International Incident at the Chalet School

[RueDeWakening]

Hear ye, hear ye! Gather ye hence, all angels (be-costumed with slightly tacky silver halos and suchlike) with your lark-like notes and prepare to dazzle us all with your charm.

No, not you Joan. Shop bought cake and cheap looks for you, my dear. See Matron for some milk on your way out.

those Chalet gels must have been tough, I know they would have worn more underwear than modern girls do, but they don't seem to have a pile of jumpers , and fingerless gloves on permanently. EBD doesn't mention undies much, but it was AFAIK the era of the liberty bodice and long knickers.

Sadly I , while also living in a cool house, eat more in winter and gain weight, come the summer when the house warms up and I do more outdoor work I lose some of it. Tho colleagues used to think I had lost weight at the point in the year when I stopped wearing a gazillion layers at work ( in a cold warehouse).

Would the CS have felt warm, though, to girls coming from pre-central-heating UK homes, heated just by fires? Although not exactly warm by today's standards, wouldn't the stoves have been more efficient at heating than British open fires? I don't recall chilblains featuring in the Austrian and Swiss parts of the series, either, though I think they appear in one or two of the Armishire books - maybe because the place was warmer, so no need to huddle in quite the same way.

I've given in and read the St Clares fillers. I hadn't read any of the St Clares books for decades, so I read from the start. The fillers set early on seemed exactly right - plot lines, characterisation, language all consistent with the originals. However, for some reason the final one seems to go all Americanised - girls saying 'I guess', 'What goes on' and drinking milk shakes. I thought it was written by a different person, but no. And the money jarred with me. There's a plot line in Sixth Form where a girl loses a ten-pound note. No, no and no!! That should be ten shillings as any fule kno.

I read St Clares for the first time in the early 70s, and as a child I already knew I was reading a period piece and schools weren't like that any more. I'm a bit to think that that was 40+ years ago now - and there's more time elapsed since I first read them, than the 30 years between when they were written and my first encounter. I feel old!

Reading "Goes to it" last night, and juts wondering why the Chalet school didn't let Grizel be a PE teacher as well as music. I'm sure they could have phrased it to please her father enough. Seems a bit mean of them seeing as how they knew that she wanted it.

Would she have needed training in those days? Also there's the implied dishonesty thing, though you'd think once she was of age that wouldn't apply.

I doubt they needed training back in those days.

And I'm sure they could have done it so she did both if they'd wanted to. We had a teacher who taught piano one day a week and music (to classes) another, and did PE the other 3 days a week. Actually I think she preferred the music, and did the PE because there wasn't enough music to teach (there was 1 other in the music department).

They could have put it to her along the lines of "We'd really appreciate it if you could help out by doing games in the afternoons when you'll otherwise be free".

They were happy to lend her the money to go in with the shop idea. which was sort of against her dad, so I don't see that would be much difference.

I wondered if it was a bit like not letting Snape get the post he wanted in Harry Potter maybe; that they felt that it would go to her head and she would have caused problems if they had.

I like it- Grizel Cochrane, the Severus Snape of the Chalet School

Grizel just became to much of liability. she had to shipped off to NZ before she reallllly put her foot in it with someone important ( rather than just joey or any of the other assorted Madge hangers on)

But she was just as much of a liability teaching music, as she would have been teaching games. Okay you don't usually batter someone over the head with a piano like you could with a hockey stick, but I don't think that would really have been an issue. It was her tongue rather than anything else.

They could have said "Grizel, you can do the netball in winter, cricket in summer" or something, and the main games teacher did the other sports.
It might have been better if they had done that, then there had been a good reason why the netball/tennis had needed to be dropped (like the lacrosse) was and no one realising quite how important it had been to Grizel, and her getting more and more discontented and frustrated, rather than the apparent ignoring of her known feelings. Which considering that I think Miss A makes a reference to wanting, for her own sake, to keep Grizel with them, you'd think she would have made an effort-after all Grizel could have applied to other schools. (or maybe she did and Miss A gave terrible references )

At my school which was similar sort of size, perhaps twice as big as the Chalet school, none of the games teachers were exclusively games. There was one main games teacher who taught 2-3 classes of something else, and the others were more assistant games teachers and did about 50/50 with another (or in one teacher's case, about 4 other) subject.

It is a bit strange that Mr. Cochrane didn't tell his new wife about Grizel's existence, then shipped her off to the Tyrol for years, but still wanted to dictate her profession. Why did he care if she taught games?

Thank you for the St. Clare's tip - have now re-read the Blytons and the fill ins. They don't quite fit IMO - Carlotta head girl of the class?? and the contortions to explain why new characters won't be there in the next Blyton book. But jolly enjoyable.

I also read Redheads recently - wow. The denouement lost me completely, I was fine with he-hates-Copper's-father-the-policeman-who-caught-his-brother. But then the extra brother, whose father was sent down by the copper's grandad who was a judge, who turns up but became a police officer but no one knew he was a criminal even with the same name, and killed the brother in a park in Germany, and some of them have American Jewish pseudonyms, and...aaargh!! WTF??

Coo, Redheads is even madder than I've remembered it! I haven't read it for ages, maybe I'll have another go - I've only got the Armada paperback, so will I get it in more or less its full glory or is it one with major cuts?

I might be misremembering and muddling all my school stories, but I seem to have a sense of there being a major emphasis on games/PT teachers being properly trained at Chelsea or wherever, whilst teachers of other subjects just have their university degrees. Presumably that was because you couldn't do a degree in sport in those days, so the degree equivalent was the PT training? But I wonder if it would have made it harder to ask Grizel to help out with the games given that she wasn't trained to do so.

There's an absolutely wonderful book by Gladys Mitchell about life in a women's PT college - it's called On Your Marks and it was recently republished by Greyladies Books. I loved it!

at the idea of the Abbess giving Grizel duff references. For her own sake, of course, because no other school would ever understand her or look after her like the CS . Freedom of Information Requests at the Chalet School anyone?

I've just read a great school story "A Worthwhile Term" set in a small boarding school during ww2, a top hole find in a 2nd hand book stall. Bomb lands on school, new headmistress keeps her head and wins the admiration of the neighbouring lady of the manor, a guide company is formed, prefects elected and a school sale of work undertaken...... Published in 1946

I think we need to start planning the sale this term.

Any suggestions for the theme?

Willow pattern would be old hat, what other crockery could we be inspired by?
Poole pottery? All goods could be brown....

Denby: Quite thick but somehow elegent

Just like much of the fifth form.

Could we have an election-themed sale this year, my lambs? Excitingly, we could make a giant ballot box for the Juniors' lucky dip. The fourth forms can be the Green Party and take charge of the flower stall and garden produce. Boris and his bikes (upper fifth) can do that tilting at rings thing they did in Fete. Nicola Sturgeon will have to be played by someone who's good at wearing unfeasibly large heels (have you ever noticed her footwear? - rules me out). The produce stalls can be decked out as a food bank, and the game for winning Tom's house can be guess the size of the inheritance tax. Maybe if we're really lucky Tom will make us an entire Housing Association of houses and they can be sold off. What do you think? Will the Abbess agree?

at the thick but elegant fifth form!

Love it!!!!!!!

The handiwork stall can be the labour party.

Joey can man a gossip jigsaw stall called "Party policies"

And lets as a photographic booth to be named "Tony Blair"

Greek dances on a theme of coalition on the lawn from the juniors.
Morris Dances from the seniors to represent the left and right coming together to clash sticks and turn circles.

the CS do seem to use qualified PE teachers. Some of the books mention going to them for remedial lessons.

Not sure how you are going to represent the BNP party or UKIP

Who was the child that refused to sing German songs..... She could have a sponsored sulk for the extreme right wing.

Verity-Anne.

I think we might need a visit from some neighbouring school stories to properly provide a UKIP presence. How about the cast of Wanted, An English Girl representing Euro-scepticism? Verity-Anne can be their poster girl before Mary-Lou steals her soul and she becomes all moony and slow.

Meanwhile the ever-expanding Freudesheim can be pressed into service to accommodate visitors to the sale to enable Joey to avoid paying bedroom tax.

Joey won't pay bedroom tax, she doesn't need tax credits or benefits, she is self employed AND has private means. She's never needed to work and even gave away the payment from her first book.

Of course! Nick Clegg learnt all those languages at the Chalet School.