Portland born diver, author and local shipwreck expert Selwyn Williams is the new Editor of the Dorset Year Book. He is only the 11th. Editor since The Society of Dorset Men and the annual were founded in 1904 He succeeds Trevor Vacher-Dean.
A Society member for six years, Selwyn Williams is most honoured to follow ten distinguished Dorset Year Book Editors, not least the late Nat Byles, owner of Sherrens, who sat in the editorial chair for 17 years from 1961. Now busy with his first Year Book, he intends a few light changes, including introducing fiction. The 2016 Dorset Year Book will again consist of 214 pages, as last year and paid-up Society members will receive a copy by post as part of their subscription in late November.
He expects the content to include articles about Dorset, Dorset people, Dorset trades, Dorset history, poems and Dorset book reviews.
“We are delighted that Selwyn Williams has accepted the editorship of our iconic Dorset Year Book,” says Society of Dorset Men spokesman Michel Hooper-Immins. “As an author himself, Selwyn knows how books are put together, has knowledge of layouts and the needs of publishing. The Dorset Year Book is timeless and come the end of November, we will all greatly enjoy the fruits of Selwyn’s many month’s work.”
Since his first dive at age 15, Selwyn has been fascinated by the shipwrecks scattered in the waters around Weymouth and Portland,, always a graveyard for ships in the treacherous currents and depths. He has chronicled over 300 ships sunk off Chesil Beach, some dating to before 1700. With modern sonar equipment, he is part of the local project scanning the seabed for more wrecks and other sunken objects. His book Treasure of the Golden Grape, tells of the dark days of Weymouth in the 16th. century, when piracy and wrecking were common.
Selwyn read physics at King’s College, London and then went into banking. He became Transportation Survey Manager at Dorset County Council. A Freemason, he is involved in several other organisations, including singing with the Dorset Wrecks sea shanties group and as Chairman of the Local Underwater Archaeological Research Society.
Weymouth Old Town Hall is now owned by a Community Interest Company and Selwyn is a Director. As one of the Keepers of the Tudor building, Selwyn and his colleagues are safeguarding a vital piece of Weymouth’s history.
Membership of The Society of Dorset Men costs £10 a year. For further information, consult www.societyofdorsetmen.co.uk/page8.html or ring Membership Secretary Peter Lush at 01305 260039.
The Society of Dorset Men was founded 111 years ago on 7 July 1904. The Society has a long and rich history, beginning as The Society of Dorset Men in London and aiming to bring together fellow Dorsets in the capital city. However, since the 1970s, the main activities of the organisation have been centred on Dorset. Today, there are around 1,200 members throughout the UK and all over the world. The President is Oscar winner and ITV Downton Abbey playwright Lord Fellowes of West Stafford DL. He succeeded Sir Anthony Jolliffe GBE DL DSc DMus in 2011, the only Lord Mayor of London to be born in Weymouth, who still lives in Wyke Regis.
The four objects of The Society of Dorset Men are: “to make and to renew personal friendships and associations, to promote good fellowship among Dorset men wherever they may reside, to foster love of the county and pride in its history and traditions and to assist, by every means in its power, natives of Dorset who may stand in need of the influence and help of the Society.”
Michel Hooper-Immins
