The Enid Blyton Society

http://enidblytonsociety.co.uk/magazine ... ?magid=927" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sorry this is late, more to come after my next energy update!

Thank you Tony - very much appreciated, and hope you are at full 'Duracell' power soon!

Fab-u-lous!

It's great to see the stories, Tony. Thanks very much for adding them to the Cave. 'A Wonderful Fancy Dress' is interesting as the making of the costume is described in such detail, though it's hard to believe that Doreen remained unrecognised throughout the party!

'The Tale of Twinky' is also a little far-fetched, although appealing, while the Mr. Twiddle story ('Twiddle and the Very Big Dog') is most amusing and attractively illustrated by Hilda McGavin.

Well done, Tony — good to see you're on the mend. Thanks for the stories, which I'll read a bit later when I have more time.

Its an extra bonus to have 'A Wonderful Fancy Dress' added, as Tony has broken his rule and posted something that was printed elsewhere.

Mind you, it did only appear in The Butlin Beaver Annual No.3, 1964, which I presume is fairly difficult to find, or at least, might not be the ideal thing for Blyton fans to buy, as it only contains 2 Enid Blyton stories (the other being 'He Didn't Want An Adventure').

I have a very tatty copy of the Butlin Beaver Annual so thought I'd include a couple of quick photos of the story as it appears there. The illustrations in the Butlin Beaver Annual are all in full colour, and suitable 1960's, as you can see. Sorry for the poor quality - it was a badly-lit snap!

Interestingly the story is very slightly altered at the end - as the picture Doreen draws is included at the end with the suggestion readers can colour it in!






I quite like the Butlin Beaver annual - its an interesting document of the most popular characters and entertainers of the time - and interesting to see who Enid is 'rubbing shoulders with! Apart from the two stories (and an introduction) by Enid Blyton, there's a message from Billy Butlin, a cartoon strip starring Huckleberry Hound, an article on dancing by Nornie Dwyer, an article written by Des O'Connor, another written by Johnny Leach, a Yogi Bear comic strip, swimming article by Bill Ludgrove, an article on trains, one of those 'personality quizzes' where you have to pick option a, b, or c, to find how well mannered you are, and a Flintstones comic strip, plus lots of puzzles and quizzes.

Nice idea to use Doreen's drawing as a picture for readers to colour! I loved annuals as a child (and still do!), though I never came across any Butlin Beaver Annuals.

Its quite interesting to read Enid's introduction to the annual, in which she mentions Huckleberry Hound, the Flintstones, and Yogi Bear!

The Butlins Beaver Annuals were (as far as I know) given away free to Butlin's Beaver members. They had 60 pages in full colour, and given the amount of members in the 1960's it must have been some giveaway!

Tony has recharged his batteries and uploaded some scans for the January 15th 1958 issue. Thanks, Tony - much appreciated:

http://enidblytonsociety.co.uk/magazine ... ?magid=928" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The story 'Somebody Took the Box!' reminds me of the silly squabbles my sister and sometimes I used to have as children. We always felt sorry afterwards and soon made things up. The bricks sound very nice and the illustrator has drawn a lovely-looking little box.

Thank you, Tony!

My sister and myself rarely had silly squabbles...but that was mainly because when I was six, she was twelve, I guess! Sometimes my sister got bossy because she was so much older, and would try to tell me what to do, which even aged 6 I didn't react well to!! I did have silly squabbles with my cousin though, who was six months older than me. I can imagine me being the one throwing things about!

I enjoyed the story, "Somebody Took The Box" as the mention of Dinky Toys reminded me of the model cars I had as a child. Thanks for the link, Tony, I hope you're feeling better now.

An uncollected Mr Twiddle story is a treat. Thank you very much, I enjoyed the other stories too.

John Pickup wrote:I enjoyed the story, "Somebody Took The Box" as the mention of Dinky Toys reminded me of the model cars I had as a child. Thanks for the link, Tony, I hope you're feeling better now.

Yes, I also had Dinky Toys when I was a boy - as well as 'Matchbox' cars. I still have a few, but they are far from being in good condition, as I played with them too much and often left them outside, like a typical 'careless boy' in an Enid Blyton story!!

When my cars got chipped I used to paint them. Years later, someone told me they were worth far more chipped with the paint peeling off than they were after my attempts to smarten them up.

John, your comment reminds me of the story 'The Six Little Motor-Cars'!