#undershaw

gypsiequeen:

Well, the event is raising funds for a very important project, one which Sherlockology have been heavily involved with – Save Undershaw. Undershaw is the former home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It’s where he brought Sherlock Holmes back to life, where he wrote Hound of the Baskervilles and where he entertained other literary greats like Bram Stoker and George Bernard Shaw. Many argue that without Undershaw there would be no Sherlock phenomenon today – imagine a world without BBC Sherlock! We certainly can’t.

Just over five years ago Undershaw was under threat with a developer looking to destroy the house. In their way were the Undershaw Preservation Trust (UPT) – a group of fans that wanted to preserve the house for future generations. Over the coming years the developer let the house get into a terrible state of disrepair, but the UPT continued to fight to save the building – all the way to the high court. In fact, Sherlockology, along with MX Publishing produced a book called ‘Sherlock’s Home – The Empty House’ as part of the campaign and we all held up copies outside the high court where the decision went against the developers. We had huge support for the book – Stephen Fry, Mark Gatiss and many others contributed and the BBC kindly let us use Benedict’s photo on the cover [alongside Jeremy Brett and other famous Sherlocks]. The book has since been released in nine languages raising funds for the trust [including French, German, Russian and Chinese].

A few months ago the wonderful news was released that a school, Stepping Stones, had bought the building to convert into a school for children with learning difficulties. The UPT are working closely with the school to help fund the restoration and preserve the important and iconic parts of the building – like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s study which will be returned to its Victorian state. The restoration will start in September and take about a year. The cost is over £1/2m  so the school is very pleased that UPT will be helping fundraise.

On to tomorrow’s Worlds Record Attempt. The UPT wanted to celebrate the news about the restoration, and what better way than to get the world’s press aware by staging a Worlds Record and launch a new book which celebrates the successful fight for the house. ‘Two, To One, Be’ comes out tomorrow and is full of great fan stories about the campaign. All royalties from the book go to the restoration.

Here are some highlights from the day:

 -          The record attempt will be filmed by at least 3 national TV channels and there are dozens of photographers.

-          UCL are putting on an exhibition of early forensic equipment like fingerprinting kits for the participants while they wait for the record attempt [more]

-          There is a brilliant raffle with thousands of pounds of prizes including

o   Louise Brealey [Molly, BBC Sherlock] has kindly donated lots of signed goodies

o   Stephen Fry, Ian Rankin and others have donated signed books

o   A holiday voucher and a stay at the Park Plaza Sherlock Holmes Hotel

o   A bundle of Sherlockology goodies

o   A painting of Benedict Cumberbatch by Bonnie MacBird

And much more – there is a Pinterest Board with all the prizes

So how can you get involved?

1)      There are still some participant tickets left – if you are in London and have the necessary outfit (cape, deerstalker, pipe, and magnifying glass) you can take part in the record attempt. If you’re not in London but want to support and have a chance to win some of the prizes above you can buy some raffle tickets on the event tickets page [Event Tickets]

2)      Please ‘like’ the Undershaw Preservation Trust Facebook Page where the team will be posting updates about the restoration and details of more events coming up this summer

3)      Buy a copy of Sherlock’s Home, Two, To One, Be or any of the books whose royalties go to the restoration [Undershaw Books]