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.

UNDERSHAW – www.saveundershaw.com

Undershaw It is the home Arthur Conan Doyle had specially built for his wife Louise (Touie) who was suffering from tuberculosis.
It is the only historic, literary house (apart from Thomas Hardy’s) that was designed by the resident writer.
It is where Arthur Conan Doyle wrote most of his well-known works, including The Hound of the Baskervilles. It was where Arthur Conan Doyle was residing when he received his his knighthood. Design by Thomas Ryan Ward
From 1907 to 1921 the house was rented out.
Since 2004 the house fell into a state of disrepair.It also served as a hotel for a period of time.		 In 2010 it was reported that plans were underway to redevelop the home into multi-unit apartments.The Undershaw Preservation Trust is busy gaining support from Sherlockians/Doyleans world-wide to stop this destruction.
There are several things we can do to help support the Undershaw Preservation Trust:We can ‘like’ them on facebook.  Like them for all they stand for. For taking a stand and campaigning for a great cause.Sign the online petition, which can be found on the Save Undershaw website.Support fundraising efforts by purchasing from their online shop.Gather a group for a photo shoot in your town and send a letter of support. The Stormy Petrels are putting together a resolution in support, and are hoping to get together for a photo.Since Undershaw is located in Haslemere, Surrey, England, it would be interesting to get together in Hazlemere in Surrey, just south of Vancouver.Please take steps to help preserve this historic home before the judicial review in May.
Sticker design by KitsuneDesigns
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ANNOUNCEMENTS

Several requests have come to the attention of The Stormy Petrels:
1. Papers (between 1,500-2,500 words) are sought for a special issue of OSCHALARS, edited by Karen Devlin.
Subjects may include, but are not limited to:
– ACD and Scotland
– ACD and Ireland
– ACD and his contemporaries
– The Sherlockian phenomenon
– the influence of Maupassant on ACD
– the literary legacy of ACD
– Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot
Send abstracts (approx 250 words) to Karen at: oscholars@gmail.com before May 30th.
2. Request from The Diogenese Club of Dallas:
They are asking Sherlockians to let them know:  given the chance to receive and keep any memento from the original Canon, what would you choose? The item must be from the original stories (not from a pastiche, movie or other media) and you must keep the item for the rest of your life (not to be re-sold)
If you wand to participate, send your feedback to:  mason.steve@epa.gov

 

3.  Received from The Musgraves Sherlock Holmes Society:  a 26-page spiral-bound publication containing Sherlock Holmes picture puzzles.  These puzzles (each a kind of rebus featuring Holmes) were published in various American newspapers in 1905.  A lot of fun, but not so easy to solve.
If you would like to secure your own copy, please let me know, and I will pass along the details.

4.  Invitation from Roger Johnson, of The Sherlock Holmes Society of London, to take part in a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle weekend in Haslemere, Surrey, England, via The Haslemere Visitor Info Centre.
The festivities, honouring ACD and his detective  take place June 15-17.  This is where Conan Doyle penned many of his most well-known stories, including “The Hound of the Baskervilles”
If you are in England during that weekend, it is assured that you will be most welcomed.
Please contact me  for additional info.
*It is interesting to note that just south of Vancouver is a suburb of Surrey where there is an area called Hazelmere.
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APRIL MEETING

   It was the first Sherlock Holmes short story to be published in the Strand Magazine.
In 1927 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle listed it as one of his favourite 12 (“Baker Street Dozen”).
The Stormy Petrels will look into “A Scandal in Bohemia”  on Wednesday, April 4th at 7:00 pm at Hampton Place.
For more information on the next meeting, or on becoming a member, please contact your “Consulting Detective”.		 From "The Case Files of Sherlock Holmes" (2009 Sevenoaks)
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“An Afternoon With Sir Arthur Conan Doyle”

On Saturday, March 24th, approximately 60 people gathered in the Special Collections & Rare Books Department of the WAC Bennett Library at Simon Fraser University, atop Burnaby Mt.  to attend the dedication and reception of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Collection. SAM_0367

Many thanks to Mr. Eric Swanik, Head of Special Collections. With the donations by Peter Wood among other Petrels, the collection now houses issues of the original Strand Magazine, letters, annotated editions, scrapbooks, magazines, society publications, and more.  A great start to “Baker Street West” as Peter Wood called it.

Three speakers gave us more insight into: collecting (Robert Eighteen-Bisang), into the history of the Stormy Petrels (Len Haffenden) and into Sherlock Holmes (Mason Harris)

SAM_0371 Pictured in front of the collection are:  Mason Harris, retired SFU professor of English Literature; Eric Swanic, Head of Special Collections of SFU; Len Haffenden, long-time member of the Stormy Petrels of BC and editor of the society magazine “The Petrel Flyer”, and Robert Eighteen-Bisang, owner of the largest vampire/Dracula collection
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