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Re: Enid Blyton Day 2012

Posted: 13 May 2012, 11:53
by Tony Summerfield
A big thank you from me to all those who came to the Day, without an audience we wouldn't have an Enid Blyton Day at all! Imogen phoned me this morning to say that she found it the most enjoyable day yet, and she has been to quite a few. When I opened up a pad this morning I found the picture below tucked inside and I thought it would be a nice reminder for those who were there and enjoyed Georgina Hargreaves' entertaining talk.

Image

Re: Enid Blyton Day 2012

Posted: 13 May 2012, 13:00
by 7upromana01
That was the best day ever! First and last speech quite dull and un-interesting. I loved the Georgina Hargreaves speech. I liked the adventure that me, Stef and Fiona went on at Dinton Pastures. Thanks to Isla(Daisy) for giving me The Adventurous Four Again book. I enjoyed meeting Viv, Julie, Nigel, Stef, Fiona, Eddie, Jane, Chick, Wolfgang, Sally, Francies, Katherine, Anita, Daisy, Lenoir and, of course, Tony.


I will try and come next year!

Re: Enid Blyton Day 2012

Posted: 13 May 2012, 13:04
by Daisy
I'm glad you enjoyed the day so much Abi. It was great to meet you too. I hope you enjoy all the books you managed to get. I'm pleased too that your grandma enjoyed the day more than she thought she was going to! It was nice to meet her as well.

Re: Enid Blyton Day 2012

Posted: 13 May 2012, 15:16
by Daisy
Thank you for putting Georgina's sketch here Tony, it's delightful and very nice to be able to study it at leisure. It was not easy to see the details from where I was sitting, even with the screen enlargements, so I'm very pleased to see it in close up.
Thank you for organising the Day for us all. I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. I certainly did.

Re: Enid Blyton Day 2012

Posted: 13 May 2012, 15:16
by Moonraker
What a wonderful day! Great reports form all above! As always, the real pleasure for me is to meet you all. It somehow brings all the avatars and usernames to life! I hate mentioning people for fear of missing someone out (am I the only one to scan a list to see if I've got a mention?)!

After only missing one turning, but fortunately realising it immediately, Jane and I arrived at Loddon Hall's full car park at about 11.15. We had a quick chat with Imogen and Tony, who told us to go to the doctors' surgery. It wasn't that we looked ill, but there was a large car park there!

Inside the hall, and forget the books - I looked for familiar faces amongst the crowd! Here goes with the list! We zoomed in on Stef, Fiona (great little gossip we had at lunchtime!), Wolfgang, 7up, Anita, Eddie, Chick, Julie, Stephen, Daisy to start with, probably more in the throng that I now forget! We later met Katherine, Katharine, David Cook, Imogen, Viv, Rosie, Lenoir, Francis, Sally, Sue Webster, Sophie, Kayleigh Lousie, Victoria, Tiffany, Lucky Star (John), Shadow, Faraway_Tree, a lovely lady in a red coat, Abi's lovely grandmother, Zoe (G@K), Norman and of course, Tony!

Wolfgang - I am so sorry we didn't say goodbye to you. I had assumed you would be at the picnic where we could have a good chat, but sadly you didn't materialise. It was also a great shame that Rob (Viking Star) didn't make it - I hope all is well with you, Rob.

I bet I've missed people out!

"I know the way to Dinton Pastures!" I exclaimed, totally denying Julie's claim that I led everyone up the garden path, two years ago, and got lost! What do you know? I did the same again! Eventually the parade arrived at the correct Dinton Pastures and we had a great picnic. Jane took several photos which I will put up soon. It was good to see Larry (Mark) too, sorry you got lost, old thing!

Special thanks to Stef and Fiona for the now legendary sandwiches and cake. Also to Viv and Rose for home made sausage rolls and great table stationery. Very patriotic!

Another great year; sorry you found some of the speeches a tad on the boring side, Abi; I'm not surprised, you are still very young! Sometimes the great detail that is gone into is more suited to really keen and older members, and although of interest, doesn't keep everyone on the edge of their seats.

Suffice to say, this is probably the second best Day I have attended, and thanks to all - suppliers, dealers, speakers, caterers and of course, you all for coming!

And to Tony: Good Man! :D

PS I know I will have left somebody out - apologies in advance!

PPS By the way, Stef: why do you live in Woodley?

Re: Enid Blyton Day 2012

Posted: 13 May 2012, 15:56
by Tony Summerfield
Just adding my bit about how nice it was to see so many familiar faces, but also a particular pleasure to meet some new ones - Katharine (who I blackmailed into coming to the picnic), Francis (who I missed in 2010), Lenoir (all the way from South Africa) and of course, the one and only Abi! I also managed to talk all too briefly to one or two of the more elusive forum members such as Kate Mary and David Chambers (who I introduced to Imogen). I also briefly talked to Ethan and Joel, two of the younger members from our Home Page Message Boards. I was sorry to have missed Kayleigh and her sisters and others who were there (according to the list) but I never even saw them!

Many thanks to chair lady, Stef (yes that is chair and not char!) and a very special thanks to Wolfgang who helped me considerably throughout the day, even with changing batteries in my camera at one stage!

Are we going to be there again next year, dunno, someone would have to find me some good speakers!! Both Carole Thurston, the caterer and Colin Freeman, my sound and vision man, have already told me that they are available!

If anyone missed out on the Famous Five 70th Anniversary bookmarks I have plenty here still.

Re: Enid Blyton Day 2012

Posted: 13 May 2012, 16:18
by Francis
Very pleased that Imogen enjoyed her day. Please tell her that her
presence was very much appreciated (and Sophie's of course).

Re: Enid Blyton Day 2012

Posted: 13 May 2012, 16:21
by 7upromana01
I didn't meet her!!! :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:


I did see her though.

Can we have some photos up as soon as possible please? I am really desperate to see if I look weird...

Re: Enid Blyton Day 2012

Posted: 13 May 2012, 16:37
by Eddie Muir
I knew I'd miss somebody from my list. I enjoyed chatting to Kate Mary, but failed to include her in my post earlier today. Sorry, Kate. :oops:

The photos will appear in the next day or two, Abi. I'm also looking forward to seeing them. You looked normal to me and certainly not weird. :D

Re: Enid Blyton Day 2012

Posted: 13 May 2012, 16:46
by shadow
Great day was had by me as well and nice to catch up with all the "old" faces. I won't bother listing all about the day, I was going to write an indepth discussion until I read the first one from Lucky Star and realised that not only had he wrote everything that I was going to say but also in a much better way.

The weather was lovely and travelling down to Loddon Hall was such an easy journey, I think all the traffic had disappeared into a parrallel universe, it was certainly a good omen for what was to come. The speakers were good, with Georgina Hargreaves standing out as the best. I would like to say a big thank you to Tony, not only for the organisation of the day but for signing my copy of the dossier. I also didn't realise that there were any 70th anniverary bookmarks around, might need to slip one into the next journal :lol:

The journey to the picnic was again memorable thanks to Moonraker and I hope I didn't give Julie a fright as I attempted to turn a large estate car around after yet again being taken to a parking area that closes at 5pm! :roll: It was nice to be able to give people a lift and I'm just glad I managed to find the station so easily on the way back. Needless to say, after a very easy journey back as well, the kids didn't even seem to have realised that I had been gone all day, so I managed to sit down and have a little look through my various purchases of the day.

I, like 7up, am waiting with baited breath for the photos to be put on the site as I have a feeling I will look wierd too .....

Re: Enid Blyton Day 2012

Posted: 13 May 2012, 16:50
by Viking Star
Alas! :cry:

About 8pm yesterday I realised I had missed the Day. I was actually using the initials EB in a text (standing for something completely different) and suddenly I realised.

I had been waiting for my ticket to arrive, but without focussing on the actual date of the day. Also, for some reason email notifications of posts about the day have stopped, so I didn't have those to remind me either! Work has been hectic and the only significance of 12 May in my head was that it was my sister's birthday. If only the ticket had arrived!

Nigel I texted you yesterday when I realised, but maybe I used an old number.

Very disappointed. :cry: :cry:

Re: Enid Blyton Day 2012

Posted: 13 May 2012, 17:29
by Anita Bensoussane
Viking Star wrote:Alas! :cry:

About 8pm yesterday I realised I had missed the Day.
Arrgh! :cry: Really sorry to hear that, Rob. You were missed! If only you'd remembered 12 hours earlier!
Moonraker wrote:Wolfgang - I am so sorry we didn't say goodbye to you. I had assumed you would be at the picnic where we could have a good chat, but sadly you didn't materialise.
Same here! Sorry we didn't get to say goodbye, Wolfgang, and I hope you had a safe journey back to Germany today.
shadow wrote:I was going to write an indepth discussion until I read the first one from Lucky Star and realised that not only had he wrote everything that I was going to say but also in a much better way.
I came on earlier and started writing up what the speakers said (all of them were good but Georgina Hargreaves was absolutely superb!) but my post got so ridiculously long that instead of posting it I copied it and sent it to Tony to see if it can be used as the basis of an account of the Day for the website or Journal. I might save at least some of my photos to go with the write-up. Not that I've got them on my computer yet, but I will do in the next few days.

I must say it was brilliant to see all the usual crowd yesterday (others have named them so I won't have to list them here and risk inadvertently leaving someone out!) Thoroughly enjoyed chatting to everyone. Also good to speak to Imogen and Sophie Smallwood, Cliff Watkins, Mike Shaw, John Lester and Barbara, David Chambers and others. I was particularly looking forward to meeting people I'd come to know through the forums but hadn't seen in the flesh. Among those were Katharine and her mother (sorry Katharine but I didn't catch your mother's name), Denis (Lenoir), Francis and his wife Izzy, Kayleigh Louise with sisters Tiffany and Victoria and, last but not least, Abi (7up) and her grandma Myra. I was delighted when Abi came over holding a can of 7up which she'd bought from the caterers - a perfect photo opportunity, so out came my camera! I'll definitely put that photo up this week, with a few others.

Food is essential when you're off adventuring, and the picnic was a real feast. A special mention goes to Sally's salmon and cucumber sandwiches, Stef and Fiona's home-made tiffin and ginger cake, and Daisy's home-made fairy cakes. Oh, and Viv and Rosie's home-made sausage rolls, though I didn't sample those. Someone had also brought some cherry tomatoes which were deliciously sweet and juicy.

A big thanks as always to Tony. A colossal amount of organisation goes into an Enid Blyton Day and we really do appreciate all that he does.

Re: Enid Blyton Day 2012

Posted: 13 May 2012, 17:34
by Wayne Pyer
Thanks all for your reports. :D
Roll on the photos.

Re: Enid Blyton Day 2012

Posted: 13 May 2012, 17:57
by KayleighLouise
Viking Star wrote:Alas! :cry:
Also, for some reason email notifications of posts about the day have stopped, so I didn't have those to remind me either!
This happens to me sometimes too but I thought it must have been that I missed one as it only sends a notification once until u go on again

Re: Enid Blyton Day 2012

Posted: 13 May 2012, 18:00
by 7upromana01
I remembered as soon as I woke up! I know Anita's pictures will be up in a day or two but does anyone have any other pictures? If so I would love to see them. Thanks again Tony. Also thanks to Daisy for the books.