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 The
Long John Silver Trust is a registered charity (in England
and Wales) and was set up initially to raise funds for a sculpture
of Stevenson's immortal scallywag Long John Silver, fictional
Bristol pub landlord and pirate of repute, renowned for his duplicity.
This was in 2004 after Treasure Island had been chosen as launch
book for Britain's first Great Reading Adventure in Bristol in
2003. To
be educational and inclusive, this led on
to a proposal for a Treasure Island Trail around
Bristol's old dock side, initially with plaques
using the artwork of the magnificent Mervyn
Peake, but ultimately leading on to a full
blown sculpture trail.
We believe this will be a unique and fun way to
experience a key part of Bristol's maritime and
literary past.Much like Stevenson's original book we aim to be educational and inclusive and with this in mind we have teamed up with local special needs charity PROPS, Bristol Books and Publishers, Bristol Radical History Group, Destination Bristol, Redcliffe Community Forum and the Robert Louis Stevenson Club.  We
have a commercial arrangement with Bristol
Beer Factory who make the Long John Silver beers
for us and also a great relationship with Bristol
based sailing ship Matthew (a
replica of Cabot's ship that discovered Newfoundland
in 1497) and Tangaroa (a
two master that has doubled for the Hispaniola). JungleTalk provide our parrot, Cap'n Flint, when required.  We
have three Patrons:- Royston Griffey, Bristol City
Councillor and former Lord Mayor of Bristol; Sebastian
Peake, son of Mervyn
Peake the world renowned illustrator and author;
and Nicholas
Newton, son of the brilliant actor Robert Newton
(who in the Trust's opinion did the finest ever portrayal
of Silver in Disney's film of Treasure Island in
1950). We
have several trustees who bring a variety
of skills to our organisation, not
least our Chairman, Gerry Brooke, who
is editor of the Bristol Times supplement
of the Evening Post, a very popular
local newspaper.If the plaques prove popular we then intend to go for the full blown sculpture trail.
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The
beers were launched on July 10th at
the Grain Barge, along with 4 new pirate
titles from Silverwood Books and coincided
with the start of the tremendous production
of Treasure Island from Bristol Old
Vic.
