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Editorial

Welcome to this, the first Endeavour. I know that many of you have been waiting for this newsletter since responding to our web pages some months back. I hope that you find the wait worthwhile and that future correspondence will be on a more regular footing.

The concept of an Inspector Morse Society has been in existence since I first made approaches to Zenith Productions, Central Broadcasting and Macmillan London in early 1993. However, little interest was shown and an initial meeting in Oxford that same year in conjunction with the Royal Institution of Great Britain was poorly attended. To help fund the new society, which existed as a scion group of The Irregular Special Railway Company (THE Sherlock Holmes Railway Society), an official club tie was produced in conjunction with the Thames Valley Police and a mug designed. These raised public awareness and attracted an enthusiastic band of Morse followers. Finally with the support of Colin Dexter, who very generously gave up one of his weekends to be with us, a very successful meeting was held in Oxford during October 1997. Nearly 40 people attended over the two one-day events and 38 signed a document which formally set up the Inspector Morse Society as a fully independent club. A 48 page booklet has been produced and a rather splendid tie pin adopted from the East Lothian Police, which should help fund our future activities.

This has prompted the newsletter you are now reading and the planning of the Inspector Morse outing for 1998 which I trust will be as successful as the previous meeting. The individuals who volunteered to be more actively involved with the day to day running of the society are Lindsay Siviter, Philip Attwell, M. C. Black and myself, who form the provisional committee. Colin Dexter has already given our group great encouragement and support and we hope that this will continue in the future. We are now seeking official recognition from the rest of the Inspector Morse world.

Subscriptions

As I am sure you will be aware, the running of such a society does cost money. Although at present we do not have a regular subscription, we are asking for donations towards the newsletter - financial or practical e.g. contribution of articles or volunteering to help run an event. The minimum contribution is an A5 size stamped addressed envelope to receive the next newsletter plus further stamps to help towards photocopying expenses.