Some Fretwork and the Interminable Christmas Play at the Chalet School

Just did a double take at a Daily Mail headline about Jack Maynard being kicked off I’m A Celebrity...

Nooo, I want to be a baby angel. Time to start plotting Witchend's tumble into a precipice so that I can have her part. There's only room for one baby angel on this thread!

Witchend
Surely you mean the winter festival play - we have to get up to date!

It's about time we started thinking about the next Christmas play. I think I'm going to be a baby angel this time and have golden curls. I won't let Joey paint my halo though.

Ah right so Bernie married Marie’s brother! That would explain Wanda but Carlotta? I am sure by dates that Carlotta is the same baby Frieda has in Joey goes? Gretchen was her older sister who was delicate.

I think it’s an EBD ism as Wanda is a friend of Jacks and at school as a senior while Carlotta is a junior.

I know it must have been a pain for jo to have so many babies named after her

Isn't it Bernhilda Mensch (Frieda's sister) who marries the Von Eschenaus' brother? So she'd be Wanda's mum, and also Carlotta v E's - if indeed there are two Carlottas and it's not just EBD muddling Bernhilda's and Frieda's children up! I'm really flaky on the later books.

Frieda was (as usual) incredibly understanding of Jo over that whole "not another baby named after me" business!

Oh yes it must be a chalet girl though surely. But friedas dd was a Carlotta as joey choose it as she ‘refused to have another baby called after her’

I seem to remember someone marrying Marie's brother (?), so that would be who the mum is. Can't remember who it was though!

This is it prim! Is it another EBD ism I wonder? Or maybe Wanda or Marie kept their maiden names after marriage. Ha ha ha ha ha

Well, I'm not entirely sure, but Carlotta Von E's mum can't be Frieda - surely her surname is van Ahlen?? (sp?). So I guess there are two Carlotta's? That's a really unhelpful answer, sorry...hopefully someone will be along with a real answer soon.

I am in corn flower by the way with the oaoml snd verity mooning Away

Hi there am currently re visiting my wonderful chalet school stories and am confused by reading prefects!

So reading prefects and Carlotta Von Eschenau is I thought the dd of Frieda as in the same baby iin ‘Joey goes’ but then who is Wanda Von’s mum In Red heads? They are not sisters??

Help

Just a flying visit today sadly...

Hope you're having a blast, Margot. Are you at Achensee dear little Tiernsee for the rest of the week?

Here for a week! Heading to Achensee and Innsbruck today

Oh wow, I've just seen your post, Margot. I was in Salzburg a couple of years ago about this time of year and it was gorgeous. Definitely go to the Mirabell Palace and Gardens - the CS girls went there, and so, of course, did the Von Trapps! It's too late to get hold of it now, but if anyone else is off to Salzburg, I thoroughly recommend Brett Harriman's Guide to Salzburg, which is a lovely little book and it feels like you're seeing Salzburg with a knowledgeable friend.

If you have time to head of the city for a bit, Margot, there's a cable car up the Untersburg which is well worth doing. If you've got a Salzburg Card it's covered. Also a little bit out of the city are the Hellbrun Palace and joke fountains, which I think the CS girls go to, but I can't be certain.

But the city itself, if you're just there for the weekend, is magical. The buildings in the Old Town are wonderful, and it's great to mooch around even if you don't go inside. And when you've had enough of sightseeing, it's worth popping into the Hotel Sacher for a slice of sachertorte in its original home! Or here's a plan. Lose your footing and tumble into the Salzach. I'm sure the kindly doctor who fishes you out will insist on taking you to the Sacher for kaffee und kuchen.

Have fun, don't leave your umbrella on the plane, and make sure you tell us about your exploits when you get home.

Hello all - having had DS2 was hoping to indulge in a Chalet School marathon whilst feeding! Have pretty much all of them in paperback but no use for night feeds. Heard that some one here might be able to help with access to ebook versions? Would be so grateful. Thank you!

I was thinking it was nearly time for the new play. I'm hoping for a line this time, as I've now been at the school for a year.

Was it coming back from Salzburg that there was a thunderstorm on the way back and they spent the night in the coach ( with no loos)

Was it coming back from Salzburg that there was a thunderstorm on the way back and they spent the night in the coach ( with no loos)

I can't remember either I have persuaded DH into a trip to the lake though!

Will soon time for this year's play. Do we have a new one????

No recommendations Margot but lots of envy! Have an amazing time! I can't even remember what the CS girls do in Salzburg - is that where they're coming back from by coach in New CS?

Haven't popped onto this thread for a while but on a flight to Salzburg at the weekend- any recommendations?!

I have made it to the end of Sisters at last! The fact that this took so long says everything about me and nothing about the book (I am "not to be disturbed right now", although neither DS nor my line manager, in this troubling modern world, appear to have got that memo).

It hung together really well, yes. And I did really notice while reading it just how much the standard for fill-ins has pushed up and up over time.

I definitely didn't love it. I didn't warm hugely to the Herbert girls (none of whom felt like 'real' characters to me before this book anyway - I was really surprised by the number of times they apparently do appear in the series, from the afterword) and I'm not interested in the Maynard triplets, so the premise isn't ideal for me personally. I also didn't like the heavy focus on the almost-irredeemably bad girls - I know this is totally in line with EBD's characterisation of these girls in particular, but I can overlook that since they tend to be restricted to a chapter or so at a time rather than underlying the whole book. I guess this is a bind the fill-in author is trapped in - she can't really 'fix' Jennifer Penrose, because that doesn't happen in canon - but I don't like persistent 'baddies' hanging around, that's not what my CS happy place is about.

I skimmed through all the nativity stuff, in true EBD fashion, and I also skimmed through the detailed section on the Guides, although I can imagine that part being a lovely touch for anyone who is into Guides stuff.

I liked that she tied in the Biddy and Mavis stuff, that was well done.

I don't think it's one I'll read again.