Teachers World Letters, Jan 1930 - July 1934

[floragord]

.How typical of Enid not to be critical of the cat that killed Ladybird - instead, offering "a stroke to your cats" (unless she wickedly meant a CVA!) at the end of the letter.

Snap, Moonraker - my first reaction was she meant "and TIAs to the rotten cats!"

[Moonraker]

Maybe she did!

Our pigeons are a bit of a menace, so I might change their names from Bill and Coo to Clear and Orf!

[Tony Summerfield]

As it is Wednesday, we get our next letter from Enid and from now on I have decided that Bobs must also have his weekly say! Although they are of very poor quality I have also decided to include photos that are directly relevant to Old Thatch or Enid herself. For a while Enid provided photos (I guess they were taken with a 'Box Brownie' rather than a mobile phone! ) and as some are relevant to the letters I felt they were worth including. I have already prepared letters until the end of April, and whilst reading them I realise that some of the names of people and animals will mean little - Steptoe and Dion this week - so I may have to back peddle a bit with letters to help explain.

Some of you asked about putting letters into a booklet and I want to briefly bore you by saying a bit more about Enid in Teachers World. Before the letters there was a weekly 'From My Window' in each issue. I have put some of these into Journals - 'Midnight in the Snow' is coming in Journal 53 - and I thought these would make a nice booklet until I worked out that there were 210 of them. They finished on August 24th 1927 and the next week saw the start of Enid's weekly letters. September 4th 1929 saw the introduction of 'Enid Blyton's Children's Page' and from then onwards there was also a weekly letter from Bobs as well. Both letters continued until November 14th 1945 - somewhere between a total of 800 to 900 letters. To put it another way I won't be doing a booklet!

Enough boring background, it is time for you to go off with Enid to look for her kingfisher!

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/blyt ... &perid=657" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Anita Bensoussane]

Wonderful, Tony! I love the way Enid Blyton takes us down the garden with her to watch the kingfisher, and it's great to see the photo. As those who have visited Old Thatch will know, only a short section of the stream remains now - deep but dried up. I asked David Hawthorne about it and he told me that part of the garden had been sold off since Enid Blyton's time, so most of the stream had been lost. You can see a house over the hedge which was built on what used to be a piece of Enid's garden.

Bobs' letter about Dion is amusing!

[deepeabee]

Maybe she did!

Our pigeons are a bit of a menace, so I might change their names from Bill and Coo to Clear and Orf!

Ha ha, love it!

Love the new weekly letters too.

[Moonraker]

A real walk in Enid's garden. Marvellous. I loved Bobs' letter, too.

[deepeabee]

Reading this week's letter reminded me of the time I saw a kingfisher. She's right, they are wonderful birds.

[Poppy]

Another wonderful letter, this week. I too, enjoyed how Enid took the reader into the garden instead of just describing the kingfisher - it was a much more unique and hooking technique to explain the bird. I love kingfishers, too. Enid certainly was lucky to have a regular visitor to her garden. I love how they dart so gracefully and neatly - lovely to see. I am right this minute watching two birds in our garden. One is a female blackbird having a bath and sending water flying all over the grass and the other is a fat male blackbird nibbling some bird seed on the table! We've had quite a few coming in to our garden, recently.

I also enjoyed Bob's amusing letter.

[floragord]

I am right this minute watching two birds in our garden. One is a female blackbird having a bath and sending water flying all over the grass and the other is a fat male blackbird nibbling some bird seed on the table! We've had quite a few coming in to our garden, recently.

What a delightful letter from Enid, and what a gift she had for making a scene come alive! I've never seen a kingfisher "in the flesh" but they look so stunning on wildlife programmes. Your garden birds sound lovely too Poppy - not many brave the seafront and while the gulls are thrilling we so enjoy the greenery of the country and the birdsong too

[Poppy]

I love birds - great to see them all in the garden. I am hoping to get a Cockatiel in the summer; we've never had a pet bird before and I have been doing a lot of research...

Keep an eye out for kingfishers, floragord - they are very fast but beautiful to see.

[floragord]

I love birds - great to see them all in the garden. I am hoping to get a Cockatiel in the summer; we've never had a pet bird before and I have been doing a lot of research...

Keep an eye out for kingfishers, floragord - they are very fast but beautiful to see.

I have a couple of CDs of birdsong combined with monastic chants and water sounds which are heavenly Poppy, sometimes indulge myself totally and combine listening to one with reading Enid Blyton . I'd love to see a kingfisher, must keep a lookout when we go walking by a river, there's the Cuckmere inland (sadly overflowing at present but delightful on a summer's day with a picnic), where I've heard they are seen.

[floragord]

I love birds - great to see them all in the garden. I am hoping to get a Cockatiel in the summer; we've never had a pet bird before and I have been doing a lot of research...

Keep an eye out for kingfishers, floragord - they are very fast but beautiful to see.

I have a couple of CDs of birdsong, combined with monastic chants and water sounds which are heavenly Poppy, sometimes indulge myself totally and combine listening to one with reading Enid Blyton . I'd love to see a kingfisher, must keep a lookout when we go walking by a river, there's the Cuckmere inland (sadly overflowing at present but delightful on a summer's day with a picnic), where I've heard they are seen.

[Julie2owlsdene]

Another lovely letter from Enid. She was so clever at reaching out to the children and bringing them into her world. I see she mentions Easter not being very far away, I guess that's why there are so many Easter Eggs already in the shops!!

Lovely letter from Bobs, too.

[floragord]

I see she mentions Easter not being very far away, I guess that's why there are so many Easter Eggs already in the shops!

Gets earlier every year Julie like the beguiling holiday ads used to air just after Xmas and now start in October!!

[Carlotta King]

What a lovely letter this week.
The descriptions of the kingfisher and the pond and stream, and how he dives splash! into the water are so real, you really feel as if you are there, hearing the splash and seeing his lovely iridescant feathers! How lovely to have him as an inhabitant of your garden. I have never seen one close-up apart from in photos or on the tv, but I'd love to.

I have seagulls, crows, rooks, some magpies, and wagtails where I live, and occasionally the odd sparrow darting about. Sadly no birds like thrushes or blackbirds or robins, you don't tend to see them in the city centre much.

There are tons of swans down by the river, and ducks too, and the other day there was a cormorant on the jetty right here in the city centre, think he was a bit lost poor thing!

I can deal with Easter eggs in the shops, it's all the flipping slushy valentine's rubbish everywhere that gets on my nerves.