The Malcolm
Saville Society
Richard Griffiths from the Malcolm Saville Society came in to talk about the organisation, the author Malcolm Saville and what the Society is all about.
Find out more at www.witchend.com
The following information is taken from the web site...
Leonard Malcolm Saville was born on 21 February 1901 in Hastings, Sussex. Saville's first contact with the book trade was in 1918 when he left school to work at the Oxford University Press, sorting stock for booksellers' orders. In 1920 he joined Cassell & Co. working in their publicity department. Two years later he moved to Amalgamated Press, again working in publicity.
Malcolm Saville married Dorothy McCoy in 1926; the start of a long and happy relationship which was to see the birth of four children and numerous grandchildren.
In 1936 Malcolm Saville joined George Newnes in London as Sales Promotion Manager. At the outbreak of war in 1939, the young Saville family evacuated to the Shropshire countryside while Malcolm Saville remained at the family home in Hertfordshire. His first children's book was Mystery at Witchend; written about the countryside in which they were staying and sent as chapters to his children. It was adopted for broadcast on BBC Children's Hour in October 1943. Nineteen further Lone Pine adventures followed between 1944 and 1978, with a total production of well over a million books.
Saville was editor of My Garden magazine in the late 1940's and then rejoined Newnes as General Books Editor. He also took over the editorship of Sunny Stories magazine from Enid Blyton. In the mid-1950's he moved to Guildford and then later to his beloved Sussex Downs which, along with the Sussex town of Rye, featured in many of his stories.
Malcolm Saville produced around 90 titles in his writing career between 1943 and 1982, as well as numerous short stories and magazine articles. Seven books were serialized by the BBC on Children's Hour and two were made into films. Saville was a confirmed Christian and had strong moral beliefs. He died in 1982.
The Society was formed in 1994 after some enthusiasts met to visit the Long Mynd and to celebrate 50 years of the Lone Pine books. The event was broadcast as a BBC Radio 4 Kaleidoscope Feature.
Since then over 850 members of all ages with a common interest of Saville's work and a love of the English countryside have joined. All four of Malcolm Saville's sons and daughters are active members of the Society, as are many of his grandchildren.
The Society publishes four informative magazines each year. During the year we have events at locations mentioned in the books for walks, talks, picnics and treasure hunts.
The Society also features a Book Search Service which helps members track down elusive titles and fill gaps on their shelves. We also have a lending library for members.
Basingstoke Bluefins / Basingstoke Neighbourcare / Blue Water Diving / First Responders / Malcolm Saville Society / Guildford and Farnham Octopush Club / Wessex Cancer Trust