To ask all Chaletians to get ready for Madame's birthday?

[LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett]

Pop to the splasheries my lambs and after you've brushed your hair till it shines we'll have a quick practice of 'I sing of Margaret so fair'.

Once we've finished casting the movie, that is....

By the way, how did Elizabeth Arnett become head girl before Robin? Surely Robin was a senior in Goes To It while Elizabeth was still a Middle?

By the way I have silver curls and a pink and white complexion.

Daisy EDB wasn't the best at ages really

Did Rob go into special 6th? No head girls there since Marylin.

By the way, is this the longest running thread series ever on AIBU? We're half way through a fourth one.

I can't imagine Madge insisting that Joey comes out of school to help her in the way Joey seems to with Robin, Daisy and the triplets too.

When Joey's grown up with her own children, Robin seems to go from being the favoured precious adopted sister to being someone who can usefully nanny the children. You don't see any of the "scenes with Robin and Joey just chatting and being sisters, Robin's always with the children, and Joey's in either decline or manic "I'm the school's grandmother" mode.

The scene where Robin tells Grizel about Joey's engagement was perhaps closer to the mark than EBD intended. Grizel saying "Jack will always be before you now..." she could have added, and Joey's children too.

I suppose, in fairness, that reflects a real sisterly relationship. Your husband and children will usually come before them.

But yes, Joey does seem to make a lot of use of Robin as a childminder. I know Robin's meant to love it, and all the girls at the school can never wait to see and hold the triplets, but still.
Now wonder poor Robin was about 20 before she eventually sat her finals and left school.

I've just skipped a few (it makes the continuity errors more acceptable) and now Madge is in Canada and Rob is working?????

And YY Daisy I remember Rob being a senior when there was the air raid and the Elizabeth Arnott was a wicked Middle. That was when Joey didn't want the Robin to be bothered with the emotional stuff as she was too delicate and Jo wanted the juicy bits to herself

I have of course set a sonnet to a new ditty, which I have practised when Herr Anserl wasn't listening. Who is presenting the flowers?

It's the way that everybody has to bend to accommodate Joey that irks me most about her: Madge, as a young, unmarried and childless woman, assumes complete responsibility for her and builds her whole life around this - fine, that's being the eldest sister; Robin, as a schoolgirl, puts her education on the back burner so she can help Joey look after her children. When is it Joey's turn to sacrifice something to help someone else out? She seems only to ever 'help' on her own terms.

It's the same kind of authorial blind spot allowed to Mary-Lou, I think - whereas everyone else has to calm down and obey the CS norms and rules of politeness, ML has to be 'understood' and allowed to clarion at will, because her good intentions are all that count.

Daisymasie but a sister wouldn't usually expect you to come out of school to look after her children for her.
If you compare with Madge and Joey, I can't think of any time when Joey is at school that Madge asks her to look after the children, she does occasionally play with them, I'm sure, but I can't think of any specific time when Joey is looking after the children for Madge until she's a parent herself and takes on Daisy and Prim.

It's more the contrast of before and after. I agree that dh/dc will come before dsis-and should do as well.
But before children Joey is all "How will I bear being separated from darling Robin for an hour" and afterwards we either have Robin looking after Jo and telling her she shouldn't be doing something, or Jo leaving Robin looking after the children. Was the Robin even asked to be godmother to any of the triplets, which you would have thought would be likely from their relationship.
Robin and Joey don't have a sisterly relationship once the children are born. She's far more like a nurse hired to look after Joey and the children.

Totally agree with that DeWee. I wonder was EBD having problems trying to slot the Joey/Robin relationship in with Joey's new role as a devoted mother and thought that by making Robin an almost second mum to the babies this would be proof of Robin's ongoing importance in Joey's life?

I shall accompany with a rich, sonorous tone.

When I read the books as a teen (secretly, you understand, as they were no longer 'cool') I loved the grown-up Joey, and she was a key part of what made the Swiss books my ultimate comfort read. Got a problem? The woman next door will worm it out of you and fix it. To my sullen, taciturn, often stuck-in-sulky-silence teenage self this seemed like the most wonderful thing in the world.

As an adult, though, I completely agree with NellWilsonsWhiteHair. Joey comes across as very selfish, with a calm confidence that she's at the centre of everyone else's world. Maybe that's because, as far as EBD was concerned, she really was the centre of everything.

MsCC - I saw your name on another thread and thought - now there's a Chalet girl if ever there was one!

I too was somewhat drawn to Joey when I was an early teen for probably similar reasons. Nowadays, and probably egged on by sentiments on these threads, I find her extremely irritating.

I was a very sensitive kid who was bullied towards the end of my junior school, mainly for being quiet, clever and bookish. I got into to the Chalet School books at that time and they were a massive comfort to me. It seemed to me the perfect place for me - a complete antidote to the rough comprehensive school I found myself in. I wouldn't have been bullied, girls were by and large nice to each other. And as languages came to be my forte, I would have revelled in French and German days. And of course, in the unlikely event that things did go awry, Mrs Maynard was never far away!!

Whenever I was upset at school (and I can remember incidents even today) I would have been told off for crying - so I simply adored the bits where Miss Annersley was kind to such girls - my head was often aching but I never got packed off to bed to calm down.

Seriously though, I think there will be a lot of us who have found "comfort" in the books.

I am godmother to Cecil but not to any of the trips. I think there were 2 years between me and Amy so if Amy was 19 I was 17. Still I wasn't as old as Corney.

This thread is turning out to be all about me! I like it!

But how did Elizabeth beat you to Head Girl Robin ?

Sadly I shall not be available for Madame's celebrations because I shall be at my real school reunion where we will be able to discuss our real brown and flame uniform (and especially the brown flannel knickers).

By the way, she waited long enough to get around to asking you to be a Godmother. Cecil was her 9th child.

Erm..... I missed a year of schooling cos I got dragged out to India remember? And then Joey needed me so I had to help her so was too busy to be head girl, so then I decided to specialise and drop some subjects, (that's when the came up with special 6th) and there was no one else suitable so little me got the job and I did it very well if I do say it myself.

Don't rub it in Daisy! I like to think she was waiting for a little girl who had my colouring. Con may have ended up dark but started off red. I personally like the sound of Cecil - she had the potential to have some character about her unlike Felicity who was another drip.

Just indignant on your behalf Robin. After all that free childminding the least she could have done was make you Godmother to Stephen. Instead she chose Frieda.

By the way, that scene where Len gives out to the priest for pouring water on Stephen's head is terrible. EBD obviously didn't know any toddlers in real life.

It would make sense for her to be Godmother for Cecil in some ways. But it says a lot about the change in relationship that she wasn't asked until she couldn't attend in person and for the 9th child-assuming they had the traditional 2 godmothers/1 god father for the girls and the opposite for the boys that means Robin was 13/14th (?) on the list.

I didn't find adult Joey attractive as a teen. I felt she was so embarrassing, and winced as she rushed in crying "lets play silly games". I also have always been a fairly private person, and the thought of a strange person demanding you tell them your problems etc. would have rendered me speechless and unable to say much at all. Plus I'm terrified of large bouncy dogs after being attacked as a child.

I remember also being astounded finding out Joey Maynard was the same as Jo Bettany as I didn't see any link between them in character. (only had selected books)

Can you be a Catholic godma under the age of 18? I assumed she was too young to be godmother to the triplets, and they only have one godmother each. Who are godarents to the boys and Felicity?

Also if Robin was still planning on becoming a nun, maybe that created a split between her and Joey, as Jo knew she would be losing Robin soon?

I was a godmother at 12, and I'm a Catholic. Once you make your Confirmation (which would have been at around age 9-10 in the 1940s) you can be a Godmother.