Monica Turn up Trumps characters in CS

Loryat · **Joined:** 12 May 2006, 17:54 **Posts:** 78

I recently came across MTUT in a secondhand shop and naturally bought it. A lot of the caharcters in the book, including Monica, Alixe and Vicky turn up in CS land - whatever is supposed to have happened to the school they all go to in MTUT??? Is it ever mentioned anywhere in the war books? I don't think I've ever come across anything. Was it cut?

Minim · **Posted:** 09 Apr 2012, 12:01

I can remember a reference in the CS books that says that a school is closing and some of the pupils are going to the CS - bit vague but that's all I have.

JB · **Posted:** 09 Apr 2012, 12:05

It's here from Goes To It - the part when Jo visits the school before it opens, meets Gwensi and then talks to Hilda.

I don't know if it was cut from the paperback but it doesn't sound unlikely.

Quote:

‘It’s really very satisfactory,’ said Madge when at length they were strolling round the side of the house to view the kitchen-garden. ‘By the way, Hilda, I had a letter this morning from a Dr Marilliar. He wishes to enter his daughter and two nieces here, since their own school is closing down. The Head is giving up, and the house in which the school was is to be pulled down to make way for a new Woolworth’s. They live at Medbury, about eighteen miles from here, and would be weekly boarders. Here it is. I’ll hand it over to you.’ And she produced a letter from her bag, and passed it over to the Head.
‘Three new girls at one burst? What fun!’ exclaimed Jo eagerly. ‘What are their names and ages, Hilda?’
‘Monica Marilliar and Vicky and Alixe McNab,’ replied Miss Annersley, who was scanning the letter rapidly. ‘Monica is nearly sixteen, Vicky is seventeen, and Alixe is not quite fifteen. Vicky would be with us only a year—she wants to be a doctor, he says. Monica and Alixe we should keep longer than that, of course. I see, Madge, that he also hints that we may very likely get two or three other girls from the same source, and I had a letter from Mr Howell’s locum on Monday, asking if his two girls might come to us.’

Alison H · **Posted:** 09 Apr 2012, 18:32

at the school being pulled down to make way for a new Woolies! The British books are so much more down to earth than the Swiss and Austrian ones!

LucyP · **Joined:** 30 Nov 2008, 22:28 **Posts:** 247

Off-topic, I remember when they built a new Woolies in my bit of Wales (Flint), late fifties, I used to pretend it was my new house going up...but yes, those books at Plas Howell do seem to have a relationship to real life!

Loryat · **Joined:** 12 May 2006, 17:54 **Posts:** 78

Ah, thank you! Hmm, that actually sounds a bit familiar, so maybe I was just being forgetful earlier...I wonder what happened to make Miss Crundell give up her school?

Caroline · **Posted:** 13 Apr 2012, 11:34

According to a later section of Goes To It, there are 10 girls from Monica's school who come to the CS:

Quote:

‘How many are we?’ demanded Bill, as she helped herself to a cress sandwich.

‘Eighty-seven so far. Of course, we should never have got so many new girls this term if it hadn’t been for that Medbury school closing. As it is, we’ve got ten of theirs. I understand that Miss Cundell never took more than twenty-five at most, and when the school closed she had only nineteen. She told me that she had given the parents two terms’ notice, so one or two were sent to boarding-school at once. Three of the elder girls have gone to the grammar school at Weonister, which is seven miles from Medbury; the rest are, for the most part, either to go to other boarding-schools or have changed to a small day-school which had been begun in the same place. But they are all Juniors.’

‘And then there are the two Wallace girls from the Vicarage,’ added Bill musingly. ‘And that doctor’s girl from St Wynedd’s—what is her name?’

‘You mean Terry Prosser,’ laughed the Head.

We later find out that five of the new girls are in the Fifth Form: Jocelyn Redford, Clare Danvers, Myfanwy Tudor, Monica Marilliar and Ernestine Benedict. I can't remember how many of these are from Monica the book.

Oooh - and I've just found another in the 6th Form:

Quote:

Gwladys Evans, a former Braemar House girl

And there is also Iris Stephens, a new girl, in the 6th, but EBD doesn't specifically say whether she came from Braemar House.

Jennie · **Posted:** 15 Apr 2012, 16:08

I found that idea quite strange, that they were to pull down Braemar House to build a new Woolworth. Perhaps it was to show that EBD was up to date, but I really cannot imagine why it should be.

If I remember correctly, the Marilliar family, and the school, were living in one of the best areas of Medbury, as EBD describes broad streets and big houses, and when you consider how many people could be accommodated in the Marilliar house, it just seems strange to plonk a Woolies in the middle of it all.

claire · **Posted:** 16 Apr 2012, 09:23

I don't think the school was that close to her home though, within walking distance for sure but not same street

judithR · **Posted:** 16 Apr 2012, 09:36

And why they were building a Woolworth's (or anything else) at that time

jinglepupskye · **Joined:** 12 Jun 2011, 11:48 **Posts:** 122

judithR wrote:

And why they were building a Woolworth's (or anything else) at that time

Although Woolworths suspended their building programme between 1940 and 1950 they still opened almost 350 stores between 1931 and 1953 when the 800th store was opened.

So, assuming the book is set in 1939/1940, there are no reasons why it shouldn't be built and many good reasons why it should be built given the rate of expansion of the company at that time.

I don't believe that the day war broke out the whole country came to a standstill. Presumably buildings already under construction would be completed.

And just for curiosity sake: On 25 November 1944, during the final months of World War II, the Woolworths store in New Cross, London, was hit by a V-2 rocket, killing 168 people.

judithR · **Posted:** 16 Apr 2012, 13:24

Just for interest, the Channel Islands were occupied from end of June 1940. I'd asssumed Goes To It was set in the autumn term of 1940.

jinglepupskye · **Joined:** 12 Jun 2011, 11:48 **Posts:** 122

That would fit in with the timescale. It takes time to demolish a building, clear the site and then rebuild, so presumably the Woolworths would have been one of the last ones completed before they shut down for the duration. (In the real world!).

Cesca · **Posted:** 16 Apr 2012, 17:08

Jennie wrote:

I found that idea quite strange, that they were to pull down Braemar House to build a new Woolworth. Perhaps it was to show that EBD was up to date, but I really cannot imagine why it should be.

If I remember correctly, the Marilliar family, and the school, were living in one of the best areas of Medbury, as EBD describes broad streets and big houses, and when you consider how many people could be accommodated in the Marilliar house, it just seems strange to plonk a Woolies in the middle of it all.

A Nancy Mitford character mentions popping into Woolworths where one is bound to find something useful and there is a rather bizarre novel The Brontes Went to Woolworths from the early 30s so I'm guessing mentioning it, was, as you suggest, a literary way of keeping it real! Sorry to go slightly OT but I really didn't like the Brontes/Woolworth book which I know is supposed to be quirky; the main characters sneer too much for my tastes and are definitely not Chaletians. Would love to know if Elinor had read Mitford and TBWW.

Alison H · **Posted:** 16 Apr 2012, 17:14

I find the British books much more down to earth generally. I suppose it's inevitable, because there's never going to be that "exotic" feeling about Hereford and Ledbury (no offence to Hereford and Ledbury, but you know what I mean!) that there is about a lakeside village in Austria or a remote part of the Swiss Alps, and I think the mention of Woolworths is in keeping with that

.

Loryat · **Joined:** 12 May 2006, 17:54 **Posts:** 78

Caroline wrote:

Quote:

‘How many are we?’ demanded Bill, as she helped herself to a cress sandwich.

‘Eighty-seven so far. Of course, we should never have got so many new girls this term if it hadn’t been for that Medbury school closing. As it is, we’ve got ten of theirs. I understand that Miss Cundell never took more than twenty-five at most, and when the school closed she had only nineteen. She told me that she had given the parents two terms’ notice, so one or two were sent to boarding-school at once. Three of the elder girls have gone to the grammar school at Weonister, which is seven miles from Medbury; the rest are, for the most part, either to go to other boarding-schools or have changed to a small day-school which had been begun in the same place. But they are all Juniors.’

‘And then there are the two Wallace girls from the Vicarage,’ added Bill musingly. ‘And that doctor’s girl from St Wynedd’s—what is her name?’

‘You mean Terry Prosser,’ laughed the Head.

We later find out that five of the new girls are in the Fifth Form: Jocelyn Redford, Clare Danvers, Myfanwy Tudor, Monica Marilliar and Ernestine Benedict. I can't remember how many of these are from Monica the book.

I really feel like I've read all this before so I suppose I was being forgetful earlier. How embarrassing!

I wonder why such a superdoc as Dr Marillar left it till the very last minute to find a new school for his duaghter and nieces? He couldn't know after all that the eminently suitable CS would happen to settle in his near neighbourhood!

Alison H · **Posted:** 17 Apr 2012, 12:41

I think he was harrassed because his super-efficient sister-in-law/housekeeper Peggy Primrose was devoting so much of her time to voluntary work for the war effort ... which is more than can be said for most of the CS ladies :roll:

!

JayB · **Posted:** 23 May 2012, 13:52

judithR wrote:

Just for interest, the Channel Islands were occupied from end of June 1940. I'd asssumed Goes To It was set in the autumn term of 1940.

I think it's set in the summer term of 1940, isn't it?

If Miss Cundell gave two terms' notice and closed at Easter, all the arrangements must have been made/contracts signed back in the summer of '39 before war broke out. Even if the Woolworths was then put on hold for the duration, it would have been too late for Miss Cundell to change her plans to close, especially if some of her girls had left immediately.

JB · **Posted:** 23 May 2012, 18:10

It is the summer term of 1940. The second part of Exile takes part in the autumn term of 1939 and there's a term's gap between that and Goes To It (although the start of Goes To It makes it sound as though it starts directly after Exile when Miss Annersley frets about one enemy plane making it to Guernsey).

Caty · **Posted:** 26 May 2012, 01:40

Once I read Monica, I did find it strange that EBD elected to close the school down. I suppose it was a way of introducing more people that her readers knew to flesh out the school. She knew she couldn't have most of her non UK characters - even having Americans was a bit dubious so she suddenly lost a cast of characters.

The UK books are more grounded and realisted. Presumably because EBD was writing them in real time and was au fait with everday things. In the Tiernsee, she was building an imaginary world, based on one visit 16 years earlier by the end. As for Switzerland, it was even worse. No visit, just books.

Monica Turn up Trumps characters in CS

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