C S Lewis Centenary Group

Newsletter of the C S Lewis Centenary Group

Number 1, May 1997.

The C S Lewis Centenary Group was formed in 1995 in order that the land of C S Lewis's birth would celebrate his Centenary in a fitting manner.

HISTORICAL TRAIL

The Lord Mayor of Belfast, Cllr Dr Ian Adamson, and the Mayor of North Down, Cllr Mrs Irene Cree, will open a C S Lewis historical trail on 27th May 1997 around the main sites in Northern Ireland associated with Lewis as man and boy. To guide people around the Trail, the Centenary Group will publish on that day a brochure 'The C S Lewis Trail in Belfast and North Down'.

St Mark's Church, Dundela, have published an information leaflet and will open their doors to visitors in the months of June, July and August each Wednesday and Saturday (11am-4pm) and each Sunday (2pm-5pm).

The C S Lewis Centenary Group will conduct guided tours around the Trail on the first Saturdays in June, July & August. The tours depart from St Mark's Church at 10am.

STAMPS

To commemorate the Centenary of C S Lewis's birth, Royal Mail will produce a Special Issue of stamps, provisionally on 8th September 1998. The Special Issue will cover a ranger of stamps of different prices. A photocall in Belfast will mark the event.

CONFERENCE

The group plans an international conference in Belfast on 'C S Lewis, Irishman' in August 1998, following on from the triennial conference held in Oxford and Cambridge by the C S Lewis Foundation of California. Rt Rev Dr Donald Caird, former Archbishop of Dublin, has agreed to preach at a Civic Service during the Belfast Conference.

FELLOW

The Cultural Traditions Group of the Community Relations Council have awarded the Group a 9-month Fellowship to study the influence of C S Lewis's Irish background on his literary work. The Supervisor will be Dr John Gillespie on the University of Ulster. Tenure begins in autumn 1997. The Fellow, whose name will be announced in June, will produce original work of booklet size and present a paper at the Belfast Conference.

CENTENARY SCULPTURE

The Ulster artist, Ross Wilson, with the backing of the Centenary Group, plans to place a life-size sculpture of C S Lewis in a public area in Belfast, tentatively in May 1998. Ross has already raised part of the funding needed for the project and will apply to Belfast City Council for the remainder. Ross has a fast-growing reputation as an artist and earlier this year created a sculpture similar in scale in the grounds of Belfast's new Waterfront Hall.

BRITISH HERITAGE TOURS

The Chester-based company British Heritage Tours, which offers special interest holidays for the American market, will include C S Lewis Tours in their programme for 1998.
British Heritage Tours, Richmond Place, 125 Boughton, Chester CH3 5BJ, England. Tel: (01244) 342222, Fax: (01244) 320072 call toll-free from the USA/Canada 1 800 964 2819.

CENTENARY OFFICE

The C S Lewis estate has opened an office in London to co-ordinate activities world-wide for the Centenary year. We wish Simon Adley well.
C.S. Lewis Centenary Information Office, 24-26 Baltic Street West, London EC1Y 0UL. Tel: (0171) 454 1172. Fax: (0171) 251 1359, Email Simonadley@cslewis100.com, Website: www.cslewis100.com.

DAVID BLEAKLEY will publish a book in 1998 on C S Lewis's early life. He would like to meet anybody who knew personally CSL or the Lewis family.

THE LYRIC THEATRE, BELFAST will produce 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader' as its Christmas show 1997/98. In 1998 the theatre will offer a production of 'Shadowlands', the award-winning play based on Lewis's love for Joy Davidman.

PRONI ARCHIVE The Director of the Public Record Office for Northern Ireland, Dr Anthony Malcolmson, has written that PRONI will be delighted to open a C S Lewis Archive in Belfast.

TY ISA: Tony Wilson has recently traced TY ISA, the house of C S Lewis's grandfather, RICHARD LEWIS. The house stands in Parkgate Avenue, Belfast, close to St Mark's Church.

VISITORS Members of the Group entertained recently Dr Claude Cunningham and Mrs Cunningham, admirers of CSL from Randburg, South Africa.

COMMUNICATIONS Mark Larmour of Ace Ventures has kindly provided the Group with an Electronic Mail address, coiace@iol.ie. Ace Ventures is based in St Mark's Old Rectory, once the home of C S Lewis's grandfather, Rev Thomas Hamilton.

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