Reblog: The search for Kirrin Island – Memories by Hans van der Klis

Posted on July 20, 2016 by Fiona

I’m on a city-break this week without a laptop, and so instead of attempting to blog from an ancient tablet or tiny phone I have chosen to bring you a reblog instead. You may have seen our last reblog from Hans, about a short adventure he and his wife had one day in the woods.

He has written again, this time about searching for Kirrin Island;

Childhood farewell, but not quite, for this older-young-lad that Kirrin Island remains still interesting and attractive, I would like to go to visit it, but how to achieve, it seems not present somewhere along the English coast, if I believe the sober truth. Only, I do not want to accept it, yet, not yet. I still believe in the illusion. So I have read recently “Five on a Treasure Island” and several other books of “The Five” again, with other, older eyes, with nostalgic feelings, but great mindfulness. And a head brimming with ideas, energy and adventure spirit, I am again end up by the question;

How should the island look like and where is it situated?

I think we have all longed to visit Kirrin at some point in our lives, though I don’t know if any of us have the skill required to navigate through the wicked ring of rocks to the safety of the sandy cove. You can read the rest of Han’s post here, and it looks like there will be a part two along at some point as well.

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Monday #174

Posted on July 18, 2016 by Fiona

Once more its beginning to look like summer and the weather seems to be improving. This month is usually one of the most vibrant when we’ve visited Old Thatch in the past, but unfortunately Blyton’s old home is no longer open for business. There would have been nothing better than to stroll down to the River and then up to the beautiful gardens in the sunlight, and warmth. However we shall just have to be content with pictures from last year.

This week, Fiona is down in London having lots of fun so she will be doing a reblog for Wednesday on The search for Kirrin Island – Memories by Hans van der Klis so I hope you all tune in for that.

I will be bringing you another review of Five go off in a Caravan, 70s style on Friday.

With that I shall leave you with a few of my favourite pictures of Old thatch gardens from the last couple of years.

The Daisy Statue at Old Thatch
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Famous Five 70s Style: Five Go to Smuggler’s Top, part 2

Posted on July 15, 2016 by pippastef

Last week I did a review of the first part of Five go to Smuggler’s Top and now I’m going to bring you  a review of the second part.

We start this episode off with a recap of what happened the ‘week’ before, so Uncle Quentin arriving, the run-ins with Block and Mr Lenoir and the realisation that something funny is going on.

I must say some of the best bits of the book were left out of this adaptation, including the bit where Timmy is supposed to be smuggled into George’s room for the night and the five children create a distraction because Block is lying in wait for Timmy, and the brave dog bites the villain on the ankle as he’s dragged by. That has to be one of my all time favourite scenes out of the book, and in the 90s version but its never replicated in the 70s one.

Another point to make on characterization is that Block, played by Ron Pember, is a very good actor but doesn’t fit the mental image of Block. He’s not scary, just weird. Pember does invoke the mistrust of Block that the children pick up on straight away but the whole point of Block is that he is supposed to be terrifying, at least that’s what I think, there is something you’re not supposed to trust about him, this silent pale man who supposedly can’t hear a thing. One thing we can say for Blyton is that when she wanted to make it obvious who the villain was, she was excellent at creating a really effective baddie. However it is a hard sort of thing to translate onto the screen. Pember did a good job, even though you get the feeling it was simplified a bit.

One of the other things that is a constant source of frustration about this series is the use of dark filters over the camera lenses which make the nighttime scenes extremely hard to see and you lose so much atmosphere from these shots that it’s easy to lose interest. I understand that the actors were not allowed to work more than a certain number of hours a day and certainly not at nighttime, as I understand it, but someone should have seen that the filters were too heavy. However I suppose that might just be to my young and modern eyes as I’m used to a different type and quality of filters but I can’t be the only one who thinks they were a bit heavy handed on the dark filter. Surely there must have been some compromise?

Anyway, back to the actual story. We stick to the book quite closely in the second half which makes it an edge of the seat situation, especially with the missing Sooty and Professor Kirrin, though their wander through the catacombs is unfortunately cut short. The use of the fog is good, but rather than Uncle Quentin suggesting they wait until it lifts so they can see their way a little better around the marshes, he decides he wants to risk it. Without Timmy to help (as he’s found them and then run back to George) the likelihood of them being caught in the marsh and lost forever is a very real danger. You would think that a professor who was visiting to talk about draining the marshes would know that it was better to stay put than to attempt to walk over them; however this is Uncle Quentin, he does try to put mustard on his toast. To play devil’s advocate however Michael Hinz always seemed to play Uncle Quentin as a much more steady, clued up Quentin that Christopher Good ever did. Which means that the danger of the marshes should have been at the front of his mind. Anyway, you do have to admit that seeing Hinz walk around in those paisley pyjamas and a bright red tartan rug is one of the best things to have a giggle at (it comes second to the star jumps Marco Williamson does in Five go to Billycock Hill in the 90s adaptations)

With that all said, its a decent adapatation of the book, with a few areas and maybe some artistic licence with the characters and a few bits and pieces in the storyline which is understandable. Still, its watchable, nostalgic and the Famous Five we all love! Right?

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Who couldn’t resist a giggle at these pj’s? Even George is despairing of her father’s fashion choices!

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The Rat-a-Tat Mystery

Posted on July 13, 2016 by Fiona

This is a bit of a strange one. I’ve always heard (or indeed read) that the series takes a dip in quality after Rubadub. Ragamuffin always seems to come last in the popularity stakes – but I believed Rat-a-Tat wasn’t far behind. And yet – I’ve seen two people already this week who profess Rat-a-Tat to be their favourite! I’m not convinced it’s the best of the series, but after re-reading it I can’t say it pales in comparison to early entries.

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There are plenty of classic Blyton elements throughout, for a start. Loony continues to be Loony, taking up hall-sliding and ice-sliding in equal measures. Snubby is still irrepressible, having added a real mouth-organ to his repertoire, as well as furniture rearranging. Miranda is possibly even more naughty then ever with her new habit of blowing candles out. There’s night-time escapades, detective work following mysterious footsteps, an old village tale of traitors and a mysterious disappearance,

There are also several elements that have been seen in previous books, or would be seen in those to come. The snow house built by the boys reminded me of the one built by the toys in Naughty Amelia Jane (1941) though they didn’t use ice for glass in the window or accidentally melt it with a fire. The lake with its boat-house (and hidden loot) could be Gloomy Water if Five on a Hike (1951) was set in the depths of winter. The criminals are smuggling large quantities of guns somewhat like in The Adventurous Four (1941) and the plot of them being hidden in the cellars of an abandoned house then lowered down a hole could be seen as similar to the events of The Rockingdown Mystery (1949). The snowy retreat with tobogganing is one that is revisited by the Five in Five Get Into a Fix (1958) as well – though they don’t have a pond to skate on at Magga Glen.

THE MAIN PLOT

To quickly recap  – the Lyntons – and Snubby and Loony – are getting under each others feet after Christmas. Well, mostly Snubby and Loony are being difficult and are in danger of being shipped off to Aunt Agatha. This means that Barney can’t come to stay with them, but luckily instead, he invites them to come visit him. They go and have lunch at the Martins’ home and meet Mr Martin and Barney’s grandmother, then the children go off to a lakeside house that belongs to the family for some winter sports. Mrs Tickle, the woman there to cook and generally keep an eye on them, tells them the local legends about Mr No-One who knocks on the front door when there’s a traitor around. They dismiss this as nonsense and carry on with their plans to toboggan, skate, throw snowballs and build a snowman.

However, late one night there is a sudden and deafening RAT-A-TAT at the front door. Bravely the boys look out and see no-one there. Mr No-one? Investigating the next day they find enormous footsteps in the snow going up to the door, yet, mysteriously, there are none going away. Then the snowman disappears only to amble past the kitchen window and terrify Mrs Tickle, and they realise that something sinister is going on. With the phone lines down and the roads impassible it is up to the children to find out what’s happening.

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SPOILER ALERT!

What is happening is that two men have hidden several large, heavy boxes in the cellar and are desperate to scare away the house’s inhabitants. When that has failed, they are forced to sneak in anyway to fetch their cargo. It is Snubby who catches them in the act – and then ends up caught himself. He ends up trapped in the cellar for the night, and then in the morning when he is freed, they all go hunting for the boxes. They have no luck but by this time the phone is back on and so they can summon help. The police arrive by helicopter with Mr Martin, and by a bit of luck – and a stubbed toe – they find where the boxes have been hidden.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The story is somewhat chilling at times, with the children and Mrs Tickle trapped out in the middle of nowhere while an unknown person spies on them from outside. Miranda provides plenty of amusement, and the children have good clean fun in between strange occurrences. Some good detecting is done, though sometimes they seem very slow to have their great ideas, and the main resolutions come about mostly by accident. The most disappointing thing is the ending. The boxes have been located, and the police decide to leave them there so that the men can return for them and be captured. And that’s where we leave it. Can you imagine if the police in Five On a Hike had said “oh, Dick and Maggie are stuck in the marsh, we’ll go back and get them later,” and we had not had the report of a successful capture?

There are also a few minor niggles – Miranda and her paws constantly being referred to as small and particularly tiny began to grate around half-way through the story. There are a few other phrases and situations which I’m sure are used too many times but I can’t remember what they were.

Not necessarily a criticism of the book but I found Mr Lynton particularly objectionable in the opening chapters. He is, in past tales, grumpy and easily irritated and he is exceptionally bad-tempered here. Despite only seeing his children during school holidays, and his nephew (his orphaned nephew) a few times a year, it hasn’t taken him long to become sick and tired of the children’s chatter and noise. He is even willing to invite boring Great-Uncle Robert, knowing fine well that Snubby will then have to go elsewhere, to a miserable aunt who makes Loony sleep in a kennel. Mr Martin is much more amiable and pleasant, yet even he is quite happy to pack Barney and the other children off to the middle of no-where instead of going with them.

This wasn’t a terrible book by any means, but it didn’t quite live up to its potential either. Surely there was room for a secret passage, a trifle more danger and some quicker thinking from our seasoned mystery solvers?

Next review: The Ragamuffin Mystery

 

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Monday #173

Posted on July 11, 2016 by Fiona

Back to Monday and we have some awesome blogs for you this week. Fiona will be blogging for Wednesday and bringing you a review of The Rat-a-Tat Mystery.

I shall be reviewing the second part of Five Go to Smuggler’s Top, 70s style. Part one can be found here.

We had a good weekend sports wise in the UK. Andy Murray won the men’s tennis final at Wimbledon, the mixed doubles titles were taken by Heather Watson and Henri Kontinen and Lewis Hamilton won the Grand Prix. So we’re doing rather well!

I shall leave you with a picture of Murray’s crowning moment for this week’s picture.

Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club

Britain Tennis – Wimbledon – All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, Wimbledon, England – 10/7/16 Great Britain’s Andy Murray celebrates winning the mens singles final against Canada’s Milos Raonic with the trophy REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

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Famous Five 70’s Style Five Go to Smugger’s Top, part 1

Posted on July 8, 2016 by pippastef

Now I know I did the 90s series in strict Blytonian order but as a pure mistake (or was it careful planning?) I ended up looking at Five Go to Smuggler’s Top Part 1 instead of Five Run Away Together which was filmed for the second season. Strangely both versions of Five Run Away Together are both placed in the second series of their respective adaptations.

Anyway enough about Five Run Away Together for now, we’ll pick that up another time.

Fiona’s favourite book is split into two parts in both adaptations which means that we’re able to have the characters explore the storyline in a lot more depth than a standard 25 minute episode. Both sets of episodes have their positives and negatives, so lets start with part one’s positives.

The house used in this version is very close to how I imagined the actual Smuggler’s Top. It has the big and rambling feel to it and has the hidden tunnels and passages. We have all the bits such as the tower for the flashing lights, and Sooty’s carefully set up buzzer to tell him when someone is coming into his room. However that thing is so loud I am never sure how the people approaching don’t hear it!

However that is neither here nor there! We at least have a full compliment of characters for this series.We have the usually forgotten Marybelle, and I say usually forgotten because I honestly do forget she exists sometimes. She doesn’t play a big part in the books and quite frankly isn’t missed much from my point of view. She doesn’t add much to this adaptation apart from being an apparent link to Anne, I think they’re supposed to go to school together. It links them in I suppose but it doesn’t really allow for George in the picture because she seems not to acknowledge Marybelle.

Michele Gallagher’s George once again feels underwhelming, as her reactions as George leave lots to be desired. In the book, George is at her most explosive, worried about Timmy, worried that they’ll be found out to be having him in the house and panicked when she can’t get to him. This leads to one of the most explosive scenes in the book becoming very very tame with no real oomph in it at all. George is at her rudest and fiercest when she tries to rescue Timmy through Mr Lenoir’s study and gets caught, but we have none of that here. The scene where she discovers her father and Sooty missing is also underwhelming as there is no real panic to her acting. Not that Gallagher wasn’t a fantastic George in her ways but this was not her crowning glory.

One thing that bugs me about these episodes is that the children were not allowed to film at night so filters had to be used which makes the night episodes very dark. Not to mention that during other supposed night shots the curtains aren’t drawn properly and you can see daylight though them which spoils the illusion. You can see this clearly in the scene after Sooty has seen the lights on the marshes and from the tower and he shows Dick and Julian and they get caught by Mr Lenoir. I mean they could have at least blacked out the windows surely?

So there we are for the moment, not a highly atmospheric episode with some let downs on the acting and staging side, but otherwise quite true to the book! Next week, I shall look at part 2 and we shall see how the story concludes.

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If you like Blyton: The Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories by Joyce Lankester Brisley

Posted on July 6, 2016 by Fiona

Anyone who knows me will know two things – a) I love a bargain when it comes to buying books and b) I love reading children’s books. Those two together is how I came to buy the Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories. I found them in a charity shop in Perth (which I didn’t realise was actually closed when I walked in – but neither did the staff as their clock was wrong!).

They had baskets of books at 4 for £1, so how could I resist? I got the Milly-Molly-Mandy book as I had heard her mentioned by other Blyton fans and book sellers, and I also picked up Stuart Little by E.B. White, The Family from One End Street by Eve Garnett and The Haunted Island by Jean Bellamy. I’d never heard of the last two, but the blurbs seemed promising. I may end up reviewing them in this series if they are any good.

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BEFORE I START

I’ll warn you that I’m going to have to shorten the poor girl’s name to MMM as it’s going to drive me batty to type it out in full every time. Really she is Millicent Margaret Amanda, but her family felt that was too long to shout out every time they wanted her, so they shortened it to Milly-Molly-Mandy. (Really, Milly would have been enough!)

The copy I got of the MMM stories is a puffin paperback from 2007. It was originally published in 1928, so it precedes much of Blyton’s written work although she had a few books published by then. The best thing is, though, the MMM book is not updated that I can tell. It is set at a time when cars are only just starting to become common on the roads, there is no electricity or telephones in homes and children are free to wander to school and back by themselves at a young age.

In contrast to Blyton’s books, where the gramophone has become a radio and maids have become staff, there instead is an introduction to the MMM stories by the editor. It explains that

Milly-Molly-Mandy lived a long, long time ago in another kind of childhood altogether. She can wander to the village shop alone; walk to school alone; speak to anyone she likes and do many other things that are now outside the experience of children.

…

When Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories was first published, the little girl at the heart of them represented the daily ups and downs of a not untypical, country childhood. For today’s reader, in addition to the joy of sharing Milly-Molly-Mandy’s delight at her life, there is the added curiosity and undoubted pleasure of seeing how different childhood once was.

This would be a great addition to any of Blyton’s works if it meant they could be left alone!

As you can see, although the cover is a new one it isn’t a terrible modern one. MMM looks just the same as she did back in 1928.

There are thirteen stories in this MMM book, thirteen short, simple and sweet little stories of every-day life in the village. Amongst other things MMM does errands, goes blackberrying, does some gardening, gives a party and goes to a fete. As suggested by the editor’s note, MMM does much of this quite independently. She even takes care of the village shop for an hour one day.

There is a great deal of repetition in the stories, giving quite a nice rhythm which I think would be quite good for reading these aloud. Of course you have Milly-Molly-Mandy which is nice to say than type, and then little-friend-Susan too. Then you have lots of situations where names or objects are said and repeated throughout. For example in the first story each member of the family asks her to run an errand for them, so their name and the errand are given one after the other and MMM repeats them to herself throughout so she remembers. She then goes out and buys or fetches each item for each person, then returns and gives each item to each person.

There are plenty of very old-fashioned things throughout the stories as well as some colloquialisms. The money used is all old money, though it is kept very simple and is mostly in pennies so that children could easily follow it. There are horses and traps driven around, MMM has a striped dress for summer and a red serge one for winter, clothes are altered for new events and everyone has a hat for when they are out in public. MMM calls her parents muvver and farver which is a little jarring at first if you’re not used to that sort of thing.

Another plus from this 2007 edition is it retains the original illustrations which were done by the author herself.

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There is one story entitled Milly-Molly-Mandy spends a penny. I know that Blyton once used spends a penny either as a title or in a story and had to be told that it had another meaning, and therefore she had to change it. Some people doubt that Blyton could be so naive – and yet Joyce Lankester Brisley was using it in the late twenties so it’s not so unbelievable. Either she didn’t know it either, or it the alternative meaning came a little later. Either way, Blyton would have grown up in a time when it was a perfectly innocent phrase.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I think the MMM stories would make good bedtime reading for young children as they are short and simple and couldn’t possibly get anyone at all worked up. That would actually be my only criticism – everyone’s just so perfect! Nobody is ever unkind, lazy, careless, argumentative or naughty. Nobody even accidentally breaks something or has a mishap. Even the editor’s note calls MMM a bit of a goody-goody. I prefer my story characters to have some flaws, but MMM can’t really offend. She’s just a very nice girl having nice, simple and fun adventures.

Oh, and bonus points for having a map at the start. Who doesn’t love opening a book to find a map?

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Monday #172

Posted on July 4, 2016 by Fiona

I’m just starting to recover from a week-long bout of a nasty cold, but unfortunately I didn’t get to stay off work and then go off to the mountains (or seaside) to recuperate. It’s probably just as well as I’m not sure I’d be very able to deal with an adventure right now.

“Is that a cave?”

“Hang on, just let me blow my nose and then I can look…”

Real life just can’t compare to Blyton’s imaginary world, can it?

Anyway, here’s what we’ll be writing about this week:

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I don’t think we have any blogging news, but this week I have personal news. I have a new job! As of next month I will be a Library Assistant in the main branch of Dundee’s libraries. Me, working with all those books… I’ll be living the dream. (And naturally I will be seeing if I can work Blyton in there at every opportunity!)

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The Blyton Book of Keepsakes

Posted on July 1, 2016 by pippastef

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While I was on holiday last week and even though I wasn’t in what I strictly think of as Blyton country, I did manage to find something ever so beautiful!

This neat little thing used to be a hard back of Five Get Into Trouble and in a way still is, but someone very very clever has turned it into a ‘keepsake’ book. Some major renovations have occurred obviously, so if you do’t like the idea of having books ‘defaced’ well this isn’t something for you.

I must admit I was a bit skeptical when I first saw this craft but as soon as I had a closer look at it I fell in love. The care and dedication that had been put into making this keepsake book. In theory what you do is you use it to keep things you want to remember in it, like postcards or photos or tickets. In fact it also comes with one to get you started. Unfortunately the front of the card is very faded so its hard to see exactly what is on it, but the creator of the book has written on the back of the card what you are supposed to do with the book.

 

Its a very nice idea to use one of your favourite books to keep your memories in and its covered beautifully in fabric, and the pages are stitched together to make pockets for your memories. There are beautiful decorations in the form of washi tape  and stamps of keys and bicycles and cameras. You can still see the text and lots of the old illustrations.

I know in my heart of hearts it not something I could ever do to a book, but if it saves the said book from going to the recyclers then surely its a good thing? I’m totally in love with this book and so glad I brought it home with me. I shall now try and find things to go in it. My only negative thing about it is the picture on the front. It looks like it has been enlarged and printed off which makes the quality of the picture a little dubious. It would have been nicer if the creator had scanned in their own dustjacket photo perhaps and printed it on photo paper perhaps? Still, its a gorgeous thing, shame there was only one!

Now…where are all my old books!

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My twenty-fourth (and last) Noddy book: Noddy Meets Father Christmas

Posted on June 29, 2016 by Fiona

It has taken a little over a year, but I have now reached the last of the 24 books that make up the main and original Noddy series. I started with the second book and I am finishing with the eleventh as I was far too impatient to wait until I had all the books before I began reading and reviewing. Of course there are many, many more Noddy books out there. Big books, board books, picture books and more. So after this I’m sure I’ll be back with something else Noddy related.

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Noddy Meets Father Christmas naturally sounds like a very seasonal book which probably should be restricted to December readings. In reality, though, it’s not nearly as Christmassy as you might expect. It isn’t set at Christmas, for one. Father Christmas is visiting Toyland not to deliver his presents to all the good toys but to select the toys he will then deliver to the good boys and girls of the world. Actually, when you put it like that, it sounds a bit like a horror story of this robed man swooping down and stealing Sally Skittle’s children or Noah’s animals.

On his visit Father Christmas is to have supper at Little-Ears’ toadstool, Little-Ears being Big-Ears’ brother. Noddy isn’t invited, though he wants to go along just in case he can get  a glimpse of this Most Important Person. He comes up with a song all about it and Big-Ears tells him he can sing that outside the house during the supper party, along with some other Toyland folk. The performance is such a success that Father Christmas comes out to speak to them all and ends up deciding that Noddy can drive him around Toyland for a few days instead of him using his bumpy old sleigh.

First up is a trip to Bouncing Ball Village, as Father Christmas wants to complain about the bouncing balls he gave out last year – it seems some have already lost their bounciness. Chief Bouncer takes this very seriously and declares that all his bouncing balls will be given proper bouncing lessons before they can go off and be presents.

Then it’s off to Golliwog Town (presumably replaced with Toy Monkey Town or somesuch in new editions) to give praise as the boysand girls have loved their gollies. Rocking-Horse gets a request for smaller rocking-horses as people have less room now, then it’s a night in Humming-Top Village, a drive to Wooden-Engine Village then Doll’s-house Town (where the dolls are told to learn better doll’s house cleaning skills) and then to Skittle Town.

After all that, Father Christmas wants to go to N. & B. Works. Even he doesn’t know what that is, other than it having to do with new toys. And here’s where it all becomes rather Inception-like. This unknown place is manufacturing Noddy and Big-Ears toys, as the children have asked for them!

“Well there are lots of books about me,” says Noddy.

Maybe it’s just the head-cold I have right now, but that last bit makes my head hurt! Best not to spend too long trying to figure it out. Not an awful lot happens in this book, though. Noddy and Big-Ears discuss the visit, get themselves spruced up, Father Christmas arrives and they make half-page visits to the different towns and then they have a feast at the end. It’s not a page-turner by any means.  I’m glad to know that Noddy Meets Father Christmas is suitable for all-year round reading, at least.

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Monday #171

Posted on June 27, 2016 by Fiona

We’re back after our weeks holiday. I was in Shropshire with my family and Fiona was enjoying the delights of Loch Awe near Oban with hers and we’re ready and raring to go with this weeks blogs and to be back in the blogging world.

Fiona will bring you Wednesdays blog of Noddy Meets Father Christmas, even though its the wrong time of year but I’m sure we can forgive her.

I will be looking into a lovely arts and crafts piece that I picked up on holiday and hopefully that will inspire us to use some of those double copies we don’t want to get rid of in a lovely arts and crafts project.

So there we are, all ready for the week ahead and I’ll leave you with some pictures from my first couple of days in Shropshire of some castles we went to see. Unfortunately I didn’t find any buried treasure or secret passages but I did look!

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Famous Five 70s Style: Five Go Adventuring Again

Posted on June 17, 2016 by pippastef

So here we are, starting to look at the 70s TV adapatations of the Famous Five novels. As you well know I’ve done a review of the 90s TV series, so now we need to look into how well the 70s ones were adapted to the screen.

Five Go Adventuring Again is not one of my favourite novels, neither is it one of my favourite adaptions in either series. If I am honest the 70s one seems a but more ‘loosely’ based on the story than the 90s one. We start off with George being at home because she’s had measles and her cousins arriving to find out that there is already a tutor in residence at Kirrin Cottage.

At first when we see Mr Roland, George seems to like him, even if Timmy doesn’t. This is a change of character for George as she usually sticks by Timmy and his instincts. Later on when Mr Roland is found to be creeping around downstairs and ‘mistaken’ by Tim to be a burglar, George is apologetic to the tutor until her father bans Tim from the house. Almost instantly George’s attitude towards the tutor changes, she unfairly refers to him as her cousins’ ‘precious’ Mr Roland when they haven’t been the ones singing his praises. However that aside I think Michele Gallagher does manage to perfectly display the ups and downs of George’s temper. She captures the quick changes of temper very very well, even if there is one point when she’s in her father’s study where she does almost cry – which we all know is something that George would never do.  I don’t know whether this was something to do with making George a more relatable character or toning down her ‘boyish’ streak.

The rest of the characters, especially the main cast are probably quite well matched to their book bound counter-parts. There is no over the top-ness from Marcus Harris who plays Julian. He doesn’t have the over acted, over pompous way of playing Julian that Marco Williamson has. Gary Russell as Dick does well as the cheeky chappy, and once more there is none of the over the top acting that we got with the 90s series. I would pair the two actors, who played Dick, Gary Russell and Paul Child, as the best actors as they managed to portray their characters the truest. Michele Gallagher was a very responsive but passive George, and even people who adore the 70s series don’t go mad on her portrayal of George. Usually the talented Jemima Rooper is cited as being the perfect George, this does not mean that Gallagher was not up to par. She gave the viewers the a very credible version of George. As Anne, Jennifer Thanisch is almost too brave for the scared little girl in the books but is very good at bringing out Anne’s sweet and caring nature.

Our supporting cast in this one is made up of Aunt Fanny played by Susanna Best, Uncle Quentin played by Michael Hinz and Rogers played by Friedrich von Thun. Hinz and von Thun have a slight distracting hint of a German accent as half of the money for making the series was put forward by a German company and wanted their contribution noted. Hinz doesn’t really give off the scattiness of Uncle Quentin from the books, only the sternness. Somewhere in between the 70s and 90s Uncle Quentins we may find the perfect one, but the balance has not been discovered. 

Just a quick word about the location and time of year. We had this problem during the 90s series that some of the books are set in winter wonderlands and yet filming in high summer meant that this was out of the question and we have the same here. Over the two years they were in production both series of the Famous Five were filmed in the summer meaning that there was no access to the frozen grounds and snow that was required by the book. The children are not kept inside because of the snow and Mr Roland is not trapped because of it. In fact it is Timmy who saves the day in the end by pouncing on Mr Roland.

Overall the plot is followed quite closely in this one, with a few minor changes for example when they discover the tunnel and where it leads, instead of all of the children going up to explore the rooms, only George and Julian go. The information from Uncle Quentin’s experiment isn’t stolen but photographed and the only hint that someone had been in the office was from the broken test tubes. It is the little things that get left out or changed and I don’t know if that’s just because they ran out of time or they didn’t translate onto the screen well. Another thing with the 70s series to bear in mind is that they did try and update the books, modernising them in attempt to keep them relevant and children interested.

Anyway we have a good episode that doesn’t let the book down too badly, a fairly strong cast who portray their characters pretty well. Its a good start following the confused situation of Five on Kirren Island Again, which was made into the first adventure. If you haven’t watched the 70s series yet I suggest you do. You’re in for a treat.

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The Rubadub Mystery

Posted on June 15, 2016 by Fiona

This, the fourth book in the series is rather a pivotal one. It marks the end of a (short) era story-wise for Barney and the beginning of a new one. You could see how the series could easily have ended here, after a touching scene, with Snubby making one of his flippant remarks about who’s buying the ice creams. But as with so many series, Blyton ended up carrying on. The last two (which I’ll review in time) have a slightly different feel and are usually considered not as good as the first four.

But anyway, back to this one. The Lynton adults are off to America – a suitable way of getting rid of adults so that children can go off on adventures, should nobody come down with whooping cough or flu and need a holiday, like when Quentin and Fanny went off to the States in Five Have Plenty of Fun. Miss Pepper is roped in for the third time to take the children away for their hols, and chooses to take them to Rubadub-on-Sea, a little seaside village.

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RUBADUB

The name Rubadub comes from the local tourist feature – a natural whirlpool with a rock shaped like a scrubbing board. The inn, following the theme, is called Three Men in a Tub. This carries on from the fairy-tale world of Ring ‘O Bells nicely, with the children feeling they are rather back in time again at the old inn which hasn’t changed since Miss Pepper stayed there as a child.

After an interesting journey which gives you another little insight into train rides of the 1950s, they arrive in Rubadub. I call the journey interesting as they seem to gain and lose carriages with every station leaving you to wonder how anyone ever ended up in their intended location! Got in the third carriage? Whoops, you end up three towns over from where you wanted to be.

The inn is run by another of Blyton’s marvellously named woman, Gloria Glump. Snubby immediately latches onto this, and noticing she is somewhat of a gloomy person, comes up with ‘feeling down in the glumps’.

She’s not too bad a sort after all, she provides wonderful meals at any rate. The inn isn’t too busy thanks to a newer hotel nearby, but there are three of the pierrots staying. The pierrots are a group of entertainers (an upmarket version of the Barnies, if you will) who are performing nightly on the Rubadub pier. There’s Iris Nightingale the singer who Snubby takes an immediate shine to, Mr Marvel (not too dissimilar to Mr Wooh of Five Are Together Again) the conjurer and magician, and the Funny Man.

The only other guests are the elderly, grumpy and very deaf old Professor James and the gushing, twittering Miss Twitt. The children take to calling her Miss Twitter which is accurate but not very pleasing to her (much like Miss Trimble never liked being called Miss Tremble by the Find-Outers).

Miss Twitt and Professor James

Miss Twitt and Professor James

Naturally Barney turns up within a few chapters. He has been ill lately and is rather shabby and lonely as a result, which makes his desire to find his father even more pressing for all of them. He gets a job, first at the rather rough evening fair, and then after that with Mr Marvel in the pierrot show.

Now that the group is reunited, the mystery can begin! Rubadub not only hosts a pier, a fair, an inn and a whirpool, but just along the coast it also has a secret naval base. I say secret as clearly what’s inside is top-secret, but the fact that it’s there is well-known. You couldn’t really miss it, with all its fences and buildings stretching out into the water. Then there’s the small matter of the occasional booming explosions in the day and night. Some of those can even be seen from a handy hatch in the inn’s roof. It looks right through a cleft in the cliffs out towards the base.

The catalyst for the adventure is a submarine being blown up in the base one night. Snubby hears it and does a little sneaking around the inn, to look out the roof-window. He notices one or two of the other guests have been awake too, though all deny being aware of anything happening during the night.

Another night some secret signalling is done from that same window – harking back to smuggler’s of old – and again the inn is a hive of activity. Three suspicious someones plus Snubby are running around in the dark, yet he cannot identify any of them.

Meanwhile Mr Marvel has won over the children after his initial moments of snappishness, especially as he has promised Barney that he will find his father. It doesn’t take him long to locate the man, and Barney is promised a midnight meeting if only he will row Mr Marvel out to the whirlpool to collect some documents. For Mr Marvel is really a detective in disguise! He is working to solve the matter of the exploded submarine, and just needs a list of names to be delivered by Barney’s father.

Only, nothing works out the way Barney hopes. Not only does the man cruelly brush him off, but Mr Marvel abandons him on the rocks out at sea. This is where a Blyton staple comes in handy – an tunnel through the rocks towards the shore. This one is fraught with more than the usual danger though, as the whirlpools sucks water through as soon as the tide is high enough and creates a blow-hole at the other end. Earlier the boatman tells the dark tale of sinister men who dump an enemy in the whirlpool, intending to drown him and make sure he’s never found again. Only he escapes through the tunnel and survives, a feat Barney must then pull off if he wants to stop Mr Marvel.

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Barney does make it back safely, and is in time to put a stop to Mr Marvel with a bit of help from the true detective in disguise.

This story features two more previously seen Blyton ideas. Usually the children from any series are good at telling the goodies from the baddies, but on occasion they get it badly wrong. They trust Mr Marvel, just as Julian Dick and Anne trust Mr Roland at first, and they suspect Professor James just as they suspected Mr King in their first adventure. You might have hoped they’d have learned their lesson by now!

Barney, reeling from trusting the wrong person decides he’s not going to look for his father any more. Snubby, showing an unusual sensitivity, secretly manages to find out a few things and then leaves it to Miss Pepper to arrange the rest. We then get the heart-warming ending we’ve always wanted for Barney.

There’s one person I’ve yet to mention as I wanted to write properly about him and not just throw him in in passing, and that person is Dummy. Dummy is one of those un-PC characters and has as such been rather edited in modern versions I believe. First of all he is described as A grown-up not as tall as Roger, the head rather big for the body, and the face an odd mixture of child and grown-up. As a child I have to say my imagination rather ran wild and I had a picture of a Moonface like hob-goblin. This isn’t helped by Miss Pepper thinking What a queer little man he was — more like a gnome or brownie than a human being!  As an adult it all points to a person who has been born with a disability. Later, however, we are told he fell from a tight-rope and injured his brain.

Dummy

Dummy

Despite his difficulties in communication Dummy is  a great help in the story. He provides bits and pieces of useful information and indeed is pivotal in rescuing the documents from Mr Marvel, Barney’s escape back to land and in the locating of his father. Unfortunately some of the descriptions of him could be construed as a little offensive and he isn’t particularly well-treated by some people around him. Saying that, it was a fairly positive portrayal of a disabled person for the 1950s considering he holds down a job and isn’t locked away in an asylum.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Although the mystery is slow to start (and is then wrapped up in the space of about one chapter) there’s plenty to take interest in along the way. Snubby’s imaginary banjo and zither provide great amusement and their lampooning of Miss Twitt(er) is great fun. We even get let into one or two secrets of Mr Marvel’s magic performances. As for the mystery itself it’s quite satisfying – and quite amazing that the children resolve it all without ever setting foot near the submarine base where the sabotage happens. When I say ‘the children’, truly it’s mostly Barney. Snubby does his bit, Roger has one or two moments and poor Diana does next to nothing.

Next review: The Rat-a-Tat Mystery

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Monday #170

Posted on June 13, 2016 by Fiona

We are going to be taking next week as a holiday from blogging, as by some great coincidence we are both going to be away on holiday. And not together! I’ll be on the west coast of Scotland not too far from Oban and Stef will be in Shropshire. I hope the sun can be in two places at once!

This week is business as usual though, and here’s what we’ve got planned:

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The Secret Series on TV: The Secret Mountain

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Fiona

This is the final episode in the series, and I have to say I’m rather glad! As with all the episodes major changes have been made to the plot and cast list.

The book has the Arnold children plus Prince Paul fly to Africa in a Baronian plane to find their parents who have gone missing. Ranni and Pilescu are their pilots and protectors and, with Mafuma (a young African boy) and his uncle guiding them they end up at a mountain inhabited by strange yellow-skinned, red-haired folk who take them prisoner.

THE TV EPISODE IS ONLY LOOSELY BASED ON THE STORY

The whole family fly to Africa to find a mysterious mountain statue, and by whole family I mean the Arnolds, Charlotte, Ruby and Prince. No Baronians whatsoever. They arrive at a small African airport rather than landing in the wild, and meet two men who are to be their guides. The country is called Bolutu, whereas I don’t recall it having a name in the book. It was just Africa.

Blyton’s Africa is very different to what we see on screen. The book has a rocky, boulder-filled expanse, plains with scattered trees and a watering-hole. Considering that the TV episode is clearly not filmed in Africa, it’s hardly surprising that it features similar sorts of forests to previous episodes. It lacks any African wildlife too.

It does however have a Mayan-style priest in the mountain and a host of white-painted men with loincloths and rocks for heads. The native guides look more South American than African, even with their feather headdresses and body art. In fact many of the sets around the mountain seem more South American and Mayan inspired, yet the airport they arrive at has very traditional African people wandering around, so it’s unclear where they are really supposed to be.

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Anyway, the Arnolds set off with the guides but leave Ruby and Prince behind. Ruby immediately gets herself into trouble by driving through a river and getting herself stuck there for a day or two.

Not much happens for a while, the Arnolds trek through the forest and are told about the creepy mountain which has an evil god and bad spirits in it. The rock-heads prowl around but are never seen. There’s a weird woman (listed as birdwoman) who talks to a cockatoo which looks very like Kiki. Thaddeus’ compass acts strangely when they’re near the mountain but the guides refuse to take them any closer. They are two of the last three of their tribe, the rest killed by the evil mountain.

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THE BIRD-WOMAN AND THE ROCK-HEADS

Laura, always the one to act stupidly, chases the cockatoo after it lands on her and meets ‘birdwoman’. Bird woman warns her that danger and evil are coming her way and prances about waving lots of feathers. Laura doesn’t really remember the encounter but afterward goes into trances saying she wants to go to the mountain.

In the night the rock-heads kidnap the two adults and one of the guides. The children discover this in the morning and set off for the rescue (finally relating back to the original plot) to the background didgeridoo music – I knew they weren’t really in Africa!

Just to add extra drama, Peggy scratches herself on some thorny fruit and quickly collapses. The remaining guide takes Jack to find medicine, but encounter skulls on pikes and a ‘dragon’ blocking their way. The guide says “No! Danger! No go! Bad!” in very broken English – they speak like this all the way through in fact. The ‘dragonman’ as he is listed on IMDB is really just a firebreather and he is quickly dispatched with a deadly-wet-checked-shirt thrown over his head by Jack, and a hard push delivered by the guide.

I taunt you with my fire

We then skip to a view inside the mountain where Thaddeus and Charlotte are being held. The Mayan priest turns out to be a very posh English lady who wears glasses. She’s terribly apologetic that they’ve been taken in error. The ‘silverskulls’ as she calls the rock-heads are just terrible servants and cannot be trusted to kidnap people correctly. She really wanted the girl (Laura I assume). However, she isn’t stupid enough to set them free. Instead she has their faces painted with red and white stripes (reminiscent of football fans) and plans to use them as part of a sacrifice later.

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The useless rock-heads then manage to capture the children and the guide too. Thaddeus gets the best line of the episode once they are all united inside the mountain – Let go of her pumpkin-head!

The plan is for Laura to become a goddess to accept the sacrifice – of Thaddeus and Charlotte it seems. There is already a goddess there, in a white robe and moon-like mask, but she is to be replaced for no clear reason.

THE ESCAPE PLAN

It’s the children who come up with the plan for escape, and it’s similar to that in the book. In the book Captain Arnold threatens the sun with his knife and throws it, knowing there is to be an eclipse. It is beautifully believable in the book. The TV episode has the goddess (Peggy in disguise) ‘eating’ the moon as it is eclipsed. Their logic is that ‘these people’ won’t ever have heard of an eclipse. This works with a secretive tribe in the 1940s. It’s a bit hard to believe in the 1990s with a posh English woman who has clearly been to Specsavers running things. It works at least, distracting them long enough for Thaddeus and Charlotte to get out of their cage and mount an escape. It’s somewhat hindered by Laura insisting she must stay and fighting them all the way. The cockatoo helps them escape by leading the way – suddenly suggesting the birdwoman is actually a force of good. There is of course no easy way out, they must get past some Indiana-Jones worthy obstacles first.

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Ruby, having sent Prince off with a message has been rescued by a random chap in a jeep who just so happens to have a helicopter. Therefore she’s able to arrive just as they have escaped.

We end with Thaddeus deciding to give up adventuring and marrying Charlotte in an aeroplane, wearing fancy clothes and parachutes. They then skydive out, along with all the children! Prince also parachutes out, but you have to wonder how he pulled the cord!

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

This is probably one of the most similar to the books. The location is quite different but in the end it’s about the children rescuing the adults from a mountain cult. It’s a shame as always it had to be padded out with strange birdwoman, useless Ruby adding nothing at all to the plot, poisonous thorny fruits and firebreathingman. They could easily have stayed closer to the book by having Thaddeus and Charlotte lost, Paul providing a royal plane to take them to Africa, a mean older native and a young boy as their guides and so on. I don’t know why they changed sun worshippers to moon worshippers either. It’s not a brilliant adaptation, but it’s better than some of the others in this series.

I’ve been told the Adventure Series TV Series is much better… so I will start watching and reviewing those soon enough. They certainly can’t be much worse, can they?

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If you like Blyton: Mystery at Witchend by Malcolm Saville

Posted on June 8, 2016 by pippastef

mysteryatwitchendThere are many books we’ve recommended to you if you like Blyton, Robin Steven’s Murder Most Unladylike series being the latest one, not only in publishing terms but as being reviewed on the blog.

However for this blog I would like to take you back a little further in time to one of Blyton’s contemporaries. You have heard me mention Malcolm Saville before I’m sure in line with characters and adventures but we’re going to take a proper look at it now.

Mystery at Witchend is the first book in the Lone Pine Series. Now this book was one my mother told me about when I was in my teen years and I finally admitted (approximately age 14) that I would like to read them and they might not quite be as bad as I had feared. I had secretly been terrified that they were going to be better than my beloved Famous Five.

In a way they were better, but only because they were new and exciting, the Famous Five would always be my first love, and nothing would change that, but over the course of the first Lone Pine, as we were introduced to the characters David, Dickie and Mary Morton and Petronella (Peter) Sterling I fell in love with them in a whole different way. I wanted to jump in there with them and be Peter’s best friend, I wanted to go exploring with the Dickie and Mary, the twins, and their Scottish Terrier Macbeth and I wanted to make camp with David and explore the Long Mynd in Shropshire where the books were mostly set.

I think these were the first books where I really had a sense of place from them, whereas Blyton’s descriptions don’t tend to be of anywhere specific and nicely pleasently general, Saville’s descriptions of location were precise and taken from real life. It made me want to visit Shropshire and since I was 16 or 17 I have done, frequently. Its become one of the places I love to be most in the world.

Another thing about Saville is that he tends to write in what I like to think of as ‘real time’, that is he wrote his books so that they were in keeping with what was happening during the war years. Blyton chose to use escapism but Saville uses the war and the contemporary period following the war. Nazi spys are a large part of the first Lone Pine book so much so that they enter into the world quite quickly. Its such an intricate mystery that you’re gripped from the first sentence.

‘They changed trains at Shrewsbury.’

Now how do you not read on after that. So many questions, so few answers that it drags you in. Just like our Blyton favourites, we want to know whats going on and what the adventure is and get to know the characters. We are carried along on this adventure in a style of prose we are familiar with but with new characters to love.

This book opened so many doors for me as a reader that I cannot recommend it highly enough. Please, if you can get hold of a copy, read it because it is worth it! So so worth it!

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Monday #169

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Fiona

Yay, Monday again! Yesterday was beautiful in the UK, I wore shorts and was able to be in the sun. I didn’t get much chance to go out and have an adventure in the sun like the five but nevertheless it was nice to see it on such a lovely day.

This week Fiona and I have swapped about a bit, I’m blogging on Wednesday for your pleasure, and bringing you a “If you Like Blyton” suggestion blog on what else you might like to try reading.

Fiona will be blogging on Friday and is reviewing the next episode of the Secret Series TV program. I’m sure you all can’t wait to see what she has to say!

I think that’s about everything for now, but I shall leave you with a few pictures from my holiday in Scotland. We had some very Famous Fivey explorations and had a jolly good time! These are from a walk we did from Stonehaven on the Scottish east coast to the ruins of Dunnottar Castle. It was a very Famous Fivey walk over the the cliff paths and the castle was certainly hiding something, though we couldn’t work out what!

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

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How to Get Blyton’s Style: Camping and Adventuring Materials

Posted on June 3, 2016 by pippastef

I know we’ve had rather a lot of these recently but while I was up in Scotland with Fiona that she had the idea that I should do a  post of all the kit you’d need to make it seem like you’d stepped straight out of a Blyton book.

Hope you like the things I’ve picked out. Feel free to put in the comments anything I’ve missed.

generalneutralsatchelThe first thing you would want to become a proper Blytonian would be the adventuring rucksack. Now you’ve seen this one before, as I used it for the girls’ clothes post a few weeks ago however why waste a good find? Don’t you just agree that this would be the perfect Blyton Rucksack? You can find it here.

 

 

 

 

The next thing you need for a truly Blytonian life is a a bike. All of Blyton’s characters Bikeenjoyed biking and would often set off on a bike to have a picnic or catch an adventure. Bikes are part of the reason I’m sure that the Five could eat all those gorgeous cakes and picnics without ballooning to the size of houses. Can you imagine how the adventure would have gone if the Five had gotten out of breath by just walking down the stairs? So bikes it is, good exercise, good Blyton adventuring material. Find your vintage bike here.

 

 

picnicbasketSpeaking of food, what would a Blyton adventure be without a picnic, carried along in a smashing picnic hamper? I think one of my favourite descriptions of having food out of a picnic basket comes from Five Have Plenty of Fun when they go down to the beach just before Berta arrives and enjoy home made lemonade and a whole fruit cake while frolicking about in the sea. I don’t know what it is about that description but it always makes me want a picnic. You can see from the basket I’ve picked that it has a handy strap for carrying it over those difficult rocks that get in the way while trying to find the perfect place to picnic. You can find the basket here.

$_57Now which member of any troop of children from Blyton’s books would go exploring in the great outdoors without a torch? No one, that’s right, and they always have spare batteries. I love the passages in the books where they’re creeping through the darkness or in tunnels and they just whip out a torch from any pocket whichever clothes they happen to have on. A torch is such an important thing in their adventures and it should be in your life as well, you never know when you may come across a cave waiting to be explored (a bit like Fiona and I did last week — well I went to explore, she wimped out!) Get this lovely vintage torch here.

$_57Last thing for those adventures, the one thing you really can’t have an adventure or camp without? A tent. Now I tried to find a nice vintage looking one, but they came in big sizes and were very expensive. In the interest in making this as practical as possible I’ve found a reasonable tent which is made out of more modern materials but will definitely keep you dry. I have chosen a two person tent because you need one of the girls and one for the boys (not to mention any pets who happen to be accompanying you). So head out, get yourself a tent and enjoy your camping adventure.

There we are, just a few bits and pieces you can get to help you on your way to Blyton Adventures!

P.S. I did not wimp out, you went first and told me it went nowhere so I saw no reason in going all the way to the back for nothing! – F

download (1)P.P.S. You forgot the rope to wind around your waist, ready to tie enemies to trees or to let you drop down into a cave. That’s what gave me the idea for this post – seeing rope in some shop. I can’t remember which one, so here’s a nice snazzy (if not particularly 1950s) one from B&Q. It’s heavy duty so it should do for adventuring. 

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My twenty-third Noddy book: Noddy and Tessie Bear

Posted on June 1, 2016 by Fiona

This is perhaps an unusual tale simply because no real disaster befalls anyone in Toyland, or Noddy in particular. Nobody’s bike is destroyed, nobody’s car is stolen or damaged or breaks down. The worst thing that happens to Noddy is the wind has suddenly grown a personality and waits around his little house to blow his hat off. But nothing is stolen and no-one is tricked or in trouble with Mr Plod. In fact, even more unusually, Noddy is praised for his considerate driving by the local policeman.

Why is his driving so good? Because he has Tessie Bear in his car and she is a very good influence on Noddy. So much so he ears a shilling from a sailor doll and uses it to buy a kite for himself and Tessie Bear to fly. This story could really be called Noddy and the Kite as the rest of the story revolves around the kite.

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The little wind subplot earlier is more relevant than it first seemed, as kites need a good windy day to fly. It is such a windy day in fact that it takes both Noddy and Tessie to hold onto the string and even then they nearly fly away. This does not correlate with any of my childhood experiences with kites which invariably involved running around a park throwing a kite in the air and desperately hoping it would catch the wind. From time to time it did, then after a few triumphant moments it would come crashing back down. Sometimes on my head.

Anyway, clearly Noddy and Tessie are extremely proficient in flying a kite. That or the kite is a very skilled kite. Like the wind it is given somewhat of a personality. When it is tied to a milk churn to allow Noddy and Tessie to round up some escaped chickens it strains for the sky and is powerful enough to lift the full churn plus a basket of eggs right up into the sky.

This leads to an amusing turn of events involving Noddy and Tessie chasing the kite in the car while the Toy Village inhabitants panic over the hail of eggs and rain of milk. A reward is even offered for anyone who can shed light on these mysterious new weather phenomena. Five golden pounds are offered for that information, plus ten shillings for the return of the farmer’s only milk churn. Interestingly the illustrations shows the poster with five golden pounds on it, but the second poster is a 50p reward. My copy is a Purnell reprint, but it seems odd that one detail of the illustrations should be changed and not the text. If anyone has the original book, I’d like to know if that’s the same.

I suppose technically this could be the sort of disaster I implied didn’t happen, but it’s all so comical and light-hearted I’m hard-pushed to really consider it a real disaster.

When the empty milk churn and basket are found, Noddy and Tessie explain everything to Big-Ears and Mr Plod who find the whole thing hilarious. Noddy and Tessie even get the reward!

This is one of those stories where not a huge amount happens, but it’s quite a funny and charming tale nonetheless. It’s also nice not to have Noddy boo-hooing all over the place or behaving too stupidly.

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Monday post #168

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Fiona

I’m a bit late to do this as we had a BBQ last night and time rather got away from us. Coming up this week anyway:

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