Teachers World Letters, Jan 1930 - July 1934

[Anita Bensoussane]

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/blyt ... &perid=973" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We have a mention of Mary the cook this week, boiling up scraps for the chicks. I'm not sure whether Enid has written about her before.

Like Enid's pear trees, the pear tree I can see in a neighbour's garden is nearly in blossom.

Heh - Gillian "is nine months old now and so strong that I think she ought to be a little boy"!

[Courtenay]

Another lovely letter this week. I'm sure pinning a baby's blankets to the mattress would be frowned upon nowadays, though! (And I hope to goodness they were safety pins.)

Loved Bobs being "full of spring" until he landed on Bimbo! Sweet little poem, too. Enid later re-used the idea in one of her Pip the Pixie stories, where Pip uses the ivy berries as buttons for his new suit.

[Kate Mary]

I don't think we've heard of Mary the cook before. Enid may have had a maid as well, but they probably 'lived out'. We hear of the long-suffering gardener quite often but not of Dion the gardener's dog. Perhaps it's a different man (wasn't Dion's owner called Steptoe?).

A charming poem again this week and I love the idea of Bobs being 'full of spring' until he goes off to look for his bone. Enid had a wonderful imagination, I couldn't write Bobs' letters week after week.

[floragord]

That was fun! I enjoyed reading about the early Spring, we currently have heavy frost on the seafront in the morning and its cold even as I write! How enormously life has changed since Enid wrote!, keeping rabbits and hens, boiling up scraps for feed, and even more having a cook, nanny and gardener as standard are as far from most people today's current experiences as viewing the dodo....

[Anita Bensoussane]

We hear of the long-suffering gardener quite often but not of Dion the gardener's dog. Perhaps it's a different man (wasn't Dion's owner called Steptoe?).

I think Steptoe was the man who came to clear out the pond. I can't remember exactly what Enid has said about Dion, though I got the impression he belonged to the gardener. I hope we hear more about Dion in future letters.

[Anita Bensoussane]

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Hurrah - the ducklings have hatched! Sad to hear about the fate of some of the eggs but, like chickens, you don't count your ducklings before they hatch! The poem is charming.

[Kate Mary]

In his letter this week Bobs refers to 'the master', as far as I can remember this is the first reference to Hugh in the TW columns. Poor Bobs and Sandy, they are doomed to disappointment with the fine glass kennel, we'll hear next week no doubt.

[Anita Bensoussane]

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/blyt ... &perid=975" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Enid's letter has reminded me to start looking out for swifts (and swallows and house martins, but we mostly see swifts here). I haven't spotted any yet this year.

Has Gillian's nanny been mentioned before?

[Rob Houghton]

We saw some swifts or swallows sweeping over a local reservoir last week, catching flies. It was hard to tell what they were because they moved so fast, but I was convinced they were swallows.

[Anita Bensoussane]

My daughter and I once walked from Bourne End to Marlow along the river on a hot summer's day and there were masses of swallows skimming the surface of the water, along with numerous dragonflies. We also saw red kites circling above us. We had visited Old Thatch first, as the gardens were open to the public. A really lovely day.

[Kate Mary]

I saw swifts a few days ago when the weather was warm and sunny but I only see swallows when we go on holiday to our usual haunts of North Norfolk or Shropshire.

A super letter this week from Bobs, it really made me smile.

[John Pickup]

Here in Lincolnshire, I haven't seen a swallow yet and neither have I heard a cuckoo.

[Courtenay]

I did a double-take when I saw Melbourne Girls' School in Enid's list, until I read the next line and saw it was in Derby! We do have various types of cuckoo in Australia — well, they're called cuckoos because they parasitise other birds' nests with their eggs — but none of them actually say "cuckoo". I've never seen or even heard a British cuckoo at all.

We were right about Bobs' disappointment over the new glass "kennel"!

[Rob Houghton]

I did a double-take when I saw Melbourne Girls' School in Enid's list, until I read the next line and saw it was in Derby! :

I know Melbourne, Derbyshire quite well, as it is a small market town near to Hartshorne, south Derbyshire, where my ancestors came from, and also quite near to the National Trust stately home Calke Abbey - which is a fascinating place to visit.

Melbourne Derbyshire -



Calke Abbey -

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/calke-abbey

[pete9012S]

Rob,you've got ancestors and relatives everywhere!!