Great News! The Long John Silver Trust is proud to announce a new European Cultural Route “In the footsteps of Robert Louis Stevenson”
The European Network In the footsteps of Robert Louis Stevenson (author of works such as Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Travels with a Donkey, 1850-1894) has been accredited as a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe. The Network, to which the Long John Silver Trust of Bristol belongs, connects places in Scotland, England, France and Belgium associated with the life and works of Stevenson.
The Cultural Routes programme was launched in 1987 by the Council of Europe. Its objective is to demonstrate, by means of a journey through space and time, how the heritage of the different countries and cultures of Europe contributes to a shared cultural heritage. Nowadays about 30 Cultural Routes link various parts of Europe, such as the Santiago de Compostela Pilgrim Routes, the Viking Routes, the Art Nouveau Network, the European Route of Jewish Heritage and the European Mozart Ways.
The European Network In the footsteps of Robert Louis Stevenson promotes knowledge of the author’s works and travels as well as the areas associated with him. Stevenson is fascinating both as a writer and as a person. He wrote in a variety of genres – novels, poems, travel writing and essays. He led a colourful life from a bohemian youth in Edinburgh through travels in Europe and the USA, finally settling in Samoa. The Cultural Route which bears his name is equally varied and offers activities for all ages of cultural events and exploration of townscapes, as well as the more active hiking, canoeing, rowing and even travels with a donkey, all of them interwoven with his works.

The Network is composed of organisations, both public and private sector, active in the fields of culture, the arts, tourism and sport. The areas associated with Stevenson benefit from the added value of belonging to a network. Members of the network inform visitors to their areas of the other places where they can follow in Stevenson’s footsteps. The network facilitates the exchange of knowledge and ideas. Its ethos of cross-border co-operation and friendship perpetuates Stevenson’s openness to people and places. The Network works to protect and promote the cultural and natural heritage of the member areas. It also assists economic development in those areas which require it, supporting cultural tourism as a means of sustainable development.

This new accreditation as a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe raises the profile of the Network and its member areas helping it to promote the life and works of this fascinating author and to draw attention to the places associated with him. The Network plans to extend its membership further in the spirit of the objectives of the Cultural Route programme to include other areas associated with the author. This recognition by the Council of Europe is a new stage for the European Stevenson Network and all its member territories.
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”
Robert Louis Stevenson

For more information about the European Network In the Footsteps of Robert Louis Stevenson see www.rlstevenson-europe.org/en
or contact [email protected]

Dear Eugene,

I hope you’re keeping well and not over working.

I was delighted to see in last night’s ‘Post a proposal, with funding of nearly £100k, for a Selkirk/Crusoe sculpture in Clifton marking Goldney’s friendship with Woodes Rogers.

As you know, we at the Long John Silver Trust have long campaigned for more representation of Bristol’s maritime and literary past, and this opportunity to celebrate our links with a landmark in British literature seems almost too good to be true.

If the residents of Victoria Square don’t want it though, could we please have it in Castle Park? There are already many fine works of public art there and an internationally renowned figural addition would be just the jolly job I suspect.

I know the Llandoger Trow has long claimed to be the meeting place of Selkirk and Daniel Defoe (the writer of Robinson Crusoe in 1719) but all of my research indicates another meeting place, in Castle Park!

The Scottish seaman Alexander Selkirk was the 7th son of a 7th son, but his early life was awkward and he ran away from home and joined the ill fated Darien expedition, where Scotland tried to set up its first colony strategically placed close to the isthmus of Panama – he was a lucky survivor.

He was not so lucky the next time, he set sail on Dampier and Stradling’s quest for a Spanish treasure ship and was left marooned on Juan Fernandez Island after quarreling with his shipmates over the seaworthiness of the ship he was on. He was subsequently proved right but was left to dwell on his decision for an agonising and lonely 4 years and 4 months.

He was rescued in 1709 by Woodes Rogers’ privateering cruise which was also on a quest for treasure during the Spanish War of Succession, Dampier was now Rogers’ pilot and commended Selkirk as a sailing master and he joined Rogers’ crew immediately, playing a full role in their adventures until ultimately sharing in the spoils.

On return to Britain, Selkirk escaped the press gang and made his way to Bristol with his pal Rogers, staying first in his house in Queen Square before securing lodgings in the Cock and Bottle Inn in what is now Castle Park. According to old Bristol history books, Selkirk enjoyed his celebrity; often dressing in his goatskins and parading before the public, these books also state that he met Defoe in the Star Coffee House which was located above Bristol Castle’s old dungeon keep.

It must have been quite a contrast as Defoe wore the fashions of the day, putting on his powdered wig and lace finery and only going out on a Sunday – the only day ‘Sunday Gentleman’ could escape their creditors!

Local people gave their ‘sworn affy davy’s’ (to paraphrase Long John Silver) that Selkirk handed over his papers to Defoe and that it was these that inspired him to write Robinson Crusoe.

As for Selkirk, after staying for over a year in Bristol he had to run away again after beating up a fellow sailor in a brawl in St Stephen’s Parish.

He went back to Fife, married, brawled, ran away again, married again without divorcing his first wife, and then ran away to sea again this time joining the Royal Navy. He died of disease aboard HMS Weymouth off of the Guinea coast tracking down the world’s most successful pirate ‘Black Bart Roberts’.

So there ‘tis, if Clifton residents really don’t want him, can we all enjoy him in Castle Park? And if you don’t think Selkirk deserves another statue – there’s already a fine one of him in Lower Largo in Fife – then can we please have one of Long John Silver?

ATB

Mark

Above: Dr Thomas Dover (former slave ship surgeon and captain) went as second captain on Rogers’ voyage to represent the backer’s interests. This mural is in the Glenside Museum (Dover was the first to offer his services FOC to St Peter’s hospital in 1695, the lure of money in the African Trade overcame him though)

Above: Daniel Defoe (Bristol and its famous associations 1900ish)

Above: The Cock and Bottle Inn (1888)

It is with great sadness that I have to report the passing of one of our greatest, if not the greatest, of our noble band of fund raisers, that of Vera Bright, sometimes known as ‘Vee’, ‘Mrs Brightness’ or just plain old ‘Lady Hyacinth’.

I can’t remember when Vera wasn’t doing her bit for the Beaufort and helping out with all of our fundraising activities, BBQ’s for PROPS, LJST, HOGS and a host of others along with the masses of produce she made, not just for our Harvest Home but also those for the Evergreens and the Fox and Hounds, Active Turmoil.

Her ploughmans and bread-and-butter puddings were legendary and always raised a mint.

Vera was always the life and soul of the party and the Beaufort couldn’t have been more pleased than when she eloped with Mr Brightness to form their happy union – comedian Johnnie Cowlin couldn’t get over it either.

Always game for a laugh, modesty prevents me from saying what she was going to do with cricketer ‘Syd’ Lawrence and she knew lots of other celebrities as well. She also had a soft spot for the Ghurka’s (“I like those little men”) and helped raise money for them, Frenchay Cardiac Support Group and a host of others.

Even though poorly she carried on helping others right to the end, God Bless Vera, to say we’ll miss you is an understatement.

Click image to enlarge …