Forest Conference report

[thesprog.livejournal.com]

This is my first post (I joined Trennels after talking to people at the conference) so I apologise in advance if I am breaking protocol or anything.



I really enjoyed the conference - there was a much wider age range than there has been at any other book-related (mainly Chalet) event that I have been to which was great. People (mostly Trennels members as far as I could gather!) had come from all over including New Zealand, Australia and Germany which made my two and a half hour drive from London seem like not very much effort at all though the car had been loaded up to capacity with cardboard boxes full of welcome folders as I was giving Sally Phillips & Joy Wotton (two of the organisors) a lift down and they had a *lot* of stuff.

There was a really nice atmosphere and in the bar before dinner on the first night people were looking out for others wearing a badge and beckoning over anyone that looked a bit lost to join one of the groups already there. I was really pleased to see some others that I knew but not very well before this weekend. On Friday afternoon I went into town to help Joy plan the literary walk for Saturday but, after helping to plot the places on the map I basely abandoned her to do the legwork on her own and went swimming as the sea looked far too inviting to be resisted. It was gorgeous and I went back on Saturday and Sunday mornings before breakfast with a carload of people (including frankie_ecap on the Sunday) each time - we came back still damp in our costumes and towels which was OK on Saturday but when we got back on Sunday reception was packed with people waiting for breakfast so I at least felt a bit odd though I don't know if it bothered the others. Definitely worth it though.

Diane Purkiss's talk on Friday was really interesting - there was lots about Shakespeare as portrayed by AF and what we actually know of him. Bits too about the Catholic/Protestant thing and how Shakespeare's father had signed a document that had made people think he was a far more committed Catholic than he probably was (can't remember the name of the document though others would doubtless know).

On Saturday I went to Sheena Wilkinson's talk on Friendship in AF which was really interesting. It was mostly about female friendship and she discussed how girl-boy relationships were seen as more interesting and "normal" to write about in the climate of the 1970's and 80s than girl-girl friendships and how AF ignored this popular view but made it a major theme of her books - particularly the school ones. Victor Watson was great too and, if the room had been a bit cooler and the chairs more comfortable I could happily have listened to him dissecting sentences and talking about their complexity all day. Someone said on Saturday night that she thought she was half in love with him already and I could sympathise with her view.

On the Saturday night there was an Entertainment after dinner and all those doing things were meant to be sitting on the same table. I was doing a reading but hadn't been told that I had a place already so sat with other people until, half-way through the melon, Hilary Clare came looking for me. It was too late to move then and I liked where I was anyway but was a bit sad that I had missed sitting by Victor as I would have loved to hear him talk some more. The Entertainment wasn't too ghastly - coughingbear sang and there were a few readings and a not-terribly-successful rendering of There's a Stone in my Bucket - and everyone was very nice about it and didn't actually *say* that they would rather have just gossiped instead.

I had somehow got volunteered to organise a discussion group which didn't seem to go too badly - I had imagined that there would be about 10 people in each but there were actually lots more than that which was a bit of a shock and I was a bit concerned that people may not want to talk in front of lots of others they didn't know. However there seemed to be enough opinionated people in each (including me) for conversation not to flag too much.

coughingbear's talk on Sunday morning was really good - she told us a lot about how people had regarded Nelson at the time and particularly about his effect on woman which I hadn't known at all. Being hideously ignorant of history has it's advantages occasionally as whatever you are told is new and interesting! All the talks were recorded and apparently GGBP are going to publish a conference proceedings at some point with them all in. There will also be a CD of the talks though I think they may be easier to read, especially the ones that were illustrated.

In the welcome packs we had been given the booklet with the unpublished excerpts from Run Away Home and there was a discussion about them on Sunday after coffee. Actually, the thing I enjoyed most about the whole weekend was the discussions - formal or not - and hearing what other people thought about the characters and events. There was far more book-related discussion in the bar and at meals than I have heard at any other book event and it was really nice to be able to argue points or get a different angle on something that made you see someone differently. The range of people was interesting too - one woman came as a result of seeing the woman on Mastermind as it had made her look up AF online, two sisters hadn't realised that there were any books apart from the four school ones until last Christmas when one looked at the "used and new" on Amazon and lots had never been to any events before. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it and I can see why.

Comments

[widgetfox.livejournal.com]

Hello! I'm going to friend you now.

[widgetfox.livejournal.com]

And the swimming was absolutely wonderful, and I would not have missed it for the world. Thank you again.

[leapingirbis.livejournal.com]

Great review! I too really enjoyed the conference - it was the first of its kind I've been too, but I'm sure I'll go to others! As said above, the talks were great - and I loved the fact that the books provided so much material for talks that we were forced to chose between alternative events - which was very difficult and the reason I am so glad we will have the opportunity to see printed copies of the others.
Actually, the thing I enjoyed most about the whole weekend was the discussions - formal or not -
I agree - for me it was the first time I'd met other AF fans (none of my friends at school liked her books) and it was great to meet other people as totally familiar with the characters as I am. I loved the fact people could quote passages at each other and instantly recognise them - something until now I've only experienced with Harry Potter and Terry Pratchett books.
One thing I found quite strange was learning more about AF the person. I am always a bit wary about this; as if I love a book I desperately want the author to be as wonderful as his/her characters. One thing that struck me was that Antonia seemed to share her lead characters' impatience and relative brutality with people she doesn't like - those who were there will know what I'm talking about but I won't put it here as have no idea how to hide "spoilers" (sorry that's really mean, can someone more computer-literate than I am post it somewhere?)
Finally, I found the people lovely - really friendly and interesting. However, to be honest I would never have expected anything else from Antonia Forest fans!

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I tend to do it with font colours: if you put <font color="white"> then it'll change the text so that you can only see it if you highlight it, so:

[leapingirbis.livejournal.com]

But how do I change the font colour from here? I only know how to do this in Word, and those options aren't available in this format. Is there a shortcut by holding down particular keys or something?

By the way, it was lovely to meet you at the weekend!

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

It was lovely to meet you too!

I don't actually know how to do it in Word, which is slightly shameful considering that I've been using Word since about 1991, so you're one up on me there.

If you're commenting, you type <font color="white"> before the text you don't want to spoiler, and then <font color="black"> afterwards, though there has to be a better way that works for people whose comment pages aren't black text on white background. If you're writing up an entry in html, you do the same.

I'm not absolutely sure how you do it if you're typing your entry into the rich text update page, as I never use it, so I've just loaded it up and had a look - it has a change text colour box, which looks like a T in front of a mosaic, which I think is probably what you want.

[leapingirbis.livejournal.com]

OK, in an attempt to follow Ankaret's instructions (don't read this if you don't like knowing what happens to characters after the last book ends):

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

It sounds like we went to all the same talks!

I really enjoyed Sheena Wilkinson's and Victor Watson's talks as well - I felt both of them went beneath the surface of just 'well, I really like the books' whilst remaining fresh and accessible. I particularly liked the bit where Victor Watson was analysing paragraphs from End of Term in detail.

coughingbear's talk was fascinating, of course - I'd never run across the phenomenon of novels with a thinly disguised Nelson and Lady Hamilton as protagonists, nor thought of Nicola in the wider context of 'women who love Nelson'.

I didn't feel that most of the people there were from trennels, which makes me wonder who I missed meeting (or, of course, who thought of me as 'that ghastly woman from the forums' and was avoiding me ;) - it's really interesting to get a different perspective.

[thesprog.livejournal.com]

I would friend you back but I don't know how! Sorry for being such an awful lj newbie...

[thesprog.livejournal.com]

Oops - worked it out!

[(Anonymous)]

Where's that spoiler? All I see is blank white space. I have no objection to reading what happens to characters after the last book ends as I am perfectly capable of ignoring that and inventing my own alternatives.
--Elizabeth
From the Royal Library where she cannot sign in

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

As I said in the comment above, if you highlight the text (click above where it should be with your mouse, and drag your mouse downward) you should be able to see the spoiler.

It will show up in light blue.

[antisoppist.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the review. It saves all the rest of us doing it! I'm so sorry that sitting next to me deprived you of the honour and glory of sitting next to Victor Watson :-). I too could have listened to him talk all day.

It was a fantastic weekend and it says something for Antonia Forest that after 2 days of discussing her books, ankaret and I were still arguing about Edwin on the train home. As others have said, the discussions, organised or with random people you just happened to have turned up for breakfast the same time as, were the best bit.

I didn't talk to very many trennels people as there didn't seem a polite way of saying "you don't know me as I've only posted twice but I've been lurking for six months and reading your journal" without sounding like a mad stalker. I shall have to post more and maybe even dare to friend people before the next conference. Please let there be a next conference!

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks! Interesting but one I'm going to simply overlook or rewrite to my preference.
--Elizabeth in The Hague

[forester48.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's posted about the conference. I've hung on to every word.

[blonde222.livejournal.com]

moi too.

[the_antichris.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this! I was going to ask if I'd met you, but then I got to the swimming bit. It was lovely to meet you, and everyone else.

[legionseagle.livejournal.com]

Well, I was swimming too, on both days, so I think that means I recognise everyone who swam: you and tabouli and of course [Bad username or site: frankie ecap @ livejournal.com] and - from comments above - the_antichris (though as I carefully explained - to someone - as I swim without my lenses I'm a bit like the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal. Hence my relative nonchalence walking wet, semi-nude and sandy through the breakfast queue. Partly I was channelling my inner Nicola and Peter during The Marlows and the Traitor, and partly I was thinking that to them I'd be a vaguely pinkish appalled blur too).

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I wish I'd had the sense not to wear my lenses to breakfast. It would have made the food so much more appealing.

[legionseagle.livejournal.com]

But you would have missed or at least blurred the scrambled egg, quite capable (so Lawrie! so Lawrie! my dear) of going on as a Dr Who villain or in The Andromeda Strain without a prior rehearsal.

[widgetfox.livejournal.com]

Yay!

Now you can post about swimming in the Lido, and coughingbear and I can make a date to join you.

[richenda.livejournal.com]

I apologise in advance if I am breaking protocol or anything.

I'm too new myself to know about protocol, but I'm full of admiration. It took me months of reading Trennels (from the Forest website) before I worked out how to start a Journal, and another month to work out icons.

I really wanted to go to the conference, so am grateful for your interesting report.

[richenda.livejournal.com]

the scrambled egg, quite capable (so Lawrie! so Lawrie! my dear) of going on as a Dr Who villain or in The Andromeda Strain without a prior rehearsal.

Perhaps they have the same chef as a certain Snowdonia YHA, where the scrambled egg was unbelievably strange (as was all the breakfast food). I opted out of breakfast on the third(last) morning and was given a delicious packed breakfast - yoghourt and fruit and flapjack - but I don't suppose posh conference hotels do packed breakfasts.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

It wasn't particularly posh.

[richenda.livejournal.com]

It wasn't particularly posh.

Ah!It was the prices that suggested "posh" to me.
Until recently I had family in Bournemouth so I don't know much about its hotels.

[thesprog.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, you should - it is wonderful. I can't go this week as I'm working nights which makes me sad but I'll be there most days next week.

[thesprog.livejournal.com]

Sitting next to you was a pleasure and thanks again for letting me join your quiz team! One of the nicest things about the weekend was getting time to chat to people that you had never had enough time to talk to before.