The Enid Blyton Society

Thanks Tony for another great journal, - already half read only an hour after it was delivered! With steely determination I shall wait until later to feast upon the rest.

A bumper Journal, and, as I have said before on these forums, well worth the higher price of £10.00 a year for membership. I would pay more, because it is very much worth it.

I look forward to reading the bumper bag of articles, and will comment further later.

Wonderful Journal again Tony.You really are a gem.


I wholeheartedly agree with Robert on the price increase. You could double it and it would still be a bargain.


Wayne.

Came home today to find the Journal on the mat. A wonderful surprise as I was not expecting it so soon. It looks wonderful as always Tony. I am quite happy with the new price, indeed I would pay more for such a pleasurable read. I shall settle down to read it properly later.

What a great read this journal is. I started off by reading Imogen's words on Barbara Stoney and then Barbara's memorial. I have to confess I had tears in my eyes whilst reading these. What a lovely lady she was, I'm so glad I managed to see and speak to her at last years EB Day.

Part 2 of Anita's works was excellent. I think it would be a marvellous idea for Mr. Pink-Whistle to take on the job of Prime-Minister

I then went on to read every inch of the journal's contents, all of which as usual was an excellent read. Putting the cost to £10 is still very good value in my eyes, as one of my husbands society journals is £20 a year.

All in all well done again, Tony for a full packed journal.

My journal has just arrived in the post. It looks another winner! Many thanks, Tony. I shall enjoy reading it from cover to cover later today. As Julie says, putting the cost up to £10 is still very good value. I'd gladly pay a lot more for a publication of this quality.

Yes, another great publication. Regarding your editorial, somehow I don't think you will have too many volunteers taking up your offer of Society Day Organiser! I think you are stuck with it until you call it a day!

Mine had the subscription renewal form in it - trust my luck to receive that immediately the price rises! Seriously, as others have said, it is great value, I would pay £5 for each magazine if I had to buy it off the newsagent's shelf!

Speaking of renewals, I was astounded at how many reminders Tony sends out because people ignore the renewals. Each reminder costs the price of a stamp plus paper, envelope and ink. This money comes out of the funds, and as the Society does not make a profit, it makes any losses greater. It is so easy to renew one's membership, a click or two through PayPal, and the job is done.(Maybe a direct debit scheme would be beneficial?) I was astonished to hear of one subscriber who refused to re-subscribe as PayPal adds 60p to the bill for their admin costs. The member, to this date, has not re-subscribed. I guess the 30p for a stamp is too much too.

Unbelievable.

Unfortunately moonraker, there will always be some people who will try to take advantage and expect to have things for nothing.

It would be interesting to know if it is the same person who was overheard complaining in the carpark on EB day, about the programme of events.

Anyway, rant over. Back to enjoying a great read, which after all, is why we're all here.

Moonraker wrote: Regarding your editorial, somehow I don't think you will have too many volunteers taking up your offer of Society Day Organiser! I think you are stuck with it until you call it a day!

It always has been called a "day," since the beginning! But yes, Enid Blyton Days require an enormous amount of organisation and I don't think anyone is going to take on the task without giving it a great deal of thought.

An absolutely super Journal with some unusual and varied articles. It's not often that we get the chance to learn so much about a well-loved Blyton illustrator like Grace Lodge, or to hear about someone's experiences of using Enid Blyton's writing in the classroom in Tajikistan. Imogen Smallwood's tribute to Barbara Stoney is very moving, as are Barbara's own words written shortly before her death which show that she retained her warm sense of humour to the last. David Chambers' article on "Enid Blyton the Educator" sheds light on Enid Blyton's early Nature and History writing and her re-tellings of ancient tales. Some remarkable findings, such as the thirty-six unpublished Nature Lessons and the identification of some of the sources used by Enid for the myths and legends. Fascinating that Blyton wrote a series of articles on thirty-two historical figures for Teachers World in the mid-1930s, including King Alfred's mother, Thomas Beckett, Sir Richard Whittington, Joan of Arc, William Caxton, Sir Thomas More, Mary Queen of Scots, Sir Philip Sidney, Oliver Cromwell, Sir Christopher Wren, Isaac Newton, Lord Clive, Captain Cook, George Washington, Napoleon and Nelson. A lot to ponder over and follow up there.

I'll have more to say on some of the other articles another time. Thanks for a wonderful bumper read, Tony!

Anita

I apologise if the price increase has come as a bit of a shock to anyone. I realised that this Journal with its 84 pages was going to make a thumping great loss and knew that I had to do something about it quickly. I put the price on the website up almost a month ago, so any recent subscribers have already been paying the new rate.

I still think that per page we are one of the cheaper subscriptions around. I learnt this morning that the Biggles Magazine had a subscription of £12 for two issues, this is about to be increased to £15 for three issues. Although the magazine only has 44 pages they do have twice as much colour as us. Our two pages of colour account for 25% of the total cost, but I think it would be a pity to lose it.

Realising that I have to sell a great many more copies to reduce the loss I am about to send out over 100 resubscription reminders (this is effectively a second reminder as all Journals contain a first reminder when the subscription expires). Sadly I know that at least half of these won't want to renew their subscription, but as I never know which half I have to waste a certain amount of postage. Even with these reminders I sometimes get people writing to me and asking if their subscription is due, I had one such letter a month ago. I replied to say that the last Journal they received was No. 35 and I had just finished No. 39. They have not come back to me, but no doubt I will be spending another 30p on postage in a few weeks time when they enquire again!

I''ve just spent the afternoon reading the new journal which fell on the mat at about midday - what a great issue, all 84 pages of it. Well done Tony - it must take so much effort to keep it going and well worth the price rise.
I especially like the back cover with Bimbo the Kitten - Birn no 951. I also have no 950 which is entitled Plum Blossom the Chinese Maid - another shaped one and, like the others, uncredited. I've read the poem 100 times and I'm still convinced it's a Blyton
cheers
Timmy

Posted on July,3.I received the journal today(July,8).

I'll definitely renew the subscription but I'll pay the subcription at the end of August or early September.

I haven't read the journal yet.I've just skimmed through the pages.I especially like the colourful illustration.As usual,I can't wait to read the articles.

Thank you Tony.

I received my journal today, and just wanted to say a big thank-you to Tony, for all his hard work in editing it, and to everyone who contributed something as well. I'll certainly have no qualms about paying the slight increase in price, which was probably long overdue.

I think that I'll wait until I've re-read it to comment in greater detail - my first read was a bit of a skim, as always, in my wish to read every bit, and I'll probably take it more slowly tonight.

I was getting worried that my journal hadn't arrived yesterday incase I'd not renewed my subscription.
My fears were unfounded and it was waiting for me when I got home from work this afternoon, complete with a reminder to subscribe...... which I will be doing tonight.

Journal 39 arrived in my letterbox today after a long journey south.


I’m looking forward to the Five on Kirrin Island Again article in particular. This is the only Famous Five book that I owned as a child, a H&S hardback given as a present. It is still the only Fives book in my collection that was bought new, as all the others are second hand or older.