The Enid Blyton Society

Though I've never had the oppurtunity to meet Barbara Stoney, I feel that the death of this remarkable woman who wrote Enid's Biography is a huge loss to Blyton lovers all over the world. My heartfelt condolences.

I never had the opportunity to meet her, but I do feel the same as all. It's sad news indeed. My condolences go to her family and friends.

How did Barbara die, Tony?

I sincerely hope that she had a quick and easy death with no pain whatsoever of long-suffering illnesses or similar.

I'm so glad to have met Barbara on two occasions. The first time was shortly after I took over the Society site and she said she was keen to meet me! That was pretty awesome at the time, considering she was THE author of Enid's Biography. The second time I met her, two years later, we had a short chat out on the patio (with Tony and Barney present) and I felt like she was an old friend. I'll miss her.

This is the announcement of Barbara Stoney's death in today's Daily Telegraph

I was very disappointed in The Daily Telegraph’s obituary on Barbara Stoney. For a paper that
covered and still covers a lot about Enid Blyton, a person of Barbara Stoney’s stature deserved
much better than that. Certainly if Blyton was American and Stoney was her greatest biographer,
indeed as she was, she would have got a lot of coverage in papers like New York Times.
Nonetheless, it is heartening to learn that the Henley Standard
(http://henleystandard.co.uk/news/news.php?id=570417" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) did a relatively better job than The
Daily Telegraph.

I think you have slightly misunderstood things here. The link I gave to the Daily Telegraph was for the Announcement page which lists births and deaths from details sent into them by relatives. It is not meant to be an obituary, it simply tells people that a person has died. The Henley Standard was her local paper and she was well-known in her local area which is why they have put in an obituary. I did know about this as they asked me if I could provide a photo, which as you will see I did.

It's a nice tribute to her. I didn't know she wrote other biographies as well.

Journal 33 just makes me sad now.

Ming wrote:Journal 33 just makes me sad now.

I took Journal 33 down from the shelf the other day. Looking at the cover is poignant but at the same time it's a lovely reminder of Barbara's presence at Enid Blyton Days and of her enthusiasm and her willingness to talk to people. How nice that you're in the picture with her, Ming. A memory to treasure.

The first time I came across Barbara's Biography of Enid was when I was about thirteen (or perhaps fourteen) and browsing the biography section of my local library. I borrowed the book, curious to learn more about Enid Blyton, and was very surprised and intrigued by the contents. Before reading it I had known nothing of Enid's life except that she had written a lot of books and died in 1968! Especially interesting to me was the information that her two daughters were called Gillian and Imogen - names familiar to me from the book Bimbo and Topsy. I had never seen the Biography in the shops and had no idea at that age that I could have ordered a copy if it was still in print, so before returning the book to the library I committed the name "Barbara Stoney" to memory so I could find it again easily if I wanted to re-read it. About seven years passed before I did borrow the book again, from another library, and remembering the author's name helped me locate it without any trouble. Eventually, in November 2000, I joined the Enid Blyton Society and was delighted to discover that the Society had signed copies of the Biography for sale. I snapped one up immediately and have read and re-read it several times over. When I eventually met Barbara Stoney herself at an Enid Blyton Day a couple of years later, and had a chat with her about her book, it was very exciting as her name had loomed large in my memory for so many years. It felt rather like coming face to face with Mr. Pink-Whistle or Elizabeth Allen! She really will be missed terribly.

Anita

Ming wrote: Journal 33 just makes me sad now.

I know that Barbara was thrilled to meet you, too, Ming!

Viv

My greatest wish ever was too meet Babara i was already sad for Enid's daughter who died in 2007.It feels to cry as she was Enid's daughter and so many questions come about Enid which we could ask from her daughter.