Previous letters pages can be found here.

Letters page from Volume 3, issue 12.
June 8th – 21st, 1955.

OUR

LETTER PAGE

A letter from Susan York, Chilwell, Notts.
Dear Enid Blyton,
I must tell you of a black and white blackbird that I see very often. Not long ago it was seen pecking at our dead montbretia leaves and taking them away somewhere. Then after a while I found its nest and hanging around it were the montbretia leaves. I did not
actually see the eggs in the nest, but today Daddy showed us the baby birds. They had their mouths wide open and the female bird came every so often and popped food in. I hope to see the babies learn to fly, and to see their markings, because perhaps some will be black and white like their parent.
Love from
Susan York (Busy Bee).

(A most interesting letter, Susan, and very well written. You win the letter prize this week. Please do let us know if any of the youngsters are black and white.)

A letter from Margaret and Malcolm Bridge, Norton, Stockton-on-Tees.
Dear Enid Blyton.
We are sending you 7s. for your Children’s Home. My brother Malcolm and I held a Refreshment Morning at our house. We supplied cakes, chocolate biscuits, jam tarts and sausage rolls, with the choice of orange or lime juice. For this we charged 3d. each, and we were very pleased with the result.
Love from
Malcolm and Margaret.

(I have chosen your letter because I thought it had such a good idea in it, Malcolm and Margaret, and was  very nicely written. A Refreshment Morning is most unusual, and I am sure that many other children will like to do the same.) 

A letter from Mary Ellison, Houghton, Cheshire.
Dear Enid Blyton,
I have a little dog called Bonny and a kitten called Lulu. Well, this kitten keeps climbing trees and can’t get down – so do you know what Bonny does? He comes and fetches me, and tugs at my skirt, and takes me to where Lulu is up a tree, so that I can get her down. Don’t you think he is clever?
Much love from
Mary Ellison.

(Bonny is kind as well as clever, Mary. He is good enough to put into a story!)

Another bird-related letter this week with a question in response from Blyton. Were the youngsters black and white, did Susan write back? We’ll probably never know, but I’d like to think she did.

Refreshment mornings aren’t that uncommon as fundraisers – I’ve usually seen them called coffee mornings – but they probably are not commonly run by a couple of children. I’d love to know who came, was it just their friends and family, or neighbours and passers-by? By my calculations they had 28 paying guests (28 x 3d = 84d, or 7 shillings)! I also wonder if they turned a profit – how much did they spend on all the food?

Lastly, Bonny does sound exactly like the sort of animal you see in Blyton’s stories. I wonder if he inspired her (consciously or subconsciously) at any point?