The Enid Blyton Society

Kate Mary wrote:Coincidentally I was visiting Northumberland last month and went to Alnwick... but it was raining when we went to Alnwick so I didn't see it at it's best. .

We thought Alnwick was a bit of a dump, having stayed there for a week last September. However, the castle and garden is superb. The Transformers movie was being filmed whilst we were there, and it was fascinating to see hundreds of plastic flowers being 'planted' around the castle. The producer viewed the castle in springtime and loved the display of daffodils and other spring flowers. He was shocked to find them gone later in the year, so plastic ones had to be imported!

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A wonderful letter this week, in which Enid Blyton waxes lyrical about Scottish mountains and lochs. She describes the spot where she's sitting (on top of a windy hill with a view of clouds, heather, mountains and a loch) so vividly that we feel we're there with her.

Enid writes, "Can you find a lake called Loch Earn on your maps?" Of course, we can do even more than that these days. I just brought up images of the loch and the surrounding hills and mountains on the internet and was able to fully appreciate the scenery that Enid was admiring.

Great anecdote about the hedgehog!

A super letter describing Enid and Hugh's holiday. Interesting to see a mention of a celluloid toy steamer that Gillian had in her bath. Enid wouldn't know the word plastic at this time, celluloid was however highly flammable, not the best material for a child's toy!

A really lovely poem this week, Enid's best poems rival anything by A.A. Milne or Stevenson's 'A Child's Garden of Verses' I think.

I'm just fascinated to look on Google Maps and see the whole area around where Enid was staying — near the Trossachs and (the bonny, bonny banks of) Loch Lomond... Not somewhere I've ever seen for myself yet, but I will have to one day, especially after reading Enid's evocative descriptions. I had to laugh at poor old Bobs and Sandy and the "burglar"!

We have recently had a week in that area and it is indeed beautiful. I didn't see any hedgehogs though, but plenty of midges.

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Another detailed letter about Enid's Scottish holiday with mentions of St. Fillans, Castle-Douglas, Ayr and Knockgardner Farm.

I'm reminded of the rabbit's scut when watching a water-rail in one of our local parks. The water-rail also has a tail with white underparts which it holds up when it senses danger.

I know what Enid Blyton means about coming upon a spot which seems to be "one of the entrances to Fairyland." Some places have such an intense stillness and enchantment about them that you're touched by the atmosphere and suddenly feel that magic is possible. "Dreaming trees and laughing water" is a beautiful phrase.

Poor old Bobs, missing the family!

What amazingly beautiful descriptions from Enid of the landscapes she saw in Scotland, especially "parts so wild that the mountains seemed to frown at me for being there" and the little glen that was "surely one of the entrances to Fairyland"! I love how she finishes it, too, with a hint to her readers: "How I hope one day you will all see a place like that, and pack it away into your memory for ever! Perhaps you will."

Poor old Bobs, wanting to go and look for Enid in Scotland! The ladybird poem is delightful too, although I never did like the old rhyme "Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home / Your house is on fire and your children all gone", which Enid gives a nod to in the poem and which we also used to say as children. What a cruel thing to say to a ladybird!

A beautiful, lyrical letter again this week. I think Enid and Hugh were enjoying their holiday. Enid certainly packed away in her memory all that she had seen for future use in her stories. I love the word 'scatteration' a perfect description of a group of rabbits running back to their burrows.

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A very interesting read once again. Enid mentions stopping off at Ilkley, which was where her daughter Gillian was to live for many years as an adult.

It's lovely to hear of the joyful reunion and the glorious hollyhocks at Old Thatch, and Bobs' "poem" is delightful.

Most of all I enjoyed reading the letter to the editor from a teacher named E. Perry, who talks of a rural school in the East of England which had a terrible reputation but has been transformed since the teachers and children started following the suggestions made by Enid Blyton in her 'Round the Year With Nature' course. E. Perry's own pupils have also responded to the course with enthusiasm and it has had a great effect not only on their knowledge and skills but on their oral and written self-expression. I think people tend to underestimate the positive influence that Enid had - and continues to have - on her young readers.

The Pollocks are back from their long holiday and to a rapturous welcome, I know how Enid feels, it's lovely to travel but so good to get home again. The letter from a teacher E Perry shows how highly thought of Enid was at this time in the teaching profession, she may not have been a household name yet but she had plenty of young fans. The 'Round the Year with Enid Blyton' book is a fascinating read, I've enjoyed following the articles as they originally appeared week after week.

What a happy homecoming — and yes, I also loved the letter and poem from Bobs the "bobby"! And how wonderful to read those examples of how Enid's teaching materials and her personal responses made such a great difference to so many children and even to an entire school. I never realised until I started reading these weekly letters of Enid's that she was such a well-known figure many years before she wrote her most famous books.

Looking forward to her having a whole page again "very soon"!

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Gillian is to have a little house of her own - though Bobs is most indignant at the thought of her being put in a kennel!

I enjoyed the poem 'The Cheerful Sparrow'. It's lovely to think of the sparrows calling out, "Cheer-up"!

Good to see that Enid Blyton is to leave her corner. To paraphrase a well-known line from a film: "Nobody puts Blyton in a corner!"

Anita Bensoussane wrote:Good to see that Enid Blyton is to leave her corner. To paraphrase a well-known line from a film: "Nobody puts Blyton in a corner!"

Brilliant!

Hurrah! We have a whole page of Enid Blyton in 'future' issues of TW. I hope we get more of those grainy old black and white photos that we used to have in the column. Lucky Gillian to get a miniature house, I would have loved one as a child. There is a picture of it in Barbara Stoney's biography.