| Navigation Page |
|
Following the success of the October Sassoon Day 2000 held at Marlborough College, Deb Fisher and I have organised a Siegfried Sassoon Fellowship (a society dedicated to the life and work of Siegfried Sassoon). This page is dedicated to information about the Fellowship. If you wish to join (and please feel free to do so - wherever in the world you live as we have several overseas members already), see below.
The next SSF event will be a committee meeting that is being held in Oxford on Sunday, April 17th, and we would like to invite all those who can manage it to join us that afternoon for a brief tour of some Sassoon-related sites in the area. Full details will be available closer to the date. If you would like to be there, please contact Deb Fisher (Secretary) by e-mail: fisherd@onetel.net
In response to enquiries from members and non-members, here are brief biographical details of the current committee:
PRESIDENT: Meg Crane
To Follow
VICE PRESIDENT: Dennis Silk
Dennis is a former professional cricketer and schoolmaster, one-time head of Radley school. He met Siegfried Sassoon during the 1950s, and they remained close friends until Sassoon's death.
SECRETARY: Deborah Fisher
Deb has had a variety of careers, including librarian, computer programmer, and, latterly, factory worker. She writes both fiction and non-fiction, and her latest book, Princesses of Wales, is to be published by the University of Wales Press in 2005. She originally became interested in Sassoon as a result of reading Robert Graves' Goodbye to All That and went on to help Michèle Fry to found the SSF in 2001.
TREASURER: Sam Gray
To follow
COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Cynthia Greenwood
I was born in Keighley in West Yorkshire but apart from three years at university in Wales (St David's College, Lampeter a long time ago!), I've lived all the time near Manchester. I work as a librarian in a team at Hopwood Hall College, a further education college. My chief interests are art , theatre, literature and creative writing. I've taken part in two presentations on Wilfred Owen in Shrewsbury and Manchester. Curiously, I was never particularly interested in the war poets at college. In the 1980s I was in a book shop in Manchester and saw Sassoon's Memoirs of a Fox Hunting Man/Infantry Officer on the shelf . I felt drawn to it like a magnet to it and ended up reading much of what he wrote. It led me on to Wilfred Owen and an interest in World War One and its literature. Odd, isn't it?
Graham Lampard
Graham Lampard is a journalist who works for a couple of trade magazines covering the pharmaceutical and leather industries! My interest in Siegfried Sassoon began with a visit to the First World War battlefields where, as a teenager, being the same age as John MacCrae, I was asked to read his poem 'In Flanders Fields' on our tour. I was then given Sassoon's book Memoirs of an Infantry Officer as a birthday present, which began my interest in him. I've read war poetry ever since, but only revisited Sassoon after reading Pat Barker's trilogy, and completing my A' level English Literature where he was required reading for an element of the course.
Alan Lawson
I retired from the Fire Service after over thirty years service, and am currently studying for an MA in Literature with the Open University. On reading Owen's 'Dulce et Decorum Est' and thinking my grandfather might have experienced some of that, I read around WW1, which led me onto SS. It also set me off on family history research, to which I freely admit to being obsessed. My grandfather's past is a bit of a mystery, but I am unravelling it slowly. I am not so interested in WW1 poetry, as I am in the men, women and their times.
Phil Carne
Phil Carne hails from the Welsh borders. After reading Modern Languages at Cambridge, he followed an international business career with American corporations, spending over 30 years in Spain, Brazil, Colombia, Australia, USA and Belgium. He returned to the UK 5 years ago, and is now retired. He has been married to Chris, a former schoolteacher, for 43 years, and they have 2 sons and 2 granddaughters. They live mainly in London, but also have a country apartment near Bath. Phil was introduced to the poetry of Sassoon and other First World War poets by his English teacher in grammar school. That war, and its literature, have been an abiding interest throughout his life, and since returning to the UK he has also joined the Wilfred Owen and Edward Thomas societies. Phil's main interests are music, theatre, history, and (like Sassoon and Dennis Silk !) cricket.
Peter Rogers
To follow
The latest newsletter, available to paid-up members of the Siegfried Sassoon Fellowship, can be accessed in the Members Only page. If you have any problems accessing it, please let me know.
|
The inaugural meeting was held at the Foley Arms Hotel, Malvern, on 14 October 2001. A draft constitution (download it in a Word 97 file) was agreed and the following officers were elected:
President: Michèle Fry
Vice President: Meg Crane
Secretary: Deborah Fisher
Treasurer: Sue Eagle
Publications Officer: Meg Crane
|
The roles and titles of these officers, as with all other aspects of the constitution, are subject to change by future general meetings. A general committee to take on the wider administration will be formed as and when appropriate.
It was also agreed to ask George Sassoon and John Stuart Roberts to become honorary patrons of the Fellowship. Other honorary patrons may be sought at a future date.
The picture above shows the majority of the founder members of the Siegfried Sassoon Fellowship at the launch meeting held in Malvern. Far left in the red jacket is Deb Fisher (Secretary), behind her in the white top is Susan Eagle (Treasurer), next to Deb is Michele (President) - pulling a face as I hate having my photo taken !, third from left in the back row is John Stuart Roberts (Honorary Patron) and far right in black is Meg Crane (Vice-President and Publications Officer). (Photo courtesy of Peter Middlebrook, November 2001)
Subscription rates for 2005 are set at:
Adults: £10
To join download a membership application form here. The address for postal queries and applications is:
Deborah Fisher
E-mail enquires can still be sent to me (Michele) at:
michele@sassoonery.demon.co.uk.
Overseas members with e-mail can now pay their subscriptions via PayPal, provided they are paying the full rate of £10. Please contact me (Michele) for more details. If this trial is successful, PayPal will become an option for all members in 2005.
Return to top
Couples: £15
Concessions (to include senior citizens, students and the unwaged): £5
Secretary, Siegfried Sassoon Fellowship
P. O. Box 11
Cowbridge CF71 7XT
http://www.sassoonery.demon.co.uk/sassoonsocy.htm
