Ten Years On: A Celebration of Fandom and Friendship |
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Welcome by Helen McClelland
For myself, I also have to confess that I don't often nowadays reread the Chalet School books. But in no way does this lessen the admiration I have for what Elinor Brent-Dyer achieved. To have created a series that has continued to give pleasure to countless readers of all ages for nearly 80 years is a remarkable thing. Indeed, it often hits me how amazing it is that, through Elinor's stories, so many of us, in so many different parts of the world, who perhaps have no other links, enjoy this bond of belonging to the Chalet School's 'extended family'. It was a very different story in the mid-1970s, when I rashly embarked on what then seemed the rather unpromising venture of writing Elinor's biography. No one then showed much interest. And, although the impressive number of 'Armada' paperbacks being sold at that time made it clear that the Chalet School did have numerous fans out there - somewhere - I doubt if, among adults known to me personally, I could then have named more than three or four who would confess to enjoying the books. Whereas today I would be literally unable - and I do really mean literally! - to name offhand all the vast number of fans I've now had the pleasure of corresponding with around the world, including many who have become valued friends. Let's look at some of the other ways things have changed. For instance, at this precise moment we've met here to celebrate ten successful years since the founding of Bettany Press; a firm with strong Brent-Dyer leanings, that was expressly set up in 1994 by Ju Gosling and Rosemary Auchmuty to publish The Chalet School Revisited as part of the celebrations to mark Elinor Brent-Dyer's centenary. Since then Bettany Press has gone on to publish a range of other Brent-Dyer material, as well as various books in different spheres; they include I'm happy to say, four of mine! This year marks also the fifteenth anniversary of Friends of the Chalet School - the first of the two Chalet School fan clubs that are flourishing today; and in May 2005 the other society, the New Chalet Club, will celebrate its tenth birthday. These clubs both have a worldwide membership, representing all ages. It's true, sadly, that today HarperCollins are no longer adding to their paperback series, but copies can still be found in bookshops around the country, while the new publishing firm, Girls Gone By, is doing splendid work in making the stories, for the first time in more than thirty years, readily available in unabridged form. Only to think that in October next year, it will be an incredible 80 years since the first publication of The School at the Chalet, the book that started it all. And we don't have to look far for proof that the Chalet School marches on: Bettany Press gives living testimony to this, as does, Girls Gone By; and the two fan clubs, with their magazines and the various activities they organise, provide in themselves an ongoing tribute to the achievements of Elinor Brent-Dyer. Helen McClelland
10am Room 213: Registration
and coffee. Displays of Chalet School-related crafts, souvenirs
and travel. 2-3pm: Choice of workshops: 3-3.30pm: Coffee and displays Room 213 3.30-4.30pm: Choice of workshops: 4.30-5pm Lecture Theatre 205: Plenary Session with brief report back from each of the four workshops, and goodbyes. Photos by Lesley Simpson |
Today
we all take many things for granted that would have seemed
extraordinary only a few decades ago - email and mobile phones
for starters. And I think that in some ways we tend to take
Elinor Brent-Dyer's achievements for granted. It's probably
a tribute to the way her reputation has now become so secure
that Chalet fans can even enjoy a spot of 'nit-picking' -
why in the world did EBD do this, that or the other, and for
goodness sake, why didn't she do whatever it might be, etc.
Most of us have joined in such sessions. 
Programme