Dad's Army Appreciation Society

Dad's Army Appreciation Society
Logo
Abbreviation	DAAS
Formation	1993 (1993)
Founders	Bill Pertwee Frank Williams
Membership	1,700+ (2009)
Official language	English
President	Michael Knowles
Website	http://www.dadsarmy.co.uk/
Formerly called	The New Dad's Army Appreciation Society (1993-1995)

The Dad's Army Appreciation Society is an organisation dedicated to the British television sitcom Dad's Army. It is run by a small group of individuals and has over 1,700 members.

History

The Dad's Army Appreciation Society was originally formed in February 1990 by David Lovering, a Dad's Army fan, but it was shortly disbanded due to Lovering's work commitments.

Under the title The New Dad's Army Appreciation Society, the present society was founded in 1993 by Tadge Muldoon and Stephanie Castle, two fans of the show, who ran it from their home at Keighley in Yorkshire with the support of Jimmy Perry, and who published a regular newsletter. They organised two public meetings in 1995, the first at The Victory Services Club near London's Marble Arch attended by cast member Colin Bean, and the second at Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire, the location used for Walmington-on-Sea in the 1971 Feature Film based on the show.

In June 1995, on the death of Tadge Muldoon, Bill Pertwee (who played Warden Hodges) and Frank Williams (who played the Vicar), appointed a new C-in-C, Jack Wheeler, a fan of the show, who took on the running of the Society, which at that time had a membership of around 300 members. Annual meetings were established, held each May at Thetford in Norfolk, the location used for Walmington-on-Sea in the television series. In 1998, to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1st episode, which had aired on tv in 1968, the society held its first major convention, at The Oval cricket ground in London, attended by all the surviving cast and crew. The society, in association with the Bressingham Steam Museum, later set up the Dad's Army Collection, which was officially opened on 14 May 2000 by Dad's Army creators Jimmy Perry and David Croft. Thetford (where much of the show was filmed) opened a Dad's Army Museum in 2007. In 2003 the secretary of the society, Tony Pritchard, designed a heritage trail for Dad's Army fans, in part funded through a grant from the European Union.

As of 2009, the society had 1,700 members, having grown from approximately 300-500 members in 1997 and 1998.

In March 1995, Dave Homewood founded a New Zealand branch of the DAAS, which ran for almost ten years. The society published a quarterly magazine, titled Platoon Attention!.

Key figures

Position	Person
President	Michael Knowles
Vice President	Harold Snoad
Membership & Enquiries	Tony Pritchard
Magazine Items & Enquiries	Paul Carpenter
Video and Audio Library	Andrew Biggs

Events

The society holds many individual events around the country where they show and play rare Dad's Army items and footage. However, there is a main event in May/June when the society members meet up, have the annual society dinner, and go to the Dad's Army Collection at the Bressingham Steam and Gardens.

Events have included a gathering in 1998 at The Oval attended by a number of the original cast (including Clive Dunn and Ian Lavender) as well as the show's writers, Jimmy Perry and David Croft, and a 1998 gathering at Cambridge (New Zealand) attended by Stephen Lowe, the son of the show's Arthur Lowe who played Captain George Mainwaring. More recently, a 2009 gathering was held at Whitmore Hall at which Frank Williams was able to attend and speak to the society's members, and before his death Colin Bean (who played Private Sponge in the series) regularly turned up to events, even though he used a wheelchair at the time. Since then (and from 1998) the Society has arranged annual events based at or around Thetford attended by the writers and cast members, including tours of the restricted Stanta Battle Area used for location filming. The Society organised several events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Croft and Perry partnership in 2018.

Permission To Speak, Sir!

The society publishes a members magazine called Permission To Speak, Sir!. Started by Tadge Muldoon in 1993, it includes society news, society merchandise and Dad's Army items for sale by members. Regular features are "Guest Appearances" and "Letters from Members".

In 2018, the Society published an updated version of the Dad's Army Companion to coincide with the 50th anniversary celebrations.

Video and Audio Library

The Video and Audio Library features a large selection of video and audio items that can be borrowed by members. In December 2020 a special section of the society's website was set aside for fan fiction written by the members, the first submission was made in January 2021 and was entitled Dad’s Army Negotiates Brexit and was by Niles Schilder.

List of presidents

1993 - 2013: Bill Pertwee
2013 - 2022: Frank Williams
2022 - present: Michael Knowles

References

Citations

^ Pertwee 2009, p. 172.
"DAAS History". Dad's Army Appreciation Society. Archived from the original on 23 December 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
^ Pertwee 2009, p. 200.
"Europe puts Dad's Army on the map". The Times. London, United Kingdom. 29 December 2003. p. 6.
^ "'They like it up 'em' as star regales fans". The Sentinel. Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom. 6 April 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
Stephenson, Hannah (14 November 1997). "Wartime Memories Live on...". The News Letter. Belfast, Northern Ireland. p. 12.
Webber, Richard (19 July 1998). "Why We're Dad's Barmy!". Sunday Mirror. London, England. p. 22.
^ Homewood, Dave (2008). "Dad's Army Homepage". Dad's Army - An Appreciation. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
"Don't panic". The Times. London, United Kingdom. 7 August 1997. p. 14.
MacLeod, Scott (3 August 1998). "Don't panic ... it's just Dad's Army". Waikato Times. Hamilton, New Zealand. p. 3.
"Colin Bean - Cameo actor best known for playing Private Sponge in Dad's Army and who often appeared as policemen in other TV programmes". The Times. London, United Kingdom. 24 June 2009. p. 59.
Schilder, Niles. "fanfiction". dadsarmy.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2021.

Works cited

Pertwee, Bill (2009), Dad's Army: The Making of a Television Legend, London: Conway Publishing, ISBN 9781844861057

External links

Dad's Army

Characters

Episodes

Adaptations & spinoffs

Merchandise

Other articles

Episodes
Series 1	"The Man and the Hour" "Museum Piece" "Command Decision" "The Enemy Within the Gates" "The Showing Up of Corporal Jones" "Shooting Pains"
Series 2	"Operation Kilt" "The Battle of Godfrey's Cottage" "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker"†‡ "Sgt. Wilson's Little Secret" "A Stripe for Frazer"†‡ "Under Fire"†‡
Series 3	"The Armoured Might of Lance Corporal Jones" "Battle School" "The Lion Has 'Phones" "The Bullet Is Not for Firing" "Something Nasty in the Vault" "Room at the Bottom" "Big Guns" "The Day the Balloon Went Up" "War Dance" "Menace from the Deep" "Branded" "Man Hunt" "No Spring for Frazer" "Sons of the Sea"
Series 4	"The Big Parade" "Don't Forget the Diver" "Boots, Boots, Boots" "Sgt – Save My Boy!" "Don't Fence Me In" "Absent Friends" "Put That Light Out!" "The Two and a Half Feathers" "Mum's Army" "The Test" "A. Wilson (Manager)?" "Uninvited Guests" "Fallen Idol"
Series 5	"Asleep in the Deep" "Keep Young and Beautiful" "A Soldier's Farewell" "Getting the Bird" "The Desperate Drive of Corporal Jones" "If the Cap Fits..." "The King Was in His Counting House" "All is Safely Gathered In" "When Did You Last See Your Money?" "Brain Versus Brawn" "A Brush with the Law" "Round and Round Went the Great Big Wheel" "Time on My Hands"
Series 6	"The Deadly Attachment" "My British Buddy" "The Royal Train" "We Know Our Onions" "The Honourable Man" "Things that Go Bump in the Night" "The Recruit"
Series 7	"Everybody's Trucking" "A Man of Action" "Gorilla Warfare" "The Godiva Affair" "The Captain's Car" "Turkey Dinner"
Series 8	"Ring Dem Bells" "When You've Got to Go" "Is There Honey Still for Tea?" "Come In, Your Time Is Up" "High Finance" "The Face on the Poster"
Series 9	"Wake Up Walmington" "The Making of Private Pike" "Knights of Madness" "The Miser's Hoard" "Number Engaged" "Never Too Old"
000!!Specials	"Santa on Patrol"† "Resisting the Aggressor Down the Ages" "Cornish Floral Dance"† "Battle of the Giants!" "Broadcast to the Empire" "My Brother and I" "The Love of Three Oranges"
† Missing episode has been reconstructed using animation. ‡ Missing episode has been recreated with new cast

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