It really is very difficult to add to what everyone else has said about Journal 43 without being repetative. I have this same problem every time that a new edition is published, such is the consistency!
Once again we have items written by Enid before she became a mainstream childrens author. This is right up my street, as I absolutely devour items from the early careers of people who later became household names. Enid Blyton Stories from the Roaring 20's No 3,
A Wonderful Discovery is a prime example. Enid Blyton Adult Stories No 5
The Eligible Bachelor certainly made me laugh, Enid really did have a talent for comedy.
It is difficult as always to single out any one article for praise but I did thoroughly enjoy
Timmy- A most Remarkable Dog by Julie Heginbotham as well as Anita Bensoussane's continued review of the
Naughtiest Girl series. This was the only Blyton school series that I ever read, many many years ago.
The article
Happiness in the Childrens Wards was of particular interest as my mother was a Staff Nurse at around the time when it was published in
Nurse magazine in 1962. Perhaps she even read the article, who knows? Childrens wards back in the 1950's and 60's were rather austere places as Enid mentions in the first paragraph. It is testament to Enid's kindness that she employed the services of one of her illustrators to produce murals and later on large framed pictures of various Blyton characters.
Enid was perhaps fortunate in that the hospital authorities were supportive of her idea. My mother once related to me the tale of a Hospital Matron who refused to let the children play with the toys in the ward on the grounds that they were a visual amenity only! How times have changed since!