Let's Have A Club Of Our Own!

[pete9012S]

Haven't read this before, but I enjoyed it!




First edition: 1955
Publisher: Waterlow
Illustrator: not illustrated
Category: Non-series Non-fiction
Genre: Family
Type: Non-Fiction Books

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/boo ... Our+Own%21

You can read a section of the book below.
I will add another section later.

Oh, there is one mention of 'plastic' see if you can spot it!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I know 'Let's Have a Club of Our Own' quite well but it's good to read it again. I love the fact that it's acknowledged that the chosen leader might be male or female, and that Eric's damaged leg doesn't prevent him being a member of the club. I wonder whether Enid Blyton was thinking of her nephew Carey when she wrote about Eric, as his mobility was also affected by polio.

Pity the girls have to make all the badges, instead of each member making his/her own.

The name 'Sturdy Six' grates a bit for some reason, perhaps because the word 'sturdy' makes me think of wooden tables! I like the Secret Seven reference though!

As Enid Blyton says, she wrote this story because so many children had asked her how to form a club. It's good that she stresses that the club should have some aim. When I was a child, the detective club I formed with my sister and two friends soon ended because we didn't actually have any mysteries to solve! We then decided to have a book club instead, and that was much more successful as we had plenty of things to do. We wrote book reviews, made bookmarks and maps and board games based on fiction we'd read, acted out plays based on books (performing them to family and friends), wrote our own stories and read them out to each other, and put money in a pot each week so we could take it in turns to buy a book when there was enough.

Did anyone else belong to a club?

[GloomyGraham]

Not a club as such but a group of friends - we could have been the 'Fantastic Four' if we'd had a name lol

No mysteries were solved by us though we tried to do a few good deeds at times.

Our main activities were blackberry picking and having 'adventures' in the fields and woods below the road we lived on. One of the mums used to make jam out of our bucket-loads of blackberries and gave some to old people living nearby so I guess that could count as a good deed too.

There was a crumbling old building in one of the fields and I can remember once we played 'Prince Caspian' with myself as Peter, my sister as Lucy and the two others as Edmund and Susan in our 'ruined castle of Cair Paravel'.

We also did a lot of 'prog' (old wood) collecting before Guy Fawkes night each year. One year we collected so much stuff and built a magnificent bonfire heap (which we played in as a clubhouse) to discover a day or two before bonfire night some other gang of kids had raided ours and stolen most of our wood.

I suppose that actually WAS a mystery we solved. I was so mad that I cycled round the entire town and found the enemy's bonfire built of our prog. The next day (5th November) we got up early and went and stole back our stuff and re-built our bonfire clubhouse, making sure someone was there to guard it at all times.

All the parents (pretty much the whole neighborhood came with toffee and parkin and stuff) were complimentary about it when it was time to light it up and set off our fireworks.

Ahhh - memories

[pete9012S]

Many thanks for the comments.
I didn't belong to a club, but we did have a gang.
Myself, brother Mike and Geoff 'The Brains'..

Here's the final section of this short booklet:

[Kate Mary]

I know this story well, I have no less than three copies of it in various collections. I was never in a club as a child (unless you count the Famous Five Club) but I remember acting out the story of The Valley of Adventure in my primary school playground. There were five or six of us enthusiasts for the book, I played Kiki doubling up as one of the villains as necessary. I still have the same copy of The Valley of Adventure to this day, a bit the worse for wear now as it was my sister’s book before me and she had it second-hand but I’ll never part with it.

[Anita Bensoussane]

It's great hearing about people's childhood gangs and games. Acting out The Valley of Adventure in the playground sounds fun, Kate. My sister and I and our friends used to play at being the Famous Five, out in the garden. There were only four of us but we doubled up a lot! I love the sound of the bonfire and the Prince Caspian game, Graham.

Thanks for the rest of the story, Pete. It's funny that the part about James touching his shoulders appears again in the middle of the jumble sale discussion!

You'll have to add the mention of plastic to the list in the other thread!

[GloomyGraham]

It was nice that Dick shut up, remembering to be considerate to lame Eric.

I do hope old Mr Sykes got his wireless and - more than that - the Sturdy Six would visit him from time to time and tell him about all their activities. I'm sure he would have some jumble for their sale!

[pete9012S]

I know this story well, I have no less than three copies of it in various collections.

Thank you Kate Mary. I didn't know that.
Looking in the ever mind blowing cave, I wonder if this cover is depicting the story?



Wraparound Dustwrapper from the 1st Edition illustrated by Marcia Lane Foster


https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/boo ... ay+Stories

[Anita Bensoussane]

Pretty sure it is!

[pete9012S]

Thanks Anita.

[Fiona1986]

When I was a child, the detective club I formed with my sister and two friends soon ended because we didn't actually have any mysteries to solve!

My sister and I also briefly formed a detective club, just the two of us, while we spent a weekend at my grandparents' house. It ended very quickly as a) anyone who visited (a couple of my uncles I think) were baffled by us popping out to ask what eye colour they had so we could add it to our notes and b) our gran rather strongly objected to us messing with the curtains and leaving breath marks on the window as we watched for criminal activity on their quiet street.

[Bertie]

I'd never heard of that story before but it was an enjoyable read. Thanks for posting it, Pete.

I didn't have any clubs like that as a youngster. I was the youngest child but my older brothers let me play with them a lot and with their friends - but it was mostly sport and (pretty basic at that point) computer games rather than anything like a detective club!

I know my mum's talked in the past about how when she was younger her and her friends used to play as the FF - and how they all wanted to be George. But I don't know what they did - I'm sure if they'd have found any treasure she'd have mentioned it by now!

[TheAngryPixie]

A story I never read, but it reminds me of when me and some kids on the street tried to form a club of our own (inspired by the Secret Seven). The only shed we had was my dad's coal house, so it wasn't the most pleasant--dusty, full of coal and nowhere really to sit. I think we had just one meeting,gave it up for a lost cause and then went on to do other stuff instead.