For this month’s U3A Reading Group, the book we chose was a work of Non-Fiction.
ATTENTION ALL SHIPPING. A journey round the Shipping Forecast by Charles Connelly.
For those of us of a Certain Age!
When BBC radio was almost the only source of entertainment and news, the Shipping Forecast was a familiar and comforting backdrop to daily life, even if most of us had no idea where the Sea Areas like Rockall, Malin, North Utsire etc were.
The Shipping Forecast was devised by Vice Admiral Fitzroy following the tragic loss of The Royal Charter Ship in a storm in 1859 with the loss of 450 lives. First sent by morse code in 1925 then in the following year produced by the Met office and broadcast by BBC C Radio 4, it soon became invaluable to mariners everywhere giving warnings and information about wind speed, gales, storms visibility of each sea area. In its 100 years it quickly became a British cultural institution with its precise timing and consistent poetic rhythm.
In this book author Charles Connelly embarks on a journey to visit each of the 31 sea areas featured in the forecast beginning in Viking and ending in Southeast Iceland.
All the group enjoyed this book agreeing that it was very informative, well researched, interesting and moreover often very funny, often ‘Laugh out Loud funny’. It is a book with a cast of strange and amusing characters plus numerous historical facts and anecdotes about each of the sea areas he visits.
If anyone is looking for a change of reading rather than a novel we could recommend this non-fiction selection.
Gaby Mauger, Group Leader
Checkout the group page HERE for other reviews and this year’s reading list