to making picture book art exhibitions, education programs, and related projects a reality. An excerpt from the news release: "Angel Award - to The Cotsen Children's Library at Princeton University. Represented by Corinna Cotsen and Andrea Immel. International research collection and public resource of illustrated children's books, manuscripts, original artwork, prints, and educational toys dating back to the 15th century; gift of Lloyd E Cotsen." [Included in the collection are many Beatrix Potter items.] Congratulations!

Pottering About Editors: Janet Sullivan

Carolyn Schaeffer

Corinna Cotsen and Andrea Immel, Curator.

Last month, Betsy Bray presented her talk, "Beatrix Potter: A Woman Ahead of her Time", for the Live Oak Public Libraries in Savannah, GA at their Library Foundation fundraising lunch. There were seventy in attendance! Here she is, on the left, with Christy Divine, Library Foundation Manager, and Christian Kruse, Library Director.

Coming Up: March 7 - 22, 2015, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily Olbrich Botanical Gardens Spring Flower Show, Madison, WI Theme: Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Thanks to Carol Saldeen for this one! -----------------------------------------

March 13 - April 5, 2015 Dallas Children's Theater's Rosewood Center for Family Arts The Tale of Peter Rabbit The Dallas Morning News reports on a puppet production of The Tale of Peter Rabbit - all puppets, save for Mr McGregor, who is portrayed by a human. Looks entertaining! The rest of the article can be found here. For tickets, use the theater link above.

Dallas Morning News Photo: Craig Lynch.

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March 20 - June 14, 2015 Inspiration by Design: Word and Image from the Victoria and Albert Museum Exhibition at the State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia Beatrix Potter works, including drawings from The Tale of Peter Rabbit, will appear in the exhibition. A short article can be found here.

Thank you to all who sent links for this - there is obviously much excitement over it! Watch for a review in the July Journal and Newsletter. -------------------------------- Marta McDowell will be giving her talk on Beatrix Potter and her gardens: April 21, 2015, 7 p.m. Hunterdon County Library, Flemington, NJ and May 3, 2015, 1 p.m. Endless Mountains Nature Center, Tunkhannock, PA ------------------------------- BPS Spring Meeting: May 16 and 17, 2015 Sawrey, Cumbria, UK There are still spaces available, and enough time to book before the deadline (April 17 for those wanting dinner on Saturday night, May 7 otherwise). Event begins with lunch on Saturday, followed by two afternoon talks, and tea. There is an optional "after-hours" visit to Hill Top and dinner at the Sawrey House Hotel. Sunday will have a visit to Hill Top farm. The booking form for the Spring Meeting can be found here.

----------------------------------- June 27, 2015 Oak Glen Schoolhouse,Oak Glen, CA A "Peter Rabbit Country Tea" is being planned for Saturday, June 27, at the historic Oak Glen Schoolhouse, to celebrate the Society's 35th Anniversary. Tours of the schoolhouse, a visit to the Arts & Crafts "River House", a Reading Beatrix Potter event, a tea and talk will take place. A bring-and-buy table also will be set up. For more information please contact Dale Schafer at (909) 861-9046 or at mrqcam2@earthlink.net. If you plan to attend please let Dale know by May 15.

In the News:

Thanks to all who sent links with news concerning the impending sale of eight pieces of land in the Lake District by the Lake District National Park Authority. Beatrix will be turning in her grave. Bidding is now closed, so we have chosen this one, the most up-to-date link (sent by both Libby Joy and David Pepper - thank you!), which provides a good summary of the situation. Suzanne Terry and David Pepper have both sent a link to an article in the Wall Street Journal, "Welcome to Ginger and Pickles University", suggesting the lessons learned over credit in The Tale of Ginger and Pickles should be applied to the current situation in the United States with rising numbers of student-loan defaults. The author, Joshua Hochschild, asks: "How did we get here and what can we expect to come? Let's ask Beatrix Potter. If you seek a lesson in credit bubbles, you need look no further than The Tale of Ginger and Pickles, published in 1909". The link to the full article is also here, though only subscribers will be able to read it. For those who are not subscribers, an alternative may be this article, "An Economics Lesson by Beatrix Potter", on a blog by Timothy Power. He also takes delight in discovering that children's literature exists that isn't completely sanitized and allows the darker side of nature to show through. More on Herdwick Sheep:

Photo: Ian Lawson

Glyn Gregory sent this link to some stunning photographs of Herdwick sheep, by Ian Lawson. Those receiving the Journal and Newsletter may remember the review of Ian Lawson's book in J&N 133. An exhibition of the photographs runs until April 19 at the Rheged Centre near Penrith in Cumbria. On the same topic, Libby Joy found this short promotional video for the exhibit with more spectacular views of Herdwicks in the Lakes.

HERDWICK - A LAKE DISTRICT ICON

Comparing Beatrix Potter and Gene Stratton-Porter:

BPS Member Rowena Godfrey (Yorkshire, UK) has written an article for the Limberlost State Historic Site (Geneva, IN), comparing Beatrix Potter and Gene Stratton-Porter, an American author, photographer and conservationist. There are many parallels between the two women. Find the article, "Beatrix Potter and Gene Stratton-Porter" in the Friends of the Limberlost Newsletter. You may have to scroll down a few pages.

Question From a Reader:

Dudley Chignall (Essex, UK) writes regarding The Tailor of Gloucester: "I would like to enlist the aid of your readers. Whilst it is generally recognised that the frontispiece to the book [The Tailor of Gloucester] owes much to a print by Hogarth, I have not been able to establish the name of the print from which Beatrix conjours up the image of the Tailor's shop. In June 1943, Beatrix wrote, 'The Tailor's shop was copied from a print of houses in old London city.' I do hope that readers can put another piece in the jig-saw." If anyone knows the title, or any other information about the print in question, please email us at potteringabout1@gmail.com.

A Dedicated Presenter: Deborah Schakel has been giving her Beatrix Potter presentation for over twenty-five years, and recently presented to the Women's Literary

Club of Holland, MI, for a crowd of 150. She reports: "I brought my large collection of Potter books and memorabilia, and some women brought their Peter Rabbits and other characters. Playing the role of Beatrix Potter, I explained how Peter Rabbit was written and recited the story from memory. I went on to fill in Potter's life story with a slide presentation and some in the audience admitted they had not known of Potter's life work, especially the Lakeland farming years. At the end, one woman complimented me and remarked, 'It's been a long time since anyone has told me a story'."

The photo above is from the early period of Deborah's "career", the one to the left is more recent.

Be An Armchair Explorer: To follow up on Marta McDowell's challenge - how many sites that related to Beatrix could we find on the 1913 map - here's what we have so far: - Cockshott Point is the piece of land that Miss Potter helped to save by painting illustrations and sending them to her friend from the Horn Book/Children's Bookshop in Boston for sale to Americans. - The ferry, which Beatrix Potter took to, among other things, shop at the Mawson Brothers' Nursery for plants. - Lindeth Howe, the house that the Potters rented and that the widowed Mrs Potter, Beatrix's mother, eventually purchased as her final residence. -- Lakefield is the house where Beatrix Potter first stayed

in Near Sawrey with her parents. She painted its garden. - Beatrix Potter mentioned Ees Bridge in her letters. - The "Inn" noted in Near Sawrey is the Tower Bank Arms. It appears in The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck. The map is below, and Marta has also pinned it here (where it can be enlarged with a double-click). If you spot any others, send your finds to martamcdowell@mac.com

For the Collectors:

A short article on the influence of Lucy Beswick (wife of the chairman and managing director of the Beswick Company) on the development of the line of Beatrix Potter character figurines. Thank you to Connie Neumann for this one!

Tidbits:

On the first page of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, 2008), set in 1946, this astounding paragraph: "English Foibles seemed so promising at first. After all, one should be able to write reams about the Society to Protest the Glorification of the English Bunny. I unearthed a photograph of the Vermin Exterminators' Trade Union, marching down an Oxford street with placards screaming 'Down with Beatrix Potter!' But what is there to write about after a caption? Nothing, that's what." Yes, it is a work of fiction.

In Closing:

Thank you for joining us again, and thank you to all those

who got in touch over the last six weeks. We look forward to more news of upcoming events, reports on events just past, stories, photos and items of interest on all things Potter-related (in 100 to 150 words). Please send submissions for the next issue by April 20. Happy Easter to all!

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