The Enid Blyton Society

HEY , WILL THERE BE AN EB DAY THIS YEAR . DO HOPE SO .

Sorry, there are no plans for an Enid Blyton Day this year, Sue.

However, the Enid Blyton Exhibition that was at Seven Stories in Newcastle is due to come to Canterbury soon, and to Plymouth later in the year. We're hoping to have meet-ups at both places but we haven't really discussed dates yet. There's already a thread up and running for the Canterbury Exhibition, but not for the Plymouth Exhibition yet as the dates of that exhibition haven't yet been confirmed.

There is no "however", nor a creditable alternative. The Society Day was the highlight of the year. From the speakers to the dealers' stalls, and the cups of tea to the picnic. Nothing compares.

Is there a particular reason the Enid Blyton Day seems to have fizzled out in recent years? Lack of interest, perhaps, or financial constraints? I've never had a chance to attend one and am wondering if I ever will.

Moonraker wrote:There is no "however", nor a creditable alternative. The Society Day was the highlight of the year. From the speakers to the dealers' stalls, and the cups of tea to the picnic. Nothing compares.

Hear, hear, Nigel. My feelings exactly.

As I understand, Courtenay, it is a number of things, including the increasing difficulty in finding speakers who can commit to an event several months in advance, and less interest from dealers in attending.

"Those were the days my friend,
I thought they'd never end,"

Our expert, Eddie will tell you what song had these first two lines I'm sure!

I'm also sure that we would all like another Enid Blyton Day, but it requires a great deal of work and organisation beforehand and that all falls on the shoulders of just one person.

If anyone wants to be that person just let me know!

Tony Summerfield wrote:"Those were the days my friend,
I thought they'd never end,"

Our expert, Eddie will tell you what song had these first two lines I'm sure!

No need to ask Eddie, Tony - I may technically be too young for it, but that's an old favourite of mine too!

Those Were the Days - Mary Hopkin, 1968

(For extra fun, the original Russian Gypsy version: Dorogoi Dlinnoyu )

I too used to look forward to the Great Day. It was quite a hightlight. Meeting many forumite friends, staying overnight for a night or two to exploring the area after the Day. Looking at all those books, listening to the speakers. Meeting 'Julian, Dick and Jo, one year and watching Five Fall Into Adventure. And to finish off the 'great picnics'. Then we'd all chat about it for weeks and weeks on the forum, reliving the day over and over again. And it was always so nice to see Imogen, Enid's daughter. Tony would stay hidden in the background and would have to be seeked out now and then.

I understand what a lot of work it was for Tony and trying to get speakers, and some letting him down must have been a nightmare. But the Day always turned out to be just 'FAB.' So no worries there at all.

It is hard for just one person doing all the work. And I know it has to be organized almost a year in advance. Maybe a few of us could organize something with the help of Tony, for the Day in 2016, so the work load isn't on his shoulders. It's a thought. Many hands make light work as the saying goes.

Tony Summerfield wrote: I'm also sure that we would all like another Enid Blyton Day, but it requires a great deal of work and organisation beforehand and that all falls on the shoulders of just one person.

If anyone wants to be that person just let me know!

Be very careful for what you wish, Tony.

Julie has hit the nail on the head here, organisation does start a year in advance as this is when the venue has to be booked for the following year. Everything has to be in position by the time I start putting the Winter Journal together in October as this has the ticket booking forms going out with it; hall, speakers, caterer, sound and vision man, MC on stage and dealers. For the last EB Day in 2012 I had everything set up by the end of September 2011. If you need to sell over 100 tickets to make an event financially viable, you can't start thinking about it in February and March for a Day in May!

The complexities of the Day are actually pretty staggering. I'm very glad that I never had to do it. I count myself extremely lucky to have managed to attend so many of those wonderful events. I don't think regular attendees will ever forget the magic of walking into that hall and for that we are all extremely grateful to Tony.

Hear hear John. There was a certain 'something' about the whole day which made them very special. We have some lovely memories to look back on. It is fun refreshing one's memory by looking at the reports and pictures from the days we have enjoyed (and drooling over those we missed!)

I think that the EB Day that sticks mostly in my memory is the 2005 one. I had such a good speaker lined up for the morning that I decided that year to just have two main speakers instead of the usual three or more. This was the man responsible as the script writer and producer for the Enid Blyton film that never was, The Ship of Adventure. The whole project was set up and ready to go, with Topol. who was a major star at the time, cast in the role of Mr Eppy. Unfortunately filming was due to start off the coast of what was then Yugoslavia and the history of that region explains why it had to be immediately abandoned. The Castle of Adventure was hurriedly set up to be filmed in its place, this time safely in the UK, and this man had his own video of behind the scenes action which he was bringing along to show us as well. At 12.00 the audience was all seated and ready to begin, apart from me as I was wandering hopefully around the car park. I had been here before as at the previous EB Day Tim and Eva Rice turned up five minutes before they were due on stage. No such luck this time and we hurriedly moved the afternoon speaker to the morning and after lunch had to ad lib the rest of the day.

I put in a 'Wish you were there' phone call to the missing speaker the following day. He told me that he thought he would give it a miss halfway through the previous week and added that perhaps he should have let me know!! He said he would send me a copy of his video, but it never arrived and that was the last I ever heard from him!

"Those were the days my friend,"!!

What a rotter. His name wasn't Edgar Stick by any chance was it?