![\"Lynne](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.survivors-mad-dog.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Lynne_Sweetman.jpg?resize=840%2C531&ssl=1\")
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LYNNE SWEETMAN, A long-term Survivors<\/em> fan, and someone who organised and took an active part in Survivors<\/em> fan activities since the 1990s, has died. <\/strong><\/p>\n As part of a group of new Survivors<\/em> enthusiasts who made contact with each other through small ads and convention appearances, Lynne played an important role in building the momentum of a new wave of Survivors<\/em> fandom that was triggered by the screening of the series<\/a> on cable-satellite station UK Gold and the release of the first series on sell-through VHS cassette<\/a> in 1993.<\/p>\n Lynne became involved in supporting the work of the two first Survivors<\/em> print fanzines Over the Hills<\/em> (1994-1998), set up by Carole Stevens, and Whitecross Calling<\/em><\/a> (1997), which she co-edited with founder Mark Wheatley. At a time when the internet remained in its infancy, Lynne put a great deal of effort into trying to make contact with Survivors<\/em> cast and crew members by post and telephone. She had an impressive success rate, and was able to develop and maintain a network of contacts and connections with many of those associated with the production of the show. Lynne carried out, or otherwise helped to make possible, a number of important early interviews, including two memorable face-to-face encounters with Roger Monk (Pete) and Lorna Lewis (Pet Simpson), and later a solo catch-up with Chris Tranchell (Paul Pitman).<\/p>\n When uncertainty surrounding the future publication of both Over the Hills<\/em> and Whitecross Calling<\/em> risked the loss of an important conduit for information about the series, in early 1998 Lynne set up the Bridgehead<\/em> newsheet. Initially this was an irregular two-sided A4 photocopied sheet which provided news about cast appearances (on-screen and on-stage) and other updates, which was distributed to readers who pre-supplied a stack of stamped-addressed-envelopes. <\/p>\n Over time, Bridgehead<\/em> developed into the more substantial and subscription-based Survivors Newsletter<\/em>, which contained short features, news stories, reviews and details about Survivors<\/em> filming location visits, which became known as ‘Reunions’. Lynne became a regular attendee at numerous Reunions in Herefordshire, London, the Derbyshire Peak District and elsewhere during the height of their popularity between 1997 and 2003. She also attended a number of theatre appearances by actors from the series, and enjoyed the opportunity to meet up and socialise with cast members after performances.<\/p>\n Adrian Hulme, an organiser of Reunion events since the 1990s, emphasises how important the launch of Bridgehead<\/em> was. “If it wasn\u2019t for Lynne, fandom would have waned after the closure of Whitecross Calling<\/em>,” he suggests. “The internet sustains it now, but without the efforts of Lynne and a small number of other keen and capable organisers, I don\u2019t think it would still be going,” he adds. “Lynne\u2019s contribution to keeping that fan momentum continuing was very significant.”<\/p>\n The Survivors Newsletter<\/em>, maintained a broadly regular quarterly publication schedule for over a decade. No other print-based Survivors<\/em> fan publication came close to matching this publication achievement. Things began to slow down in 2009, with the Survivors Newsletter<\/em> appearing less frequently over the next four years before the final issue (No 72) appeared in April 2013.<\/p>\n Together with the print edition, the Survivors Newsletter<\/em> existed alongside a number of online versions of the publication. Beginning with a collaboration with Chris Barker’s Felbridge Camp site, several independent newsletter web sites were set up on a variety of different internet platforms over the years. With print publication finished, the Survivors Newsletter<\/em> set up a presence on Facebook and, alongside current news and updates, began to print selected extracts from the newsletter archives.<\/p>\n As personal health issues became more pressing, plans to produce a Kindle-based version of the newsletter went unrealised. The same concerns left Lynne unable to participate in the more recent Reunion events. The next Hampton Court Survivors<\/em> Reunion will take place on 26-27 May 2018, and organiser Sean Ambler confirmed on 5 January that the event will be dedicated to Lynne’s memory, with the gathering of fans and the setting providing “a fitting place to hear and talk about everyone’s Survivors<\/em> moments with her.”<\/p>\n Lynne Sweetman died on 4 January 2018<\/em><\/p>\n Photo of Lynne by Adrian Hulme<\/em><\/p>\n Poster by Steve Clutterbuck<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LYNNE SWEETMAN, A long-term Survivors fan, and someone who organised and took an active part in Survivors fan activities since the 1990s, has died. As part of a group of new Survivors enthusiasts who made contact with each other through small ads and convention appearances, Lynne played an important role in building the momentum of … Continue reading “Lynne Sweetman”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-survivors-fandom"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9n8B4-st","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.survivors-mad-dog.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.survivors-mad-dog.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.survivors-mad-dog.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.survivors-mad-dog.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.survivors-mad-dog.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1765"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.survivors-mad-dog.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1802,"href":"https:\/\/www.survivors-mad-dog.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1765\/revisions\/1802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.survivors-mad-dog.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.survivors-mad-dog.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.survivors-mad-dog.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Hampton](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.survivors-mad-dog.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/hampton_court_May_2018.png?resize=597%2C803&ssl=1\")
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