Message by Richard Blair, Patron of The Orwell Society

Dear Member,

Thirteen members of the Society have just returned from a memorable trip to Spain.  We will be posting a full report and pictures on the website and Facebook pages soon but suffice to say it was a wonderful experience, with time spent in Barcelona and at the front line in Aragon.  We made many new friends including at a book shop in Huesca where we were greeted by around 30 locals for a talk and book signing.  We also received coverage from a Barcelona newspaper and had a Times journalist accompanying us.  You may have seen the resulting coverage in yesterday’s Times by Graham Keeley which I would like to comment on.

You will see that the Times article states that I “demanded” that the trenches be restored. This is rather overstating my wishes. I have no desire to start a war with the Spanish Government, but only to express a view that I hoped the good work that Victor Pardo has done over so many years, the museum and the restoration of the trenches that Orwell fought from (the Ruta de Orwell in the Aragon area) would continue to be maintained, and that people from all nationalities might come and visit. That the present Government has withdrawn funding for such projects is disappointing but, should there be a change of power, perhaps funding might one day be restored. Meanwhile, I don’t think the small voice of the Patron of the Orwell Society will make a great deal of difference one way or another to the way Spain is governed and how it views the preservation of its historic sites.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Blair

Patron

The Orwell Society