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Welcome to the Sabine Baring-Gould
Appreciation Society
www.sbgas.org
I'm
a bit later than usual updating the website since I
have been travelling abroad for the last two months.
The holiday did not exclude Baring-Gould altogether,
since Shan and I did two presentations on his song collection
while we were in Australia which were received with
great interest. I was not able to be at the Annual
Meeting this year because of other commitments so I
have given only a brief account of the meeting. At
the time of writing the date of this years meeting has
not been fixed, though we hope that it will be shortly.
28th
Jan 2009 is the 175th anniversary of Sabine Baring-Gould's
birth. He does not (yet!) have a high enough profile
to merit national celebrations but SBGAS will, in it's
own, modest way recognise this anniversary, and the
enduring achievements of this remarkable man. The activities
recorded on this site, in our Newsletter and in our
Transactions demonstrate how members of the Society,
individually and collectively, are working to build
our understanding of Baring-Gould's life and work and,
by communicating this understanding to a broader public,
to help raise that public profile. Perhaps, by the next
major anniversary, that effort will be rewarded by greater
interest at a national level - and then global recognition
will be a much smaller step.
Martin
Graebe (SBGAS Website Editor)
Contact:
martin.graebe@btinternet.com
Martin
Graebe (25th Jan 09)
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Update
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January
2009
- Slow
but steady progress is being made with putting
past newsletters onto this website. Many
of the early newsletters were produced before
home computers were widely used and the
quality of the print means that they do
not always allow the process of scanning
and converting to text without the
need for re-typing some passages. I have
now reached Newsletter No 20 (Feb 2006),
about the time at which I joined the Society.
I have enjoyed the process of transcribing
the articles greatly - there is a lot of
very interesting material in them and I
would urge you to read (or to re-read) them.
They are to be found in the 'Archive' section
of the website or by clicking here.
- This
year's Baring-Gould Folk Festival will take
place between (Friday) October 23rd and
(Sunday) 25th in Okehampton. It will be
followed by the Baring-Gould Song School
from (Monday) 26th to (Friday) 30th October.
During that week, the 11th Annual Baring-Gould
Lecture will be delivered. Details will
be appearing on the Wren website www.wrenmusic.org
nearer the time - but put the dates in your
diary.
 Baring-Gould
Song-School participants at Lewtrenchard,
October 2008
- The
2008 issue of the Transactions of the Sabine
Baring-Gould Appreciation Society was published
in the Spring of 2008. This issue contains:
Talks given at the annual meeting of SBGAS
at Hurstpierpoint College, 27th
– 28th Oct 2007: Sabine Baring-Gould at St John’s College, Hurstpierpoint by Becky Smith Farewell
Heat and Welcome Frost - Sabine Baring-Gould in Iceland by Martin Graebe Sabine
and the Ministry of the Keys by
Ron Wawman
Supplementary material: Sabine
Baring-Gould’s Mission Paper The
9:30 Up-train – a ghost story by Sabine Baring-Gould
Copies
of the Transactions were sent to every member
of SBGAS as part of their membership package.
Additional copies are available from Martin
Graebe. The 2009 Transactions are currently
in preparation.
- The
2008 Annual Meeting was based in South Zeal,
near Okehampton and took for its theme SB-G's
novel John Herring, which is based in part
on the area but also in Cornwall. Roger
Bristow arranged a complex agenda of talks
about the novel (Becky Smith), the archaeology
relative to the novel (Jane Marchand), the
Nymet Savages, who appear in it (Noel Parry)
and an analysis of a mining scam similar
to that in the novel (Richard Scrivener).
Lunch was followed by the AGM of the Society.
In the afternoon the group visited sites
associated with the novel in the area before
dinner at the Oxenham Arms. Entertainment
was provided by Paul Wilson and Marilyn
Tucker who sand some of the songs that Baring-Gould
collected in the Oxenham Arms in August
1894. The following day the group
made a tour of other locations associated
with the novel in West Devon and Cornwall.
A full report of the meeting appears in
the October Newsletter (No 58)
March
2008
- The
2008 Annual Gathering will be held at South Zeal
on 26th - 28th September. Talks already confirmed
include The
Nymet Savages
(Noel Parry), and Mining
and Mining Scams in the South Zeal Area
(Richard Scrivener). It is intended that, on the Sunday,
we will follow the tracks of John Herring
into Cornwall. Roger Bristow is still working on
the details of the programme and the full
programme will be published here and in the SBGAS
Newsletter when available.
- David
Shacklock is currently selling a number of books
on e-bay, including a number of Baring-Gould titles.
His e-bay identity is 'sharmanriley' and a search
for that name will show you what he is offering.
He has asked me to say, though, that if there are
titles that you are looking for, contact him by
e-mail and he may be able to offer you a deal before
the book goes to auction.
- If
you have used the 'Links' page on this site you
will know that I have, in the past, included a number
of links to electronic texts of Baring-Gould's books.
I have now revised this page and added a number
of new items. I would particularly
recommend that you visit 'The Internet Archive'
(www.archive.org)
where a search for 'Baring-Gould' will give you
access to more than 50 titles. This site allows
you to download these as PDF or text files or to
read them using the excellent screen reader.
December
2007
- Ron
Wawman writes to say that the long
awaited DVD of the play 'Like A Buoy' is now available. It has been re-mastered
since the official showing and is awaiting the design and printing of a simple
cover but this can be forwarded later to all who wish to purchase the DVD now.
It is a double disk package and is priced at £7.50 per set. Please contact
Caroline Stuart on 01822 870111 or homosassa2001@aol.com
should you wish to purchase a copy.
- Charmiene Maxwell-Batten has written to say that
her father Julian Maxwell-Batten, who was the son of Diana Amelia Baring-Gould
and her husband Hugh Maxwell-Batten and so one of Sabine Baring-Gould's
grandchildren, died on 1 November 2007. He left five children, who are deeply
saddened at the loss.
- On a happier note our President, Merriol
Almond, tells me that she has recently returned
from Mexico where she had a wonderful celebration
of her 70th birthday at her daughter and son-in-law's
house. On your behalf I would like to send her our
love and our best wishes to her and to Doug for
continuing health and happiness.
- The
'Songs of the West' website has been completely
redesigned and new material added. To celebrate
it has a new identity www.sbgsongs.org
- do pop along and have a look.
- The
Transactions of the Sabine Baring-Gould Appreciation
Society for 2007 are now available. They can
be obtained in three different formats - as
an A4 format, punched for ring binders, as an
A5 booklet or as a downloaded PDF file for printing
in the format of your choice. Details here.
It
was agreed at the annual meeting that, from 2008,
the Transactions will be sent to all members as
part of their subscription package. From this time
the A5 booklet will become the only format available.
It is hoped that it will be possible to retrospectively
create the 2006 Transactions - more news on this
soon. The 2008 Transactions will be available early
next year.

- It
was unfortunate that Shan and I could not stay
for the whole of the weekend at Hurstpierpoint
College. We thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent
there. Martin
Williams was a great host and had worked hard
with his colleagues to make us feel welcome
and to help us to understand the school
and the part that Sabine Baring-Gould played
in school life. His work was, of course, supplemented
admirably by our colleagues in SBGAS. Becky
Smith organised the meeting and she created
a verbal collage of Sabine's time at Hurstpierpoint
from the school magazine and other sources.
This was supplemented splendidly by College staff and pupils
who had created an imaginative 'pageant' based
on the facts and fictions of Sabine's
life at the school. A tour of the College including
a visit to the rooms that he used to occupy
and where we saw the wall paintings that he
created and enjoyed the view from the window
towards Wolstonbury Hill (Danny Beacon) and the South Downs.

On
Sunday the group viewed the magnificent College
chapel and then took part in an act of worship,
led by Martin Williams. Ron Wawman gave a talk about
the development of Baring-Gould's religious life
before a quick visit to see Danny House,
the home of the Campion family who were benefactors
of the College and friends of the Baring-Gould's.
After lunch and the annual meeting (and, of course,
the book sale) the meeting closed with thanks
to Martin Williams and Becky Smith who were the
prime movers in this enjoyable weekend.
July
2007
- The
next big event for SBGAS is the annual gathering,
to be held at St. John's College, Hurstpierpoint,
Sussex from October 19th - 21st. This is the
school where Sabine Baring-Gould taught for
seven years as a young man, until his father
finally allowed him to enter the church. It
is also the base from which he planned and carried
out his expedition to Iceland in 1862. Baring-Gould
was an active member of the school community
and contributed a lot to the fabric and folklore
of the school. Becky Smith is putting
together an interesting programme for this event.
The outline for this is as follows:
Friday evening Committee meeting Meal together
Saturday 9.30. Meet at College 10.00 Welcome and introductory talk ‘SBG at Hurst’
- Becky Smith 11.00 Guided tour of the main part of the school -
Martin
Williams 1.00-2.30 Lunch 2.30 Martin Graebe ‘The Iceland trip’ 4.00. Pageant by members of the College. 7.00. Meal together
Sunday 10.00 Tour of the Chapel, with talk about it by Martin
Williams 11.30 Talk to be announced. 1.00pm Lunch 2.30 AGM and book sale. 3.30 Finish.
- In
January we were all looking to seeing the play
'Like A Buoy' performed by the Red Spider Company.
Those who were able to be there were unanimous
in declaring it a success and a credit to it's
author, Ron Wawman and, of course, to the production
team, the cast and the musicians. If you re-visit
the website, www.likeabuoy.co.uk,
you can read what a number of people have said
about the play and look at some photographs
of the performance as well as being able to
see who exactly did what. Well done, everybody!
- Personally
I went through January with bated breath, waiting
for the completion of the long-term project
that has led to the publication of a new editions
of Baring-Gould's 'Iceland: Its Scenes and Sagas'.
This is now available and you can see
details on http://www.signalbooks.co.uk/books/iceland.htm.

January
2007
- We
are all looking forward to March when we will
finally get a chance to see Ron Wawman's play
based on Sabine Baring-Gould's life, 'Like
a Buoy' performed. Apart from Ron
himself, I know that there are many people involved
in the project and that they are all working
very hard. We wish them well with this
ambitious project. You can find further
details and download a brochure at www.likeabuoy.co.uk.

-
The
Annual gathering at Lewtrenchard was a great
success and everyone left knowing a great deal
more about Sabine Baring-Gould's life at Lew
than they did when they arrived. The team
who organised the event, led by Ron Wawman,
did a terrific job. A note on the event
can be found here



Display
of pumpkins at Lewtrenchard - October 2006
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Dates
for your diary
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SBGAS Annual Gathering
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Date
and location to be advised

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Baring-Gould Folk
Festival
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To
be held in West Devon 23rd to 25th October 2009 (With
the associated Song School running from 26th to 30th
October)
The
11th Annual Baring-Gould Lecture will be delivered during
the Song School Week - date tbc

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Copyright (c) 2005 SBGAS All rights reserved. martin.graebe@btinternet.com
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