By Peter Willis.
Brian Hammett, who died on 20 September 2018, was a consummate sailor and a leading member of many yachting organisations, as well as a published Arthur Ransome authority. His memory is to be honoured by the first of what The Nancy Blackett Trust hopes will become an annual series of Memorial Talks.
The talk is being organised by the Trust, of which he was a vice-president, together with the Arthur Ransome Society (TARS), where he had been Eastern Region chairman, the Cruising Association (Suffolk Section) and the Royal Harwich Yacht Club.
The late Brian Hammett
The speaker will be Libby Purves, another famous East Coast sailor, who has recently been appointed President of the Arthur Ransome Society. Her title is “A Serious Kind of Joy: Sailing and the Salt of Reality”.
The talk will take place at the Royal Harwich YC on Friday 20 March, 2020, at 6.30pm, followed by a dinner at the club for those who wish to stay on. (doors open 6.00pm, dinner 8.00pm).
Tickets, at £10 for the talk only, or £24.50 for the talk and dinner, will be available online via the RHYC website from 3 January 2020. There’s no advance booking prior to this date, but anyone who goes to http://nancyblackett.org/talk to register an expression of interest will be sent a reminder just before booking opens.