Some Fretwork and the Interminable Christmas Play at the Chalet School

[EmilyAlice]

Now girls, line up and listen because this term is a busy one. Firstly we are combining our hobbies club and the Christmas play, so we will need our fretworkers to get busy on the scenery, some beautiful découpage for decorations, our nimble-fingered needlewomen on costume duty and some scrapbooks for - er...
Now one other thing girls. As you know the Chalet School has moved from the Tyrol, to Guernsey, to Armishire, to some island or other and thence to Switzerland.
This term we have moved again and the first thing I want you to do is to find out where the bloody hell we are....

I've PMd you Emerence.

Mornington my lamb I am completely out of the loop and haven't even heard of this Sisters book! New fill-in?! I must order it immediately. must also check I haven't already pre-ordered it and forgotten all about it

It's a GGBP one, Nell, by someone called Amy Fletcher whose name didn't ring a bell for me, set in Armishire at the end of the war. The author is holding a gorgeous dog in the picture of her on the back - dog definitely posing for the photo.

I have ordered it and shall endeavour to read it by the end of next week. Excited!

Interested to hear what people think of that one. Have read Juliet of and am now enjoying and robin, with corney somehow more robin's contemporary than jo's. I do rather like the plans howell years. It's the Swiss ones that somehow are unanchored and narrowly concentrated on the school and jo's family that I find harder to believe in.

Ah, here you are, my loves! Apologies for my absence, following a successful concert tour I contracted a terrible illness and had to spend a considerable amount of time in the San to recover. As a consequence I seem to have totally lost my access to the OneDrive and also have totally missed the wonder of Mongolia!

The Abbess thinks I should recuperate here and play daily, although Plato may be somewhat more strict...

Margia my lamb, it's simply topping to have you back with us. Have you brought any handsome doctors with you? We've been standing outside Madame's window since July 4th waiting for you to pipe 'loo' in your true little treble as our signal to begin. Do hurry up and give us the note because some people have got toilets other places to go.

In other news, I've got to the end of Sisters. Anyone else?

Oh how remiss of me! Here we go.... looooooo....

Sadly I found no doctor who was willing to accompany me. Something was often muttered about "ghastly career woman" in the vicinity of my room. Wonder who they were referring to?

Oh my. I'm reading (thank you GGBP) Swiss School by Mabel Esther Allan. So far there's a storyline about girls sneaking out to attend the ice fair from which they've been banned as it's too rough, and one where Our Heroine is locked in the shed by a jealous rival and has to smash a window and climb out so that she can take her starring role in the school concert. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but I'm surprised MEA didn't get sued!

I think EBD was guilty too of plagiarism, so probably wouldn't have dared!

mornington - I've read Sisters and enjoyed it. I liked the fact that we saw the triplets starting school, and I thought the whole book held together quite well. I did find the fact that the youngest one (Ruth?) dies later in the series somehow overshadowed it a bit though....don't know why but it just seemed really sad to see this lovely little character develop when you know that she has a bad ending (I think I like children's books because you usually don't get those sorts of sad endings).

I found the information on rationing at the end fascinating too...particularly the 8oz of sugar per week for adults? Was it really that much? I always got the impression that there wasn't much sugar about, but that seems loads to me! What were they doing with it all??

I think rationing fluctuated during the war. So you were entitled to 1 coupon of it but it varied how much that was worth.

But I've just looked it up on the BBC and it does state 8 oz for 1945:
www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/84/a4537884.shtml

So I suspect either that was fairly constant or the author used that as a source.

Another website :
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationing_in_the_United_Kingdom
says sugar was rationed with the minimum allowed was 8oz, and max 16 oz.

However thinking about it, people used sugar more than I think. I think most people added it to tea for example. But people would have been making cakes and jam etc.
I think the WRVS got extra sugar supplies for jam making in the blackberry season.

I was vaguely thinking that too Witchend - that people would have been using sugar directly in cooking and baking more than we do - but I couldn't think of another obvious example apart from jam! I bet my weekly sugar consumption now is well over 8oz but I am a lazy modern gel and virtually all of mine has been added to my food by somebody else.

I still need to finish Sisters... I'm only about a quarter of the way through, although I am enjoying it - just need to be packed off for a few days at Penny Rest to actually find the time and energy for it.

My mother used to preserve fruit very slowly in the oven without added sugar during the war.
It would have been used to make the stodgy puddings that filled us up in the fifties. Apple dumplings, suet roll, spotted dick etc. I know the fat for those was a problem too though.
I used to have a Marguerite Patten wartime cook book with recipes for mock cream etc..

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.

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

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?

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

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

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 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.

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!

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.

Here for a week! Heading to Achensee and Innsbruck today