Author: Fran Martin

Fran Martin became a member of The Bootmakers of Toronto in 1987 and The Stormy Petrels of B.C. in 1988. She has attended several Sherlockian conferences including: In 1992 "Aspects of Holmes" in Bradford, England (hosted by The Northern Musgraves); In 2006 "ACD at 35" in Toronto (hosted by The Bootmakers of Toronto); 2013 "Sherlock Holmes Through Time & and Place" in Minneapolis (hosted by The Norwegian Explorers); 2014 "Gillette to Brett IV" in Bloomington (hosted by Wessex Press); 2015 SherlockCon in Seattle; 2015 "A Scintillation of Scions VIII" in Baltimore (hosted by Watson's Tin Box); 2016 "The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes" (hosted by The Norwegian Explorers); in 2018 in Dayton, Ohio for the "Holmes, Doyle & Friends" conference (hosted by the Agra Treasurers). Fran has held several positions with The Stormy Petrels of B.C. including secretary, vice-president, special events coordinator and is currently president and editor of the "Petrel Flyer". She was honoured with being awarded the title of "Master Bootmaker" in 2014. She was very pleased to present a paper to a meeting of Sir Hugo's Companions in Chicago in 2017. Fran has contributed articles to Canadian Holmes magazine, the Watsonian and Chris Redmond's "About Sixty" and "Sherlock Holmes is Like...". In May, 2018 she attended the 78th annual Speckled Band of Boston dinner. She was very honoured to have been one of the first women invited.

The Petrel Tree

18 Stormy Petrels braved the dark and rainy night to attend the December meeting to discuss “The Adventure of the Norwood Builder”

Sarah made thumbprint cookies in honour of the story:

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Our Petrel Tree made an appearance, and Andy was able to name almost all the stories that are represented by the Sherlockian ornaments.

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Among some of the ornaments are:

a bicycle, orange pips, goose, speckled band, cockroach, carbuncle, magnifying glass, pipe, pince-nez, Persian slipper, portraits of Beecher and Gen. Gordon (on framed, one unframed), bust of Holmes (with bullet hole through head), giant rat (of Sumatra), a violin, an engineer’s thumb, Dr. Watson’s medical bag, Jabez’s Japanese coin…..

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December 2015 Meeting

Holmes and Watson are back in the rooms at Baker Street chatting at the breakfast table.

They are interrupted by the furious ringing of the bell, a tremendous thumping upon the door followed by a pounding up the stairs and the bursting into the room of “…a wild-eyed and frantic young man, pale, disheveled, and palpitating…”

Who was this man who described himself as “unfortunate”

Our story for discussion is “The Adventure of the Norwood Builder” published in The Strand Magazine in November 1903 and in Collier’s in October 1903.

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Meeting: Tuesday, Dec. 1st at 7:00 pm Hampton Place lounge

Answer the following question at the meeting in order to qualify for the evening’s prize draw:

Q:  What was the name of Oldacre’s tailor?

 

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2015 Int’l Pacific West Coast Sherlockian Summit

After crossing the border into the U.S., it took less than an hour to reach our destination – Skagit River Brewing in Mount Vernon, WA.

Once there, the Stormy Petrels were welcomed with open arms by the Sound of the Baskervilles, whose member Al Nelson organized the occasion.

The afternoon began with a game of trying to identify which canonical character you are. This had people mingling and taking to each other, getting to know everyone.

There were five societies represented. The Stormy Petrels (pictured – Krista Lee, Andy, Johnnie)

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The Sound of the Baskervilles, and the Vamberry Wine Merchants One of the Portland groups):

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The Dogs in the Nighttime (a fairly new group from Anacortes, WA)

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Margie Deck and Sheila Holtgrieve (also joined the Petrels) organized a game in the form of a type of Sherlockian-themed “mad-lib” Teams of four tables put their heads together to fill in the blanks of one of the unrecorded cases, and a rep from each team read out the complete story.

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Thanks to the SoB’s there were many items to give away. From books, to posters, to mugs, to wine glasses, to fridge magnets, to soap, to a very Sherlockian Holiday wreath.

Pictured: Terri Haugen

 

Hopefully, we can all meet again. The food, the fun, the fellowship! Doesn’t get much better than this!

(Pictured below: Margie Deck, Fran Martin, Mimi Noyes (organizer of Seattle SherlockCon)

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NOVEMBER ADVENTURE!

The quiet little hamlet of Mount Vernon, Washington will come alive on November 21st when a flock of Stormy Petrels from the north will meet up with members of the Sound of the Baskervilles who will head up from Seattle.

Many thanks to Al Nelson of the SoB’s for arranging this fun adventure!

When: November 21, 2015

Where: The Skagit River Brewery 404 S. 3rd Street

Time: 12:00 – 4:00 pm

You do NOT want to miss what promises to be an awesome adventure!

Mark your calendars and please contact Fran if you need a ride. (Road Trip – don’t forget your passport!)

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