Yesterday was 125 years since the birth of Malcolm Saville - in effect his 125th birthday! 

What an achievement for a popular writer of not only such well loved children's stories but also of a wide range of other fiction, non-fiction, reviews, magazine articles and more! Over the years, since the establishment of the Malcolm Saville Society in 1994, more than 1,700 readers have joined the Society - not all are still living, but we are still gaining members on a regular basis. 

Leonard Malcolm Saville was born on 21 February 1901 in Hastings, Sussex. His first contact with the book trade was in 1918, when he left school to work at the Oxford University Press, sorting stock for booksellers' orders. In 1920 he joined Cassell & Co. to work in their publicity department. Two years later he moved to Amalgamated Press, again working in publicity.

Malcolm Saville married Dorothy McCoy in 1926, the start of a long and happy relationship, which was to see the birth of four children and numerous grandchildren. Rosemary is still a member of our Society and over the years she has enjoyed meeting so many fans of her father's work. She knows he would have been immensely proud that his work has had such a positive impact on the lives of so many, including creating numerous friendships amongst people who still get together regularly as a result. He has introduced lots of us to new areas of the country, where he based his stories - and he has ensured that Shropshire, Sussex, Devon and Yorkshire now feature as significant and favourite locations for us all, inspired by the Lone Pine series. The other series have also drawn people to visit other key locations - some of us are still working our way through a 'bucket list'!