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I was ever so sad to receive this news about Richard Roscoe, a fellow club member in the 1950s when we were both students in different professions in Scotland. Richard swept the boards at the Firefly Championships in l955, won the first ever Scottish National 12 and Firefly Championship in 1956 (in a Currey Mk.6 National 12) and then the Points Cup at Burton Week at Torbay in 1960 by which time he had returned to England.He also, as I recall, won the National Flying Fifteen Championship in a borrowed boat in 1955.I lost touch with Richard for over 50 years but having moved to Kent got in touch again in correspondence just a couple of months ago when we exchanged news. Richard confided to me that he was very ill but was most keen that I should drop in to see him if in his area but unfortunately I am just a bit too far away for a quick visit and we left it at that.He sent me a recent photograph of him on board a very fast trimaran of his own design and build and with which I believe he had an outstanding result in the Fastnet Race. Others will know much more than me of Richard's work in recent years but he was a truly outstanding dinghy skipper and designer and one of the best heavy weather sailors I have ever come across.I have a photograph of his Firefly "Flaming Onion" in my collection from the 1950s on the Clyde. My heartfelt sympathies go to Richard's wife and family. Nigel Fordyce.ex- N1149 and 3535. 

At least this is a depiction of a N12. I was once presented with a similar "prize" when I sailed Fireballs. A local Edinburgh chandler whose sons also sailed Fireballs offered a "trophy" for a Forth Travellers' Series. This was gratefully received until we noticed that the "trophy" was a model of a Graduate. Nigel Fordyce. ex N1149 and 3535.

Very interested to read your report in Y and Y Ed and your mention of the Daily Express Trophy first presented in 1956. Both Richard Roscoe (who needs no introduction in the N12s) and I were among the small fleet of N12s and Fireflies at Loch Earn in 1956. Richard won in a Curry Mk.6. I was 4th in a Holt. Cotton sails in those days. None of us from the Cowal Holy Loch S.C. had a car and so we took four boats to and back from Loch Earn on the back of a coal lorry based in Sandbank.It was wet going to Loch Earn and most of us sheltered under what the Scots call a "hap" (a canvas cover) alongside the  boats on trestles. Changed days. Nigel Fordyce ex-1149 and 3535.

I was at Hayling Island for Burton Week as a spectator and have a photograph of the boat when it came ashore with the hole through the floor very obvious. I hesitated to take a photo in the dire circumstances but the skipper invited me to go ahead. If anyone would like the print I shall gladly send it on. My address and telephone number are in the Yearbook. Nigel Fordyce. ex-N1149 and 3535.

Euan. My efforts to scan the old CHLSC photos have failed miserably but I have them ready to post to you for perusal and return, if you would like them. I also have a few notes about those in several of the photos. I just need your address by email for posting. Nigel.

Alex. Forgive me using this space in this way, but I rather think your parents (Alex and Liz?) are very old friends of mine from Currie days starting in 1961. If that might be the case I wonder if you could give them my email address and say that I would love to get in touch with them. I lost touch with them when I moved to Kent 6 yrs. ago. Nigel Fordyce : wnfordyce@btinternet.com. Also N12. 3535. Sincerely -I wish I lived nearer Scotland and I would be at Annandale, with or without N12.

I well remember, lovingly, the Avon Bailer. At the time I thought it was a wonderful invention although I seem to recall that you had to be moving quite smartly to avoid the water coming back in! N3535 and ex-N1149.

Euan. Yes, I have loads of photographs from the 1950s taken at Sandbank. Unfortunately they are very small contact prints and the negatives are long since gone. I will try scanning what I have and will send something to you. Could you email me with name and address - I assume it is Euan Ross but I have no address! Nigel Fordyce. email:  wnfordyce@btinternet.com

I am glad Tim has suggested the original problem might have been caused by an ill-fitting launching trolley since it is most likely that there has been pressure from underneath. I had exactly this problem in a Solo a long time ago and eventually realised that the boat was not being supported in the correct (strong) places. In those days it was Aerolite we used for such repairs but there are better glues nowadays and experts like Tim can advise. Strangely enough that Solo (No. 40) is to be on display on the Jack Holt stand at the forthcoming Dinghy Show. I shall have a look at the area I repaired, if it is still there, and will be interested to see whether my repair has held up.If it has it will have lasted 55 years! N3535.

Since posting the foregoing and seeing the photos of the boats to be on display, I have realised that I am going to feel as if I have walked into history when I visit the stand. My first N12 was N1149, Jack Holt designed and built and a close follow-on from the 500 series and my present boat N3535 is a replica of David Peacock's. I shall have photos of my 1950s boat with me in case anyone is interested! Nigel Fordyce.

Well done all those who have put the stand together. My wife/crew and I will see you there sometime on Saturday. We will be part of a considerable Chipstead SC group. N3535.

Mike. I agree totally with your comments. What I was trying to say, perhaps not clearly enough, was that the change to glued clinker construction did not in itself, at the time, outclass the existing boats. Obviously the new construction method opened the door to all manner of ideas, but they were questions of performance, not strength of construction which was the issue back around 1952. Many clever and innovative people have made lasting contributions to the class but have any had the effect of outclassing  the performance  of existing boats in the way foiling rudders have done? From what I read, the Gill Series now recognises the foiling boats as a "seperate" category which i assume implies that they are so superior that they require that recognition. How many of the entries at Hayling Island will have a serious chance of competing with the best? Without the foiling rudders I would suggest that at least all the Feeling Foolishes, the Final Chapters, the Numinouses and a few others would be serious competitors, It was in that context that i was comparing the trialling of a couple of boats in the early 1950s with the current situation.Nigel.

Ed. I was a member of the Holy Loch club from 1954-56 where we had a very good quality N12 fleet which included both Richard Roscoe and Peter Collyer, respectively Points Cup winner at Torquay in 1960 and 4th in the Points Cup at Westcliff in 1954. I moved to the Edinburgh area in 1960, sailed for many years on Loch Lomond (Clyde Canoe Club in those days), then at Dalgety Bay, in a variety of boats but unfortunately there was no local interest in the N12. I was at Barnton latterly, just along the road from you! I am now near family in Kent and a member at Chipstead SC. My wife and I will be at Hayling Island in June as spectators and dinner attendees- any chance of you being there? Nigel Fordyce. N3535.

Thanks everyone. I have ordered a copy from Amazon. The book is of course The Story, not The History-my mistake. I never met Robin Steavenson but in my young days he was a key man in the development and the spread of the class. Shortly after the glued clinker boats were authorised several came to my then club in Scotland including a Proctor Mk.2 just like Robin's "Witchcraft" pictured in the Class Handbook. It was the most gorgeous boat I had ever seen - no nails and no ribs unlike my own Holt designed and built N1149. I don't know just how well the glues of those days are holding up but the boats looked as though they would last for ever. I recall, I hope correctly, that two glued boats were given certificates (Robin's and Geoff Keene's) and that the new building form was authorised shortly after it was clear that the boats were solidly built (as Dick Wyche had always said they would be). I wonder if it might have been a good idea to have authorised, say, two boats to race with foiling rudders before giving the class the all-clear. The glued clinker boats were never going to outclass those which had gone before. Can we say the same about foiling rudders? Only an idle thought! N3535.
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Would any kind possessor of a redundant copy of Robin Steavenson's "History of the National 12s" be prepared to sell it to me? I had his "When Dinghies Delight" and "Marks to Starboard" when a youngster, both of which iI lent to friends who failed to return them but I gather the History is out of print. Any reasonable price plus postage willingly paid. N3535.