From the earliest days of Guiding, authors were incorporating Guiding into their fiction short stories and books – and sometimes writing stories specifically about Brownies, Guides, Land Rangers and Sea Rangers. Here we’ll look at some of the books, storylines, and authors.
You might wonder, why on earth would one include a section on Guiding fiction on an otherwise factual history site? The answer is the insights and impressions which authors can give of units in a range of eras and different types of settings – in deprived areas, in working class areas, in middle class areas, in boarding schools, in upper-class finishing schools, in inner cities, and in rural or isolated places – insights which it is hard to otherwise obtain when looking at 20th century history from a 21st century position. Many of the books give an idea of the activities that girls actually did at regular unit meetings, on outings, and at camps or indoor holidays, beyond those which appear in the Association’s official games books, camping manuals, or crop up in badge-work – as several of the authors either were active Guiders themselves, or had visited units to obtain ‘colour’ for their work and could present reality rather than just theory.
Amongst the books we do see a range of characters, and although some of the characters are clear ‘too-good-to-be-true’ or ‘absolute rotter’ weak inventions, other characters are more natural and believable – rounded characters who have both merits and weaknesses or flaws, reassuring us that in every era the Guides were not perfect – most of them found things like keeping the Promise and Law, having a smart uniform, and coping with emergencies – far from straightforward, just like nowadays. We also get insights into girls’ general lifestyles in different eras, through some of the inconsequential details – the size of families and the types of houses they lived in, the sort of housework girls were expected to do at home, and the type of domestic servants they did or didn’t have, the extent of freedom they had to go out without adults from an early age, the level of responsibility they were expected to show in looking after younger siblings whilst still children themselves, the different roles which girls and boys had within families (and which their parents or guardians took, if they had parents on the scene), the sort of employment options they had and at what age they commenced working, if they did – and the different experiences of 14-years-olds of different classes, some of whom were ‘naughty middles’ playing childish tricks at boarding school – while their working-class equivalents were working hard and long hours as servants, factory workers, farm workers or shop girls, in some cases doing jobs which could damage their physical health, in order to bring in a meagre wage (less than a boy would have earned) which was often much-needed at home – all of these little details give us insights into what ordinary life might have really been like, for real girls who were Brownies, Guides or Rangers, in different decades of the twentieth century.
Thus can Guiding fiction be useful in helping give us insights into the lives of girls in the past, and in informing our view of Guiding fact in a way that reference books can’t . . .
The classic era for Guide and Ranger fiction was 1912 – 1955 (though a handful of later Guide books emerged, and Brownie fiction continued for a few decades longer). The Guide story era is also matched by the classic era for general fiction books for girls – the school stories and adventure stories, many of which were most commonly given as school or Sunday school prizes, occasionally as birthday or Christmas presents. It can be noted that the end of this era coincides with television becoming widespread, providing an alternative source of entertainment in the home.
We also have to find a definition of ‘Guide fiction’. There is no debate over those stories where Guiding is the main focus of the plot, and little debate in stories where there is at least one chapter within a fiction book which is specifically about Guiding. Where it gets more tricky is in stories where ‘the heroine knew what to do because she had once been a Guide’ or ‘the heroine wanted to be a Guide but was refused permission to join so tried to be a Guide in secret’. I will try to stick to the ‘at least one chapter’ as a baseline, whilst accepting the other two categories if, in totting up, they approach the equivalent of ‘one chapter worth’.
Lists of fiction here are not definitive – although several people have done groundwork to try to create lists of Guiding fiction, more books are regularly being discovered, and a few new books are being written. So I would be happy to be alerted to any omissions – or any books which you feel have strayed onto the list but don’t belong there . . .
The first Guiding fiction book published was Terry The Girl Guide, by Dorothea Moore. Moore was already an experienced author of fiction for girls, who went on to be a Guider in Eastbourne.
Terry’s five brothers are keen Scouts and regular campers, she tries to hide her disappointment that she is restricted to helping them pack and making their breakfast before waving them off as they head to Scout camp, as although in most activities she joined in with them as an equal, in this she may not. Her father notices with appreciation the brave face she is putting on. She had heard her father’s tales of the capable Nurse Fleur-de-Lys, who had saved his life when he was wounded in the Boer war in South Africa. She is delighted when, as consolation for not going away with her brothers, her father announces he is taking her on holiday to France instead. At the beach, as she is waiting for him to finish changing so she can have her first ever swimming lesson, she sees two children struggling in the water and, knowing nothing of swimming or rescuing, is helpless to do anything but call for her father and leave it up to him to do the rescuing. For as a girl who cannot swim she is helpless to do anything. She determines to remedy this helplessness . . .
Later editions of this book were updated to place her father as a World War 1 veteran, among other tweaks.
Dorothea Moore went on to write a number of other books, some featuring Guiding, most of which were well received and fell within the usual lines for Guiding stories, of being ‘just about plausible’. These include:
Guide Gilly, Adventurer – which features a schoolgirl in a ‘Ruritania’ type kingdom in eastern Europe who uses her knowledge learned as a former Guide to try and protect the young Princess from danger.
Greta of the Guides – where a girl from a lowly state school wins a scholarship to the exclusive Wendover school, fears she will not fit in, but finds friends in the school Guides.
Brenda of Beech House in 1927, which features Princess Brenda of Nystrea, who has tired of her restricted life in the palace with her governess and servants – especially as her brother is shortly to go away to boarding school in England, which would leave her even more alone. She is delighted to discover that she too is to be sent to boarding school in England.
Sara To The Rescue (1934) – Sara lives with Mrs Jennings, who runs a faded boarding house in London. Sara had stayed there with her late Aunt, who had been her guardian. Following her Aunt’s death, Mrs Jennings had allowed Sara to remain at a reduced rent in exchange for work, Guides being her one escape. Whilst posting a letter she encounters a lost girl needing directions to Paddington Station, Sara opts to take her on the bus to show her the way, and on arrival ends up, through mistaken identity, being bundled onto a train and en route to Cornwall, where further intrigues follow.
The one exception to the ‘just about plausible’ was one of her last books, ‘Judy, Patrol Leader’. There is a suspicion amongst some readers that this book was actually concocted by the publisher out of several separate short stories, which were lumped together and packaged as one book – the unfortunate result is a tale of a schoolgirl who rushes from from carrying out one dramatic lifesaving rescue-in-the-nick-of-time to another – all allegedly occurring within the space of a few days or weeks. Only a very young and naïve reader would not be left questioning whether Judy was really the heroine she is presented as, clearly deserving to wear a row of Guide gallantry medals – or more realistically, would see her as a top-grade jinx, certain to bring severe danger to anyone who as much as momentarily crosses her path!
Brenda Girvin was another experienced children’s author who tried her hand at a Guide story in those early years. Her “The Girl Scout” from 1913 featured Aggie and her friends trying their hands at forming a Girl Scout Patrol and at being rivals to the Boy Scout Patrol which Aggie’s brother had already joined.
It is especially fascinating, as it underwent various versions over the years – the girls’ uniforms changed from brown to blue, and some of the references to badges were updated to match programme changes, as was the identity of a significant character in the final chapter . . .
Girvin wrote more books – Betty the Girl Guide and June the Girl Guide, both of which showed her general skill as an author
Betty the Girl Guide was printed prior to 1922. The eponymous heroine is on holiday, and gets the chance to take part in a skiing outing with her new friend Rodger, and his mother. Rodger could be heir to his Great Uncle’s estate were it not that he hoped for a career in music rather than in his Great Uncle’s business empire. At the ski hut Betty found various odd signs – brown splashes in the snow, a buckle on the floor – and a mysterious note – “One hundred points will be paid to him who shall identify the last visitor to this hut.” Can Betty work it out?
Published in 1926, June the Girl Guide features a young Guide, recently enrolled – with the Guide meeting having finished early four of the Guides opt to go blackberrying in the wood before heading home, and invite June to go with them. Becoming slightly separated from the rest, she notices a previously empty old house is now occupied, and the lady occupant, looking over the fence, invites June in to pick flowers. June notices that Mrs Webber has been crying, and the lady explains that the Doctors recommend her daughter Rachel should go to a home at Davos in Switzerland for her health – But Mrs Webber doesn’t have the money. The old caretaker had given her a pottery pot which has a legend attached – that if the pot were put under a rose tree in the garden of that house on the fifteenth of September, and a Webber was in need, the pot would contain the money needed . . .
Other Guide authors of the 1910s were A M Irvine, author of Nora the Girl Guide, which follows the classic school-story tale of the bad girl made good. Nora Gilbert is Abbotswell Hall’s most troublesome pupil. All of the pupils in the school bar one are ‘agin the Government’ and support each others’ misdeeds and refusal to own up to any incident of rule breaking or dishonesty, but Nora is their natural leader. The sole exception to the pupils’ own code of honour is Brenda Gale, a new girl, who has been a Guide, and tries to keep her Promise despite it making her the odd one out of the entire school. It is Brenda who suggests to the head that a Guide company might be started in the school, despite Nora taking steps to ensure the suggestion lacks any support . . .Then an incident happens and Nora’s conscience bothers her for the first time – could she confess her misdeed, and lose face to Brenda and the whole school?
Naida the Tenderfoot, published in 1919, features one Naida Southland – her Guide friends (including one who already wears the Badge of Merit) – try to persuade her to join them – but she is wary of the commitment to daily good turns, and in her first interview with the Captain on applying to join Guides, her honest feelings on committing to keeping several of the Laws are revealed, and her application rejected. Naida’s Aunt had hoped that Guides might cure the more glaring of her niece’s faults. Though the Captain did not want her Company spoiled, she was at last persuaded to allow Naida a chance. But Naida does bad turns, and loses her Tenderfoot badge as a result. It is decided Naida must go to boarding school – her Aunt challenges her to win back her badge before she leaves for the school . . .
In ‘The Girl Who Ran Away’ of 1921, the main character Honor Harvey has been brought up by her widower father, and considers herself mistress of the house, only doing what she wants, and believing herself to be simultaneously talented to genius level at each of art, writing and acting. Her father is persuaded to send her to the school run by his sister-in-law, her Aunt Eleanor, whom Honor has not met. To her shock, Honor finds herself treated as a mere lower fourth former – not a genius, nor the recipient of any privileges resulting from being related to the headmistress.
Also writing in this era is Constance Gregory , author of ‘The Castlestone House Company’, published in 1918. In it, one of the schoolgirls buys a copy of “Girl Guiding” and shares it with her friends. They choose a teacher to approach about forming a Guide Patrol, only to discover that the headmistress is already considering starting a school Guide Company. Soon, Guide mania spreads through the school, as the Guides devote long hours to learning the skills, and long to live up to their elder brothers away fighting in WW1, by ‘doing their bit’ for the country too . . .
Elsie Oxenham is more famous for her main ‘Tuck Shop Girls’ series, but did write some books about Guides within that series, often contrasting them with the Camp Fire Movement for Girls, which followed a less formal and more domestic skills-focussed programme. Her Guide books were:
The Tuck-Shop Girl (1916)
The School of Ups and Downs (1918)
Patience Joan, Outsider (1922)
Ven at Gregory’s (1925)
The Camp Fire Torment (1926)
Patience and her Problems (1927)
The Crisis in Camp Keema (1928)
Deb at School (1929)
The Abbey Girls Play Up (1931) – Cicely had been found in France by a Guide Company camping in France, adopted by the Guiders, and brought home to live with Mrs Gregory, a friend of theirs. Cicely’s growing love of folk dancing leads to a change of the plans for her future . . .
The Camp Mystery (1932)
The Reformation of Jinty (1933)
Jinty’s Patrol (1934)
Peggy and the Brotherhood (1936)
A Divided Patrol.
Started in the USA, the Camp Fire movement was more focused on self-expression and on arts and homeskills than the first aid, outdoor adventure and testwork found in Guiding – they didn’t go in for formal uniforms and drill, but wore fringed robes similar in style to those worn by some native Americans, and worked to earn beads to wear on their robes.
The 1920s saw a major expansion in Guiding post World War 1, and equally, an expansion in Guide fiction. HB (Helen Beatrice) Davidson started her career and wrote many books focused not just on Guides, but also on Brownies and on Rangers too.
Her Brownie books often focused on individuals joining a pack and finding their place amidst the fun and adventures. Her Guide books tended to focus on working class girls, often leaving home and earning their own living in shops or factories whilst taking evening classes in order to progress their careers, or otherwise being uprooted in some way and finding themselves in unfamiliar circumstances, where they make good.
The books were:
Pat of Whitehouse (1924) – for convenience, Pat has attended the boys’ prep school her widower father is headmaster of, alongside the boys, but one prank too many sees her sent away to a girls’ school – when a senior girl, Ella, wants to break bounds when laying the trail in a tracking game, Pat refuses to be drawn in . . .
Peggy Pemberton, Brownie (1924), and Peggy’s School Pack (1925) – though they have both just returned to the UK from abroad, Peggy Pemberton’s widower father has to almost immediately go away on business, leaving Peggy with her Aunt, Uncle and girl cousins – here she struggles to fit in, but encounters the local Brownies, and gains permission to join them. Then when the girls’ governess suddenly leaves to be married, Peggy and her cousin are sent to boarding school.
The Guides Make Good (1925) – home from India for the first time at 14, the twins are sent to a school chosen by their socialite Aunt, Lady Challenor, and find it uninspiring – so they set up a secret Guide Patrol.
The Ardice Fortune (1926) – The Huttons, father and daughter, come in for a half share of the Ardice fortune, and go to stay with the gentleman who inherited the other half – but that gentleman and his partner seem slow to get down to sorting out the business affairs, and during the delay the Huttons’ limited funds are dwindling. Elsie Hutton becomes even more suspicious when she is sent away to boarding school – are the gentleman and his partner trying to get her away so her father is isolated and vulnerable?
Geraldine, A Ranger (1926) – Geraldine moves to London to start work, boarding with her Aunt and Uncle, and her Cousin – who is of a similar age but goes out partying every night. Geraldine is lonely – until she finds a Ranger unit nearby.
The Camp Across The Road (1927) –
Bridget And The Dragon (1927) – The Long Gretton Guides are on their first camp. Next to their field is a cottage, owned by Miss Jenkins, a stern elderly lady who strongly disapproves of the camp.
Jerry and Joan (1927) – Her parents abroad, Joan is sent to live with her Aunt, Uncle and Cousin Jerry. Jerry is a Cub, and Joan gets to join Brownies.
Meg And The Guides (1928) – Florrie leaves her home and Guides to live with her Aunt, the Housekeeper of Thornby Manor, to gain a few months’ practical experience of being a housemaid ‘in service’ prior to job-hunting for such a post in the autumn. While there she befriends Meg, who lives on a nearby farm. When a picture is stolen from Thornby Manor, Florrie and Meg, along with two Scouts camping at Meg’s home, turn detective . . .
Jane the Determined (1929) – Jane Weaver leaves home and turns up at her Aunt’s house, planning to live there and to seek a job. She succeeds and her new employer, bookseller Mr Pennybright, sees her potential. Her future is looking bright, until . . .
Bunch, a Brownie (c1930) – ‘Bunch’ Meadowbrow and her friend ‘Micky’ Penrose, are excited by the pack’s forthcoming outing to see plays and go boating . . .
The Castle Tea-Garden (1930) – Aunt Cora Malcolm and her nieces Vera, Teddy and Judy are of limited means following the death of the girls’ father, so move to the country together to open a tea-garden near Burnham Castle – but something seems to be keeping potential customers away . . .
Belle Joins The Brownies (1932) – Belle Clarke is adopted and leaves her children’s home to stay with Miss Dickson, in the country. She meets neighbouring children Jill and Tony, and goes to Brownies with Jill . . .
The Makeshift Patrol (1932) – The Skylark Patrol head off to camp in Sussex, with two borrowed Guiders. They camp next to the Smuggler’s Inn, reputed to be haunted, and strange experiences start . . .
Sea Rangers of the ‘Rodney’ (1933) – Mary Rose meets up with a group planning to start a Sea Ranger crew. While waiting for their Skipper to be available to start the crew properly, they work on learning nautical skills . . .
Brenda in Belgium (1934) – Unable to go home for the school holidays due to her brother’s infectious illness, Brenda joins classmate Ruth who is spending the holidays at her old nanny’s home in Belgium. There they meet with the local Guides and share in adventure . . .
The Brownie Village (1935) – A Brownie unit is being started in the village, and if every girl joins, it will be a Brownie village . . .
Adventurers in Camp (1935) –
How Judy Passed Her Tests (1936) – Judy Challoner has left India to live with her Aunt in the country expecting it to be dull – but meets Anne and joins Guides.
Billy Goes to Camp (1937) – Billy loses her train to school, visits nearby caves, meets a Guide there, and sneaks onto the Guides’ coach – only to find it has taken her to the very school she was meant to be heading to anyway. She joins the school in time to take part in the Company’s annual camp . . .
A Gypsy Brownie (c1939) – Anne Barnes hears gypsies are living near her country home, and is surprised to find one girl from the encampment, Birdie, joining her school class. She befriends the girl and invites her to come to Brownies . . .
F O H Nash, from 1922, also wrote many Guiding fiction books. As well as several one-off Guide books, she wrote a series of books about Audrey, a Guide and then Sea Ranger. Several of her books feature a rebel character – someone up to no good, or treating others unfairly.
How Audrey Became a Guide (1922) – Twelve year old Audrey had been living with Granny, Now her Father was leaving the army and setting up a home for Audrey, with his new wife. Audrey liked her new stepmother Hilda, except for one thing – she was a Guide Commissioner. Audrey is not interested in becoming a Guide. When Hilda’s young cousin Patsy, a Guide, comes to stay for the holidays, Audrey is even less keen. Patsy was unused to being in the country, and using a log to cross a stream, it tips, and Patsy twists her ankle – with no help near . . .
Audrey in Camp (1923) – Audrey is now a Guide and goes to a camp involving four Companies, and enjoys all of the camp fun.
Audrey At School (1925) – After a delay due to whooping cough, Audrey is heading to Boglemere Park School, which has an active Guide company . . .
Some Brownies and a Boggart (1926) – A new Brownie Pack starts at Monks Verney, and Alison Murray, one of the Sixers, enjoys the pack’s adventures.
Richenda And The Mystery Girl (1928) – Richenda Arden is a pupil in the Lower Fourth at Rawdon Court School, and a natural leader. Home for the Easter holidays, she discovers she has actually permanently left school and is going to live with General Lloyd and his wife as companion to his daughter Megan, at Plas Merion in North Wales. The two girls spend much of the time with a governess, but one afternoon slip out to explore the nearby woodland. They come across a cottage, discover a girl chopping wood, and ask her about the wildlife – an old man appears from the woodshed accusing them of trespassing and sends them off. But – who is the girl?
Merrie Brandon (1929) – Merrie Brandon is not a popular girl in Hengestbury School, due to her tendency to put fun before sense. She also refuses to talk of her old school St Jerome’s, or why she left it. Then a new girl arrives at Hengestbury who used to go to St Jerome’s while Merrie was there . . .
Audrey The Sea Ranger (1931) – While their house is having an extension built, Audrey and her parents move into a house at the coast, at Heathmoor Bay. Audrey meets two Sea Rangers, joins their Sea Ranger ‘Ship’ – and becomes involved in their adventures . . .
Kattie of the Balkans (1931) – Bunnie Cooter, Peggy Newcome – and Kattie Ilieff from the country of Silaria – are pupils at St Cecilia’s school, and Guides. During the holidays Bunnie and Peggy are due to go to Guide Camp with Bunnie’s home Guide Company. On hearing that Kattie would be stuck at school over the holidays, they invite her too . . .
Richenda In The Alps (1936) – Richenda Arden receives a letter from her friend Gwenneth Wynne, whose mother is a film star – mother’s next acting role is French, so she plans to travel abroad to pick up the accent, and invites the two girls to come to the continent with her and spend part of the time with a professor friend, to improve their french . . .
Hopefuls Adrift (1936) – Home from their schools for the summer holidays, Joy and her brother Roddie plot to find hidden Danegelt. With their parents working abroad for three weeks, they were free to find adventure.
Merrily Makes Things Move (1942) (With Mrs A C Osborn Hann) – Merrily and her boarding school friends plan to spend the school holidays hunting war spies. Merrily and older sister Rosemary go to stay with their Aunt and Uncle, their three evacuees, and a bombed-out pensioner couple, at their rural rectory in the Mendips. Merrily finds out about a secret passage between the church and manor house, and she and the evacuees plot to get access to it . . .
Lucy Of The Sea Rangers (1943) – It’s April 1941 and Lucy Butler opts to stay in London to continue working at her department-store job, staying in the shop’s hostel and attending Sea Rangers, whilst waiting to be old enough to join the WRNS, whilst her mother moves to Birmingham to become a munitions worker. But on the first night after moving into the hostel, the shop is bombed and burnt out, despite Lucy’s efforts to help deal with the incendiaries on the roof. Now both homeless and jobless, in the morning she catches the train to stay with her shopkeeper Aunt in Somerset. There she starts a Sea Ranger Patrol, SRS Black Swan, and has adventures . . .
Guides Of The Glen School (1948) – Sylvia Roberts had been living with her mother in a caravan, but they now go to stay with her Aunt and Uncle. Unknown to Sylvia, this was because she was going to attend boarding school with her cousins. She joins the school Guide Company . . .
Second Class Judy (1952) – Guide Judy Redford longs to go to camp with her Company – but her Aunt Gladys, with whom she lives due to her father being abroad, won’t pay. Judy can only attend Guide meetings if her Aunt decides the housework allows, and with any Guiding activities outwith weekly meetings forbidden her, she hasn’t been able to finish the practical clauses of Second Class. Normally, only Guides who have Second Class get to go to camp, but camp could be her only chance to finish the remaining clauses, if only her Aunt would let her go . . .
Sybil B Owsley was writing in the late 1920s and 1930s, and tended to focus on girls being uprooted from their previous experiences. She was better known for the many Brownie fiction books she wrote.
An Absent Minded Schoolgirl (1928) – Rosemary Lingard of the sixth form agrees to transfer to the school’s domestic science annexe for a year’s training, leaving behind her friends in the main school who see the annexe as inferior because it teaches housework not academic subjects. Rosemary is not a natural at any domestic skills, but discovers her fellow students are a livewire bunch who take Rosemary punting, camping – and persuade her to join Cadets . . .
Dulcie Captains The School (1928) – Next term, due to a high number of leavers, Dulcie Dorman will be the only remaining member of Upper Sixth at Hedley High School, and thus School Captain. She lives with her widowed mother, and they take in pupils as boarders to make ends meet. The workload of the large household means Dulcie hasn’t been able to be an active Guide of late. Then cousin Deborah comes to join the boarders . . .
The Guides of North Cliff (1928) – Lorna Drake joins her cousin’s school, but at 16, and having lived exclusively with adults, she finds it difficult to fit in. Her decision not to join Guides further alienates her . . .
A Make-Believe Brownie (1929) – Nine-year-old Barbara has spent her life ‘wrapped in cotton wool’, not allowed to join Brownies for fear she might catch illness from the other girls. Finally she is allowed to stay with Aunt Mildred and Uncle Harry, and cousins Ron, Stephen, Tim, Nicholas and Robina, on their farm, while her mother is abroad. There she tries to live by the Brownie Promise even if she can’t make it . . .
Andy, A Pixie (1932) – Andrina lives with her spinster Aunts, bringing mess and muddle to her Aunts’ home. Then the Pack Leader and Brown Owl persuade Andrina to give Brownies a try . . .
The School That Was Different (1932) – Miss Hermione Glynn has brought up her late brother’s children – now they are grown up, she is free to resume her abandoned teaching career – but she to do it as a headmistress not a teacher, so finds a run-down day school and takes on the task of transforming it – buildings, teachers, and pupils – and starting Guides . . .
Brownie Revels (1932) (with Mrs AC Osborn Hann) – A collection of short stories – A Great Big Adventure, Ten Little Brownie Girls, Boggart or Brownie, Brownie Revels, The Changing of Philippa, This Brownie Business, Lend A Hand, and, The Brownie Who Lost Things.
A Madcap Brownie (c1933) – Moppy’s younger brother is off to Wolf Cub Camp, and Moppy is miffed. Then she discovers that fellow Elves, Iris and Ann, are spending the holidays in a cottage near the Cub Camp, and they agree Moppy can go too, and they can have a camp of their own.
School Knight Errant (1934) – Margaret and Vivian Cambie have lived with their Aunt and Uncle, following the death of their mother and while their father was abroad. Six years on, the position is unchanged, the girls spending most of the year away at school, Margaret is an excellent student. But Vivian is a problem – seeing unjustness in just situations and campaigning for one supposed underdog after another – causing disruption as a result. The head warns Margaret that Vivian is close to being expelled. When the other PLs realise Margaret is worrying about this, they propose taking Vivian to the next Guide Camp, despite her not having Second Class yet . . .
Three Guides Adventuring (1934) (with Mrs AC Osborn Hann) – Three Guides from the Ladymead Company with differing personalities – Nicolette Hatherall, her Cousin Elspeth, and Laurie Dawson – all leave to take up work. Nicolette is to be a haberdashery apprentice, Elspeth a nurse probationer, while Laurie goes home to help her parents at the lighthouse her father is Lighthouse Keeper of. Each has adventures . . .
Brownies All (1936) – Georgina MacVinnie is one of 12 Brownies in 1st Burrswood Pack. She spots a toddler climbing up a high ladder . . .
A Round-The-Year Brownie Book (1937) – Annual-style book. Stories: Wee Folk, A Happy New Year, Thinking Day, The Wolf Cub Pup, Two Tweenies, The Song Of The Storm, Lily Flower, A Tail Of Woe, Wendy Goes Wandering, The Tweeny Who Couldn’t Laugh, The Sign Of The Three Owls, The Golden Journey, The Eve O The Golden Hand, Brownies Grow Up, Through Sylvia’s Eyes, Hide And Seek, and, A Birthday Story.
Brownie Gold (1939) – Collection of short stories – Kathleen’s Key, February Face, One Little Welsh Girl, He Kindled a Fire, The Hazel Wood, Too Tame a Dragon, The Golden Flute, The Real Maureen, A Brownie and Cordelia, Vanessa and Brownie Magic, Brownie Wings, Crossed Crutches, Brownies Get Busy, and, Mrs Murphy’s Jane.
Nicolette Goes Guiding (1939) – Nicolette, who is half-French, lives with her cousin Elspeth and family on a farm in a tiny village. Following an accident which was mainly Nicolette’s fault, she meets 11-year-old Claudia, who is due to spend the winter in Monaco. When Claudia’s family discover Nicolette has an Aunt living near Monaco they invite her to act as Claudia’s companion during the journey. On arrival, Nicolette finds her dreams of a rich Aunt and family shattered – Mme Verley looked tired and old, the family home was a one-room farmhouse. Nicolette was expected to help the family with the farm work by day, and sleep with them in the hayloft by night. After three weeks she joins Claudia and her grandfather at their grand chateau. Following a scrape where she ends up locked in the Jardines Exotiques, she meets a local Guide . . .
Unusual among the authors was Mrs A C Osborn Hann. Dorothy Osborn Hann was a vicar’s wife, and in her early books wrote about working-class Guides from Walworth in London, in a naturalistic way, yet reflecting some of the harsh realities of their lives such as infant mortality, poverty, impact of wayward fathers on the family, etc. Her main body of work was a series of books about a particular fictional Walworth Guide Patrol, with her heroine, Peg, going from new Guide appointed as Daffodil Patrol Leader when the Guide Company is first started, through to becoming a Ranger, moving to the country, becoming married with children, and becoming a Guide Captain in her own right. The books were also unusual in featuring photographs of real-life Guides – probably from Osborn Hann’s own unit – and in featuring the reality rather than the rose-tinted view of Guiding – including Promise ceremonies where the recruit needs to be prompted, or incidents where it was the adults to the rescue, not always a heroic or clever Guide who used her Guide training. The books include snippets such as instructions for the games the unit played or the jokes they made (such as the humorous limericks by ‘Spud’), and have a range of different plausible character types, most of whom were neither wholly bad nor wholly good. As well as the main series featuring Peg and the Daffodil Patrol, she also wrote some ‘spin-offs’ from the series – such as The Sunshine Shop which featured some of the other Patrols, The Pluck of The Coward, and Smiler A Girl Guide. She also wrote some Brownie stories, in the same style. She later moved on to standalone stories of Brownies or Guides.
Peg’s Patrol (1924) – The Walworth parish girls’ club is on paper run by Miss Peek, but in reality by the ringleader, Peg. The new vicar hopes to turn it into a Guide company, but will Peg and her friends be persuaded?
Rhoda The Rebel (1925) (reprinted as Rosemary The Rebel) – RTS. Rhoda Sullivan was her father’s accomplice in housebreaking – and is also a local troublemaker in her own right. One night she throws fireworks into the hall while the Walworth Guides are meeting, and is recognised by one of the Guides who attends the same school – said Guide is then tasked with making a recruit of the rebel.
Smiler, A Girl Guide (1925) – Gwendolen Moran, known as Smiler, and her younger sister Gracie, return from Guide camp to find their hot-tempered father threatening to ‘do them in’, so they head straight back to Captain’s house at the vicarage, where they are given use of a tent in the back garden to stay in temporarily. Captain takes her to the Labour Exchange and finds Gwendolen a job, but a jealous ‘friend’ would rather she lost the job . . .
The Pluck of The Coward (1926) – Hope Chittenden, an orphan, lives with her Aunt and Uncle, and their lazy daughter, Ermyntrude Pincher. Though Mr Pincher was vaguely kind to her, Mrs Pincher employs Hope as a skivvy. Hope’s teacher sees the talent for her to train as a teacher, but Aunt insists she leave school immediately and take the very first job going. This is piecework shelling walnuts in a factory, working alongside Emma, Jessie, Flossie and Liza. Of these, only Emma is friendly, protecting her from the others, and inviting Hope to come to Guides with her.
Peg Lieutenant (1927) – Peg is involved in an accident with a lorry. Unable to work for two years, she is sent to live with her Uncle and Aunt, and young cousins Beattie, Jane and Horry in Somerset, far from her friends and her fiancé Bert in London. Rector’s wife Mrs Fortescue is planning to start Guides, and discovering her Guiding experience, recruits Peg as the Lieutenant.
The Sunshine Shop (1927) – Sheila, Bertha, Pixie, Lucy, Winnie, Norah and Aggie live in Walworth. Sheila, the Patrol Leader, lives with her mother above the fish shop they run – her father lives there at times, but often disappears for weeks – Sheila and her Shamrock Patrol are keen Guides
All About A Brownie (1928) – IvyJoan lived on a farm in the country. When she and her mother saw an appeal for old clothes to help fund country holidays for poor children from London, they collect together a large boxful to send – and then decide to offer a holiday to a child. So Theresa Tagg, known as Terry, came to stay with IvyJoan and her family, and as a keen Brownie, Terry was delighted to discover a pack was being started, which she and IvyJoan could join . . .
Peg the Ranger (1928) – Peg has been PL of the Daffodils for over three years, and now she is over 16, is reluctantly persuaded to give Rangers a try.
Captain Peg (1928) – Peg’s marriage has been delayed, meantime Mrs Fortescue is being pressed to give up her Guides in order to become District Commissioner. Peg is persuaded to step up to be Captain, to allow this. They enter the County competition for Second-Class Guides, and start training the two Guides chosen towards it.
Peg And Her Company (1929) – Peg and new husband Bert live in a country cottage, and Peg is Guide Captain of the young and inexperienced Guide Company. A new Guide, Angela, joins – with four service stars and a lot of confidence and badges – but she shows signs of being less than honest . . .
Peg Junior (1929) – Peg’s daughter, Peggy, is now a Brownie, and involved in all the pack’s fun . . .
Ten Little Brownie Girls (1930) – Gay and Annie live in Great Burrington, and when a Brownie pack is started Gay is made Elf Sixer – and they go on Pack Holiday.
What The Brownies Did (1930) – IvyJoan has a new baby brother, Brian, and is visited by her urban friend, Terry, who joins her at Brownies . . .
Peg’s Babies (1931) – Peg is now married with two children – Peggy, 6, and David, 5, and they have fun in the country . . .
Peg Junior (1931) – Peg’s daughter Peggy is now a keen Brownie in the pack run by the rector’s daughter, Daphne Fortescue, and is fond of animals. A former Guide from Peg’s London days, Lydia, gets in touch, and Peg invites her to stay – though Lydia finds herself a fish out of water in the country . . .
June Runs The Company (1932) – June receives a copy of the handbook, Girl Guiding, for her birthday but, not knowing about Guides and not being interested, takes the book to Alice, a sixteen-year-old disabled friend, who she thinks might enjoy it. Alice is excited by the fun she discovers in the book and enthuses June, who writes to Guide Headquarters to ask how to set up a Guide Company in the village, then sets up a Company with herself as Leader, rather than find an adult . . .
What Happened To Peg (1932) – The final story in the ‘Peg’ series sees Peg suffering a series of misfortunes, and excitements in the Guide Drama Cup Competition . . .
Brownie Revels (1932) (with Sybil Owsley) – A collection of short stories – A Great Big Adventure, Ten Little Brownie Girls, Boggart or Brownie, Brownie Revels, The Changing of Philippa, This Brownie Business, Lend A Hand, and, The Brownie Who Lost Things.
A Brownie From The Caravans (1933) – Nine-year-old Carlotta is from a traveller family and has recently come to live locally. She has got into scrapes at school, so Brown Owl suggests the Brownies try to secure her as a recruit . . .
Captain (1934) – Vonnie Mayhew was kept indoors, away from the ‘rough village girls’. Topsy, Sallie and Margie are troublemakers at school. Then two newcomers move into a cottage in the village – young spinster sisters Hilary and Brenda Winslow. They consider setting up a village Guide Company, the challenge is persuading the villagers . . .
Three Guides Adventuring (1934) (with Sibyl B Owsley) – Three Guides from the Ladymead Company start work – Nicolette as a haberdashery apprentice, Elspeth as a nurse probationer, while Laurie goes home to help her parents at their lighthouse.
Lieutenant (1935) – Brenda Winslow, Lieutenant of 1st Shenstone, is preparing to take the Guides to camp – although her recently married elder sister Hilary Graham is still Captain, Brenda now runs the Company. The newly-formed Poppy Patrol are especially keen on their forthcoming camp.
The Redheaded Patrol (1936) – The Scarlet Pimpernel Patrol happen all to have red hair, and with their ringleader Judy, are the terror of the Company. With no Guiders, the Patrol Leaders running the Company despair of doing anything with them, but new PL Ray has an idea . . .
The Torch Bearer (1938) –
Merrily Makes Things Move (1942) (With F.O.H. Nash) – Merrily and her boarding school friends plan to spend the school holidays hunting war spies. Merrily and older sister Rosemary go to stay with their Aunt and Uncle, their three evacuees, and a bombed-out pensioner couple, at their rural rectory in the Mendips. Merrily finds out about a secret passage between the church and manor house, and she and the evacuees plot to get access to it . . .
Jane’s First Term (1944) – Two contrasting girls sit the entrance exam of Melford School. Audrey Forrest is good looking and confident – her widowed mother currently works as a private nurse at a convalescent home in the country – Audrey presents it as their living in a large country house with an estate. Jane Smith is nervous, and plain – she lives with her father, stepmother, and younger step-siblings – much of her spare time is spent running errands or looking after the younger children.
Chris At Boarding School (1946) – Two new girls join dormitory B at Beechlands – vicar’s daughter Chris Cunningham and farm manager’s daughter Josephine Fenton – before they even arrive the other girls in the dormitory object, as they are taking the places of two girls who have been deliberately moved out of dormitory B by matron, to split up troublemakers.
More Fun in the Country (1947) – Twins Peter and Prue have moved from London to the country, and join Wolf Cubs and Brownies respectively.
David And Jean (1948) – David joins the Wolf Cubs. The Akela is a local priest and also teaches David about Catholicism. At first there is no Brownie Pack for Jean to join, but as soon as there is she is one of the keenest recruits . . .
Five In A Family (1951) – Mrs Graham, a widow, has five children. Stephen, the eldest boy, is away at boarding school and Pat, the eldest daughter and a Guide, is always out, seeking to help others. The youngest children, Ann and Chris, are livewires. The odd-one-out of a cheerful bunch is middle daughter Phil, who is moody, nervous and temperamental – until Miss Hazell, a former ballet dancer, moves in next door – and realises Phil’s potential to become a dancer . . .
It’s Fun In The Guides (1951) – All the girls in the village joined the new Guide Company – except Penny. She and her younger siblings live with her Aunt, although Penny did most of the housework. Her Aunt didn’t hold with Guides – and the Guide Captain can’t persuade her to change her view – so Penny becomes a Guide in secret.
Tomboy Terry (1953) – Terry and Rosemary were next door neighbours, but quite unalike. Rosemary was an only child, always having to be careful of her clothes for fear of getting them dirty, whereas Terry was one of a long family, and a tomboy. In spite of her mother’s concerns, Rosemary joins Terry in her adventures . . .
Terry’s Adventures (1955) – Tomboy Terry, her brother Robin, and friend Angela live next door to Rosemary – and Rosemary’s mother dreads her girl turning into a tomboy like Terry. Terry and Angela have been Brownies, but are preparing to fly up to Guides – and go to camp . . .
Also in the 1920s was Winifred Darch, her stories tended to avoid the path well-travelled in Guiding fiction, instead focusing on girls facing loyalty dilemmas, and struggling to keep the Promise and Law in tricky circumstances.
Poppies and Prefects (1923) – The Poppy Patrol from Moreton End School are camping in Normandy with Captain (and schoolmistress) Miss Aylmer. Most get on well, but Margaret and Meriel are inclined to rub each other up the wrong way – especially as Meriel is only a Guide at her mother’s insistence. Margaret encounters a half-French girl, Jeannine, whose late father was an artist. Margaret persuades her parents to pay for Jeanine to attend Morerton End after the summer. That autumn term Margaret finds she is not only one of the three new prefects – but also Head Prefect – and seeks to recover the school from slack ways. Meriel leaves Guides and seeks to use Jeannine to get at Margaret . . .
Cecil of the Carnations (1924) – Three friends are moving into the sixth form in the North Tower House at Lone Cross School – Clarice, Nina and Cecil – and all are immature. Clarice is a rebel, always looking out for her own interests, Cecil is a fun-seeker, often in and out of scrapes and rows, and both want to be the best friend of Nina, who takes everything casually. But Cecil is starting to realise that as the only sixth formers in the house, they will also be the only realistic candidates for the house’s form head, hockey captain, patrol leader – are any of them ready for the responsibility?
Heather at the High School (1924) – Heather Finlay earns a scholarship from her basic council school to Bampton High, but finds it difficult to settle in, especially as she has an enemy making trouble for her. Until she joins Guides . . .
Gillian of the Guides (1925) – Gillian Berners is in the sixth form of Lynnaford High, a Prefect and a PL in the Guide Company, and looking forward to the Company’s forthcoming trip to Belgium – she is a livewire, who has yet to be fully tamed. She reckons herself the only likely candidate for Head Girl – but is her confidence misplaced?
Cicely Bassett, Patrol Leader (1927) – Cicely lives with her widower father, adult elder sister Helen, and younger twin siblings. She is a prefect and Patrol Leader in the sixth form at Quenton High, and viewed as the natural next Head Girl. The High School’s old-fashioned long-serving headmistress is retiring, and next term is to bring a replacement, apparently with artistic ideas. Several of the school staff – including both Guiders – opt to resign; the new headmistress brings several staff from her old school with her, and also 20 boarders, to merge with the High, which is a day school. On holiday together in Rouen, Helen and Cicely meet a school group at their accommodation. The school wear matching loose djibbah frocks and each girl has the same short hairstyle – and are all claimed to be vegetarian. That evening, after vegetarian dinner at the boarding house with the school party, Helen and Cicely are still hungry, so go to a nearby restaurant for another dinner – there they see two of the schoolgirls sneak in unescorted – and eat a full meal, including the meat course. Cicely discovers that Miss Popham is the ‘artistic’ new head of Quenton High, and will bring several ideas with her including ‘school parliament’ and ‘Society of Torchbearers’, and one of her girls will be Head Girl – but she does not intend to continue with the current organised school activities such as hockey, or Guides . . .
The Lower Fourth and Joan (1930) – Following her father’s sudden death Joan Miller’s future is uncertain – she didn’t win the High School scholarship, and her Aunt and Uncle have doubts that her elder brother can make the family mill pay, far less fund Joan’s school fees from it too. Then a local trust fund is discovered which could fund her education at the high; and she is granted it on the chair’s casting vote – one of those opposing is Mrs Billing, mother of Chloris. Chloris failed to get into the exclusive local private school, so is also joining the High – but Mrs Billing doesn’t like the idea of her girl mixing with ‘scholarship and charity girls’ . . .
One of the most famous girls’ story book authors, Elinor M Brent-Dyer, also tried her hand at Guide stories. As well as including Guide stories in her classic ‘Chalet School’ series, especially in the school’s Austrian era, in books such as ‘The Chalet Girls in Camp’, there were also some one-off stories, such as ‘Judy the Guide’ and ‘Carnation of the Upper Fourth’. In recent years some ‘fill-in’ books have been added to the Chalet School series, by various authors.
The Princess of the Chalet School (1927) – Princess Elisaveta of Belsornia joins the school, and becomes a Guide. Her safety is endangered by her jealous uncle . . .
Judy The Guide (1928) – Judy Carey lived on a ranch in Canada with her parents and siblings, her Godfather offered her a scholarship to St Ronan’s School in England as she is the bookish one of the family. There she joins the Guides. She experiences discrimination, is falsely accused of theft, and ostracised – until . . .
Rivals of the Chalet School (1929) – An English school moves to Austria and sets up at the opposite end of the lake from the Chalet School. The new school’s pupils are jealous to find the Chalet School has Guides, as their head won’t allow them a Company . . .
The Chalet School and Jo (1931) –
The Chalet Girls in Camp (1932) – the chalet girls go off on a Guide camp in an Austrian lakeside village. Their camp is disrupted by hornets, and the discovery of a body in the lake . . .
Exploits Of The Chalet Girls (1933) – A new girl arrives from Prussia, with set views on class, and struggles to settle in.
The Chalet School And The Lintons (1934) – Due to their mother’s ill health, she comes to the nearby sanatorium and the Linton sisters, Gillian and Joyce, join the Chalet School. Gillian settles in easily, being a steady worker, but spoilt and lazy Joyce makes an unwise friendship . . .
Carnation of the Upper Fourth (1934) – Carnation de Lisle’s mother died when she was born, and since then she has lived a wandering life with her father, a musician and composer. Now they have settled at Shapcott, Aunt Nancy joins them as housekeeper, and Carnation is to attend Shapcott High. There she meets Madge Harley, one of a large family who lives on the same street, and is a Guide – and Madge coaches her through her Tenderfoot tests. But Carnation finds it difficult to fit in at school . . .
The New Chalet School (1938) –
The Chalet School and the Island (1950) – With their previous premises out of action, the school moves to an island off the Welsh coast, near a bird sanctuary
The Wrong Chalet School (1952) – Katherine Gordon arrives at the Chalet School sans her trunk, due to the bungling of her artist Aunt. Whilst at school she joins in the Guides’ weekend camp.
A Rebel at the Chalet School –
Ethel Talbot was by far the most prolific of the Guide story authors, starting with ‘Peggy’s Last Term, published in 1920 but set during the First World War – but she then went on to specialise in Sea Ranger stories, with the likes of Jan at Island School, Skipper and Co, and Sea Rangers All. Sea Ranger stories do give lots of opportunities for drama – especially if they are set in Cornwall, which seems to be stereotyped as the place where all Sea Ranger camps are held, a hotbed of smugglers where the locals are highly suspicious of all tourists. But Talbot did not restrict herself entirely to Sea Rangers, producing Brownie and Guide stories through her career too . . .
Peggy’s Last Term (1920) – Peggy’s Aunt has received a letter advising Peggy is to be expelled at the end of the following term. Peggy can’t dispute that her head’s decision is fair, but decides that when she returns to school she will pretend she doesn’t mind her fate one bit. She is wrongfooted to discover that instead of ‘rebel in disgrace’, she has been made both dormitory prefect and a Patrol Leader – and a new inter-Patrol Cup competition has been started . . .
Island Camp (1923) – Robin, Peter and Jan Vaughan are expecting a visit from their cousins, Dick and Donald Lennox, at The Chase, which has been the family home for generations, albeit declining fortunes mean most of the house is closed up. But when Dick arrives, Mrs Vaughan discovers he is unwell and may have scarlet fever. So the other children camp on an island at the end of the garden, by the gardener’s cottage, to steer clear of the illness. There they hear odd noises – banging and clinking – and see strange lights – and also hear hints of a family secret . . .
Neighbours at School (1923) – Stella and Jack met at a party – Jack was injured when the inferior conjuror’s magic trick went wrong, and Stella administered first aid. Jack then discovers that Stella’s boarding school has moved from London to Cornwall, practically next door to his. They go on to have several more encounters in seeking to discover the secrets of Tregant . . .
Betty at St Benedick’s (1924) – 13-year-old Betty has, until recently, effectively been mother to her younger siblings, but now her father wants her to go to school and be a child again. She is the only new girl, and the 33rd pupil at St Benedick’s. With every other girl in the school already a Guide, the Company is deemed totally full – so Betty is told she cannot be a Guide like all the others are. She can only be a mascot . . .
The Girls of the Rookery School (1925) – Peggy Hyland joins as a new pupil, encounters the Rook Patrol, and is determined to join the Guides . . .
Bringing Back the Frasers (1926) – Short stories by Ethel Talbot and others. Title story is about the Fraser sisters having to leave their ancestral home, which is to be let. The school Guides next door have always had access to the grounds, so why does the gate-keeper now bar them – and why is the Estate Agent hearing tales from potential buyers about the place being haunted? Also contains On the Way to Market and The Spectre of the Classroom by Violet Methley, The Gallery Ghost by Mary Shrewsbury, The Shell Gatherers by Phillippa Francklyn, and What Happened to Josie by Jessie Leckie Herbertson.
Camp In The Wood (1926) –
Jan at Island School (1927) – Jim and Jan’s father has been declared bankrupt, and he is determined to pay back the debt. The offer for Jan of a boarding pupil-teacher place at The Island School on quarter fees is impossible to refuse. Boarding school on an island, Guides – and the possibility of Sea Guides once she turns 16 . . .
Jill, Lone Guide (1927) – Since their Aunt’s death a month ago, Harry and Jill had stayed on in her house, Jill keeping house while older brother Harry was at work. Now their Aunt’s villa was re-let, and more economical rooms have been taken nearby. The night before they move, they get a letter from their Aunt’s cousin offering Jill a home. Jill is at first reluctant – but then thinks of her brother’s fiancé Ethne – the couple are keen to marry, but have had to wait, as Harry’s wages were not sufficient to keep three. Jill realises she does not want to stand in their way any longer – so writes to accept, leaves a note for Harry to say where she has gone, and sets off early next morning for Midsum, before her brother can argue. But when she enquires after Miss Barrett there, the butler advises that she was taken suddenly ill, and died a few hours ago. Jill walks away, now homeless . . .
Brownies at St Brides (1928) – Having come home from India to find his only daughter spoilt, first from her Ayah in India and then by her Granny’s servants, father sends 9-year-old Polly to be a boarder at St Bride’s school. She finds that every girl in her class is a Brownie, and prepares to join too – but is she really ready?
Ranger Rose (1928) – Rose had loved school, especially sport. But during a ‘rag’ – hanging a banner on the gym roof – she had fallen and injured her back. The result was a year of lying flat, and then short walks only. Now that she is able to walk provided she is careful, she is starting at a new school instead of her old sports-mad one – but with so much of school life she must now sit out of on health grounds, how would she cope?
Meta the New Girl (1929) – Speech day at St Chad’s School is imminent, and sisters Robin and Sibyl have politely invited their UK relatives, Aunt and Uncle, despite knowing they could not afford to come. Thus they’re surprised to get a reply from step-cousin Meta, who they know has always longed to come to ‘Chad’s’. The note advises of Meta’s intention to attend Speech Day – but how? Meantime, School Patroness, the Countess of Glasgow, has her valuable black pearls stolen. And one of the Daffodil Patrol finds a baby in the woods . . .
Peppercorn Patrol (1929) – Sisters Peggy, Joan and Jill’s school term has ended early due to scarlet fever at their boarding school. Unable to spend the holidays with their Aunt due to the infection risk, she hastily arranges a stay in the country with Mrs Wallace. Mrs Wallace hasn’t seen Guides before, so is naturally shocked when, instead of a trio of polite schoolgirls with suitcases, she instead receives a trio laden with billycans, cameras, signalling flags, a Union Flag, and a portable gramophone!
Ranger Jo (1929) –
Skipper & Co (1929) – S.R.S. Hopeful are an urban Sea Ranger Crew, who only get to actually sail at their annual camps. So the prospect of three weeks in a ‘cottage with boat’ at Tregant in Cornwall excites them. But they arrive to find they find the new Squire opposes their presence, and warns off the locals from helping them . . .
Brownies All (1931) – Poppy is starting at a new school – as the only day girl at a boarding school. Her one concern is that moving house has meant leaving her old Brownie Pack. So she is delighted to find there is a Brownie Pack at the school, and she can join in all their adventures.
The Brownie Pack and other Good Turn Stories (1932) –
Anne on Her Own (1933) – Anne Heriot, a keen Ranger, had been looking after her widowed invalid mother while finishing at secretarial college. She gets a post which requires her to leave home and live in a hostel, meantime her younger sister will take over both the caring and the college place. On arrival at the hostel the night before starting work, she finds a letter from the company – they have merged with a rival, and she is no longer required. Not wanting to upset her mother and sister’s plans, she faces up to the prospect of being jobless and thus homeless, in a strange town . . .
Fairy Tales for Brownie Folk (1933) –
Paul and Pam (1933) – Twins Paul and Pam are to go on holiday to a farm, and are warned to keep within bounds there. They are staying with their mother’s old nurse – and she seems to have a secret . . .
Betty and the Brownies (1934) – Nancy is the new Sixer at her boarding school’s pack, as the former Sixer (her best friend) has left. A new girl, Betty, joins the school, having been living in India – Nancy wanted a recruit for her Six, but Betty declares Brownies to be babyish, and refuses to join – why?
Brownie Island (1935) – Brown Owl, a teacher, lives at Riverweir during the school holidays – this year she invites her small Pack to come with her to stay there, and to sail to River Island . . .
Pioneer Pat (1935) – With her elder brothers having left home, Pat has looked after her father until his recent death. Now she is heading to lodgings with £20 to pay for her accommodation, keep, and secretarial course. On the train a woman rushes into the carriage depositing her bags and papers – then realising she is on the wrong train gathers them up and rushes off again – in doing so she has inadvertently also lifted the banknotes Pat had been counting on the seat, leaving her penniless and scuppering her plans. Pat’s visit to a run-down bookshop to try and sell some of the more valuable books in her suitcase leads to an opportunity . . .
Pluck at St Cyprian’s (1935) – Hesther, Peggy and Jean attend St Cyprian’s School – the school buildings were once a monastery, and the school still owns old pre-reformation manuscripts. At the start of the new term the Head reveals that she has received an offer to sell the manuscripts, and asks the school at large their view – the pupils oppose sale, so the head advises that they will be lodged at the bank after half-term for safe keeping, by wish of the Governors. Will the delay be cause for regret?
Sea Rangers All (1935) – Six Sea Rangers, all pupils at St Treen’s School, get permission to go on a sailing holiday together at Pengorm in Cornwall, during their last term at school. One of the group, Hilda, lives there, but financial difficulties meant she was imminently leaving school, and the house which had been in the family for generations was for sale, so the group stay at her old nanny’s cottage. They soon realise they are in a part of the country where superstitions are followed . . .
Sea Rangers’ Holiday (1937) – Four Sea Rangers are off to camp at Round Hill Grange, which belongs to a friend of one of their parents. They had written to ask about camping there, though not actually heard back – there is no-one to meet them at the station, and on arrival they find the house empty and the locals unfriendly – why?
Guides Luck (1938) –
Rangers and Strangers (1938) – The Sea Ranger crew from the Midlands are camping at St Pen’s in Cornwall. Although they had assumed there would be a village and the prospect of boat hire when they get there, on arrival they find neither. St Pen’s is just one cottage, occupied by an old lady whose son is at sea, she offers provisions, and use of a boat. But – who are the two strange men who arrive also demanding use of the boat, and what are they up to?
By the 1930s fiction was in full swing, and prolific writer of stories for boys’ magazines, Ernest Protheroe, contributed to the genre in the guise of both Alys Chatwyn, and Phyllis Hanley.
Two Schoolgirl Guides (1924) – Orphan twins Belle and Myra Hatherton live with their Aunt and attend Spinminster Girls’ Secondary School, working for scholarships in hope of training as teachers. The twins are popular and attract the jealousy of a fellow pupil, Bertha Hopkins, who has always mocked the Guides as babyish, but secretly, would like to belong. When Bertha joins the same Patrol, and they head off to camp . . .
Winning Her Way (1924) – Avis Yorke lives with her Aunt Amelia, Postmistress of Churchleigh, near Grimborough where Avis attends the Grimborough Girls’ Secondary School. Avis’s father had gone to Canada hoping to take up farming, ended up at the Klondyke, and was on his way home with a modest fortune when his ship went missing. His upset wife has ended up in a convalescent home, unable to cope with the news. The plan was for Avis to train as a Secondary teacher, but her Aunt has suffered financial loss, meaning Avis’s plan is now reduced to becoming a pupil-teacher. Then Avis comes upon robbers at her Aunt’s post office . . .
Girls’ Grit (1926) – The town of Blackington is bleakly industrial, with collieries and cotton mills. Aimee Fosbrooke lived there, having left school at fifteen when her mother died, to look after her younger siblings Fred, 13, Ethel, 11, and Christine, 7. Their heartbroken father died three years later, leaving scant savings. Aimee turned her skill at needlework to good effect, becoming a dressmaker. Combined with selling the farm to move to a small house in town, Aimee has made ends meet, aided by Ethel gaining first a scholarship, and then a typist job at the local mill. Christine was at school and had become a Girl Guide. Fred, however, was a problem. One Saturday Aimee was walking through the woods to deliver a new dress when she found her path blocked by a local ruffian, who tried to grab her. Christine and her Patrol were practising stalking nearby, and on seeing her sister impeded, Christine wielded her stave, delivering first one blow on the ruffian’s back, then another on the back of his head . . .
Bridget of the Guides (1927) – The new Curate of Parkleigh set up a Boy Scout Troop – and such was the pressure from their sisters that his wife called a meeting about setting up Guides. Most of the girls who were eligible turned up – as did a middle-aged woman, Bridget O’Connell, who expressed her determination to become a Guide. With the lady determined, and no clear reason to refuse, her name was added to the list. Patrol Leader O’Connell was one of the keenest Guides in the Company – and a lively addition to the Parkleigh Guides’ ranks . . .
Violet Methley and Joan Herbert were also writing in the 1930s, and were known for their original plot-lines. Violet Methley’s works were:
The Bunyip Patrol (1926) –
The Windmill Guides (1931) – Flooded out of their camp on the first night, next morning the two Patrols and their Guider move into a nearby empty windmill. The owner reluctantly permits use of the lower three floors of it, but not the top floor, the hatch to which she keeps locked. Searching for an item of lost property, one of the Guides touches the hatch lid, and it falls open . . .
Mystery Camp (1934) – 7th Knutsbridge Guides have the lorry loaded and are about to depart for camp when they hear that Captain has been in an accident and is in hospital with a broken leg – and as they are only allowed their campsite on condition that Captain is there, the camp’s off. Then Lieutenant manages to get permission to camp in the grounds of Favour Royal, the Earl of Lorimer’s empty house. While the Guides explore they see a strange sight in the fruit-bush thicket, and hear a wailing howl . . .
The Queer Island (1934) – English Sea Ranger Carol Hayes, in Australia to visit her elderly Aunts in Sydney, joins up as a temporary member of the local Sea Ranger Ship, Captain Cook, and enjoys a three-person hiking camp with Australian Sea Rangers Dorcas Wilde and Wynne Aldred. While swimming in the bay they have an encounter with a shark, Carol found herself attacking a shark to try to save Dorcas, and having an encounter with a mer-child, before arriving at their campsite at Fortune Bay. They experience a bad storm, and on emerging from the cave where they were forced to shelter, discover that as well as fallen trees around their campsite – a new island has appeared in the bay – so they swim out to explore it . . .
Joan Herbert wrote a wide range of books about Guides:
Lorna’s First Term (1932) – Lorna Morrison’s parents, both professional singers, were killed in an accident when she was young; she has been brought up in an extremely remote cottage in Wales by her mother’s old nanny. Now she is almost 12, the lawyer visits and advises that on her birthday she is to inherit from her parents. Their wills state that if she shows musical talent, she is to be funded to attend her father’s old musical college, as well as simultaneously becoming a Governor of it. If she doesn’t have the talent, there is funding for her to choose her boarding school – but she still becomes a Governor of the music college. Not being musical, she opts for Kingsdown School, which the lawyer’s sister has just left. The sister gives Lorna a booklet of insider advice . . .
With Best Intentions (1935) –
The Three Halves (1937) – Girl Guide Joan Moreton lives with her widowed Aunt and three young children. She was adopted by her Aunt when aged 2 after her parents were drowned in a shipwreck which she survived. She now finds out from her Aunt that she had a twin brother John, who was not found after the shipwreck. At a Guide rally she meets a lookalike, Jean Lindsay. Jean picks up an injury and persuades Joan to swap roles at the rally. Jean is due off to boarding school, but that involves leaving her horse Pegasus at home. Then she hears that Pegasus has had a potentially fatal fall, so she writes to Joan asking her to come to the school and stand in there for 24 hours, so she can go to her horse . . .
The Trail Of The Blue Shamrock (1937) – Anne Whitfield is a new girl at Buckleigh Abbey school, and at 14 has lived in a remote house, and is self-taught. She finds school bewildering – and disappointingly there is no Guide Company – a couple of years before the prefects had opted to drop all clubs and groups bar hockey, believing them a distraction from work. Then the abandoned Form gardens are found to have been dug over – and the only clue to who did it is a slip of paper with a blue trefoil – and the library shelves are tidied and books repaired – the Prefects are worried to know who is doing activity they haven’t instigated or authorised . . .
The Wrights Are Left (1938) –
Just An Ordinary Company (1939) – Miss Graham, the young Lieutenant and Acting Captain, feels there is something lacking in the 1st Shawleigh Company, despite their recently winning the District competition. They know all the basic Guide skills off-pat, but not how to apply them in non-textbook circumstances – so Miss Graham arranges some challenges . . .
One’s A Pair (1939) – Diana and Dick Barton live at Hilton Towers, the family home for generations, both are still at school. Their parents dead, their Uncle has arrived from South Africa. He is firm that they should sell the house and go back to South Africa with him. He arranges for Dick to go with him to South Africa and Diana to return to boarding school. But Diana fears that if she leaves the house with only the servants there, it could be sold against their wishes. When she bumps into a girl who could pass for being her twin, a plan forms to enable her to seem to be in two places at once . . .
Penelope The Particular (1939) –
A Tenderfoot’s ABC (1940) – non-fiction book, giving definitions for each letter of the alphabet.
Jennifer Gay (1944) (renamed First Time Jennifer) – Jennifer Gay, at 16, has left school, and lives with her widower father in an expensive service-flat in London with all the work done by the staff. She has entered for an award which provides a year’s free tuition at a nearby Secretarial College – ideal as her doctor father will be away at a conference in the USA. But – the Award is won by her friend Daphne who couldn’t otherwise have afforded to go – and gone is Jennifer’s chance to do something for herself. Until she meets an old friend of her mother, who was involved in judging the award, and who suggests that she could instead attend a small college in the country. She accepts, but doesn’t tell her father . . .
Unusual amongst Guiding fiction is a book series which goes against the trend of ‘the perfect Guide’.
Pippa at Brighton, by EE Ohlsen does feature that most traditional of characters, the well-meaning Guide who is a duffer. But it doesn’t follow the customary path of duffer Guide carrying out heroic rescue as a result of her Guide knowledge, nor ‘duffer makes good’ – because she doesn’t. She does strive to do daily good turns, certainly – even if her family would much prefer she didn’t. Boarding school doesn’t alter her efforts, despite there not being a Guide Company at the school – finding the school rules difficult, she opts to aim at keeping one per week, turn about . . .
Pippa in Switzerland follows her adventures in the school holidays following her first term. Rejecting her family’s plan for her to stay with an Aunt in Lowestoft, Pippa determines to join her family’s trip to Switzerland, intended to be for the benefit of elder sister Nita’s health. Travel abroad, and staying in a new country provide plenty of opportunities for Pippa’s variety of ‘Good Turn’ ideas, if not for helping Nita’s health . . .
Pippa at Home follows Pippa after she has left school and is at home full-time. She gets involved in running a bungalow in the country for people who would benefit from a restful holiday – the final book of the series sees Pippa engaged, but still causing chaos . . .
One can’t help thinking that they may have been written as a response to some of the more worthy of the Guiding storybooks of the era?
A major figure in this era was Catherine Christian, who, though she wrote throughout the 1930s, was also the editor of “The Guide” magazine throughout World War 2. She wrote Guide stories with a heavy ‘back to basic Guiding’ message as Catherine Christian, and also Ranger stories as Patience Gilmour – many of her stories were written to be serialised in “The Guide”, with some of them being published in book form afterwards. Two of her books were serialised in ‘The Guider’ during 1938 and 1939, both featuring Dr Harriet Gore/Lady North – these too were ‘stories with a message’, but this time aimed at Guiders and Commissioners.
Cherries In Search Of A Captain (1931) – 1st Westbury Guides have a problem. They have lost several Captains within months, all through circumstances beyond their control, have lost their headquarters due to structural problems – and now the opening of a new local school which plans to have it’s own closed-sponsored Guide Company means that out of 5 full Patrols, overnight there will be only 5 Guides left, with neither Guider nor premises – Patrol Leader Cherry Fielding and Second Petronella Harcourt of the Scarlet Pimpernels, sisters Jessie and Violet King of the Poppies, and their Cousin Lottie King, of the Sunflowers. The Commissioner agrees to them working as a Lone Patrol, and suggests Cherry and Petronella read up the copy of the first Guide handbook in the Company Library, to discover how to set about it.
Three’s A Company (1935) – 15-year-old Lone Guide Laurie has just started the school summer holiday from her Paris convent school with stepmother and actress Viola, when an acting job in the USA comes up – resulting in Laurie being left on her own in the hotel at St. Gabrielle after only two days, while Viola and her new husband head to the USA. Then Laurie’s Lone Guider asks her to visit Ann Mallory, who is bedbound nearby after a riding accident. When they meet Ann’s new nurse, Dorothy, and discover she is a Ranger, they form a mini-Company. Then Laurie finds out that Viola hasn’t paid the hotel bill, and the hotel landlady turns her out . . .
Seven Wild Swans (1936) – Friends Laurie, Ann and Dorothy had met in the south of France five years ago – and all were Rangers. Now Ann and Laurie are reunited. Ann wants to use an attic room in her parents’ new house as a Ranger gathering place, but Dorothy is unemployed – until as a result of a car accident they discover Saint Elizabeth’s Orphanage – and Miggs . . .
The Marigolds Make Good (1937) – The headmistress of St Bridget’s School finds it has become slack – with falling academic and sports results – so rules that the school Guide Company shall be suspended until progress is made. The Marigold Patrol decide to carry on independently . . .
Baker’s Dozen (1937) –
Bringing Up Nancy Nasturtium (1938) – Hazel’s Ranger Patrol were going nowhere – no headquarters, no Guider and not much enthusiasm. With her young cousin Nancy coming from South Africa to live with her family just when her mother was away, Hazel found herself interviewing for a governess, preparing to look after her cousin, and trying to keep Rangers going . . .
A Schoolgirl From Hollywood (1939) – Marilene Yates is a child actress in Hollywood, sent home to attend boarding school in England. In her first English school her fame was known, and fellow pupils flocked round and did all her work for her, resulting in her being expelled. Her Aunt Jackie changes her name back to Mary Ellen, and sends her to her spartan former school, Whitehaven. Mary Ellen and fellow new pupil Lindsay Graham find the school a shadow of it’s former glory, and the Guides gone slack. Lindsay, with Mary Ellen’s support and an old Guide Handbook, set up the Phoenix Patrol . . .
Diana Takes A Chance (1940) – Diana Tremaine, who has recently quit her Swiss finishing school because she wasn’t enjoying it, is told that the ancestral family home has to be sold, and her mother is going to remarry. While her mother and new stepfather travel to Australia to try to set up a new family home there, Diana is to look after her new young stepbrother and stepsister in a flat in London. There she meets the neighbours, including Sally Sparrow, a Ranger . . .
The Pharaoh’s Secret (1940) –
The Quest Of The Wild Swans (1941) – The Wild Swans are a Lone Ranger Patrol – each is following a different career but they meet up regularly with each other, and with their Rover Scout colleagues, the Lions. Every year, each Ranger takes on a self-improvement quest – and the Patrol seek to broaden their horizons as well as their Good Turns . . .
Harriet, The Return Of Rip Van Winkle (1941) – Dr Harriet Gore, a former Guider, is just returned in the late 1930s from ten years working abroad, with hopes of taking up Guiding again. She discovers many changes, both amongst her former Guides, and also in Guiding . . .
Harriet Takes The Field (1942) – It’s now early 1939 and Dr Harriet Gore, now Lady North, has come to live in Irminster, taking over both the house, and the District Commissioner post, which were both occupied by the late and much-lamented Lady Felicity Harman. She faces the challenge of winning over the Guiders in her District, with their differing personalities and outlooks – and preparing the District for the threat of World War 2 and the effects it might have on them . . .
The Kingfishers See It Through (1942) – The survival of the Guide Company is threatened by the new war-training Youth Squad – especially as many of the Guides have been half-hearted for some time in the absence of any Guiders. One young Guide, Paddy, is determined to improve things and says if she can persuade her PL Sylvie and their Kingfisher Patrol to keep going, she could write to her sister Lorn for advice for them. Having succeeded in persuading the others to keep going, Paddy admits to Sylvie that Lorn doesn’t exist, and Sylvie finds herself having to research and draft the letters from ‘Lorn’ as well as lead the Patrol in carrying out the advice contained in them . . .
The Cygnets Sail Out (1943) –
The School At Emery’s End (1944) – Orphaned themselves, adult Elspeth, and her schoolgirl sisters Gillian and Molly Hardy, inherit an orphanage from their crochety old Uncle on condition they occupy it for three years; and as Elspeth cannot leave her war work, Gillian and Molly give up their boarding school places to go to Emery’s End. They find it is akin to a Victorian workhouse, but does have a secret Guide Patrol . . .
The Seventh Magpie (Sally Joins The Patrol) (1946) – The Carrier Pigeon Patrol are out on a hike, and during it see seven magpies. From then on their good fortune turns – they are wrongly accused of starting a grass fire, and decide to ‘go underground’, training in secret . . . Reprinted as “Sally Joins The Patrol”.
Phyllida’s Fortune (1947) – With the death of their father, and resulting death duties, Phyllida Olcott’s family have had to move out of their ancestral home, Queen’s Langley, which has been let, while they move into the smaller estate cottage, Stone House. With her mother ill with flu, it is Phyllida who has to go to the station to meet her siblings who are coming home for the school holidays, and break the news of their sudden change of circumstances. Adjusting isn’t easy – especially when they receive invitations to attend the Boxing Day party in Queen’s Langley which they used to host . . .
At the same time, the editor of “The Guider”, Margaret Tennyson, was writing fiction under the name Carol Forrest. She shared a flat in Battersea with Catherine Christian, and after they were bombed out, they both moved into a wooden caravan sited on the Guides’ Blackland Farm campsite, and then at Woldringham in Surrey. Several of her books feature Guides and friends Chris and Penny, and Penny’s ex-Guide Aunt, Flick. These, too, like the books of Catherine Christian, had an element of propaganda, promoting a back-to-basics Guiding – back to the founder’s ideas of tracking and backwoods skills.
The House Of Simon (1942) – The Dellacott family have had a wandering life with their widowed father, most lately living in Portugal when the children weren’t at school in England. But with the war situation worsening, their father realises that a return to England isn’t wise. So he sends the children to England to link up with their Aunt Jennifer before travelling to the USA. But they lose her address, and by the time they find it she has already left, leaving them alone and homeless in a London under attack . . .
Patteran Patrol (1944) – Berry, a member of the Wagtail Patrol, is left a gypsy caravan by her late Uncle and offers use of it as a Patrol headquarters. PL Chris arranges for most of the Patrol to visit and collect it. PS Penny introduces a new recruit, a German refugee, Gerda, sent by Penny’s Aunt Flick. They find the caravan is gone – taken that morning. Meantime Gerda and Pam have spent part of the day helping look after infants, then visit the home of Pam’s scientist father. Pam discovers that, behind her back, Gerda has slipped into the scientist’s study unauthorised. The next day, important papers belonging to Pam’s father are missing . . .
Two Rebels And A Pilgrim (1945) – Chris and Penny are Patrol Leaders, but have become bored of Guides. They had asked their Captain about doing outdoor activities, but Captain’s health wasn’t good, and although she had suggested that Chris and Penny could take the Company out, the PLs felt anxious about doing it. They’re overheard by Penny’s Aunt Flick, who suggests that if they’re getting nothing out of Guiding and putting little back in, they should resign. She offers them the chance to join her on a walking tour of England, and tasks them with planning the adventure . . .
The Quest Of The Curlews (1947) – Captain had warned the Guides that their traditional access to the Manor grounds had been rescinded by the new owners. “That’s an order. No questions.” Most of the Company understood the new people wanting the place to themselves. But, not knowing the reason why, the Curlews pledged themselves to solving the puzzle . . .
Post World War 2, Guide fiction books were fewer. Ivy Middleton continued to produce her series about the Pimpernel Patrol, which had started immediately pre-war. The series focused on Patrol Leader Kay Danvers, and to a lesser extent her Patrol in a provincial town, but soon featuring her visits to London, and then her permanent move there as she joins a Ranger Unit. Though part of the series was written during wartime, WW2 is not referenced. She also wrote a later series featuring Chris Temple whose Patrol are heavily focused on large-scale good turns, and seem to devote most evenings and weekends to Patrol meetings and fundraising activities, with homework dodged in here and there!
The Adventures Of The Scarlet Pimpernel Patrol (1937) – Kay Danvers, Scarlet Pimpernel PL in the 1st Redbridge Company, is tasked by her Patrol with writing a play about ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’ for the Company fundraising concert. As they are rehearsing they hear a crash outside, and find an injured girl, wearing a Guide badge, who has come off her bicycle while cycling home in the thick fog. The girl is desperate to find a phone as she had heard two voices talking, it sounded like they were planning to carry out a burglary . . .
Kay Of The Pimpernels (1938) – Her first book accepted by a publisher, Kay organises a Patrol literary party, ends up visiting London, and meets up with ‘the three Musketeers’, a group of London Ranger Guides.
Triumphant Pimpernels (1939) – Kay Danvers and her Patrol in 1st Redbridge continue their adventures, trying to raise funds to buy a radiogram for a lonely old lady as a Patrol good turn. They enter a film review competition with a cash prize in hopes of putting it towards the radio, and take part in The Guide magazine’s Christmas Stocking Trail . . .
The Fourth Musketeer (1940) – Kay Danvers and her parents are moving to London – at a week’s notice. It will mean leaving her Guide Patrol – but on a visit to London the previous year she met a Ranger Leader, Miss Grey, and a trio of her Rangers, nicknamed the musketeers – Kay hopes to join their gang
The Musketeers And Wendy (1941) – Rangers Alison, Pamela and Agatha, known as ‘The Three Musketeers’ belong to a Ranger unit in London with Kay Danvers, who moved from Redbridge. Now a member of Kay’s old Patrol, Wendy, is also moving to London with her sister Jill, planning to open up a shop selling handcrafted ornaments and other items.
Red Trefoil (1944) – Four ex-Rangers opt to leave their separate digs and move into a house together, which they name Red Trefoil. They opt to volunteer for war work, and also to re-join Rangers, and soon find themselves putting their new Ranger training to good use . . .
Chris Temple, Patrol Leader (1964) – Chris has been appointed Patrol Leader of the Poppies. During a Patrol wide game they meet Andrea, who is out with her Guide Dog, and they decide to raise the £250 cost of training a Guide Dog as a Patrol, and have adventures as they set to work to earn the funds . . .(£250 at time of publication would be over £5000 at 2021 rates.)
A Challenge For The Poppies (1965) – The Poppies are fundraising to sponsor their own Guide Dog puppy, and with one idea closed off to them, need fresh ideas. Then a new recruit offers a possible solution . . .
The Poppies And Mandy (1966) – Having raised the money to train a Guide Dog puppy, the Poppy Patrol are looking for a Good Turn, and opt to take a girl with cerebral palsy on outings until she goes to boarding school . . .
C R Mansell was another post-war author producing a number of Guide-related books. Her books are less ‘rose-tinted’ than those of most other authors, focusing on well-meaning Patrol Leaders coping with imperfect Guides – those who are financially disadvantaged, scatter-brained, lazy, or incompetent, and who aren’t sorted overnight, or automatically within weeks of becoming Guides . . .
The Ragtail Patrol (1948) – Experienced Guide Judy had moved to Ferrar’s Booth, discovered a Guide Hall, but found to no Guiders, and the Guides too busy arguing or fighting or messing around to notice her arrival. The Patrol Leaders were meeting in a side room, deciding to disband the company. The PLs reveal that 6 troublemakers lead the rest astray. Judy offers to take all the troublemakers into a separate Patrol, and be the reforming PL of it . . .
The Littlest Guide (1949) – Lee Morris was small and scruffy, and lived in a poor part of town – but she wanted to be a Guide and joined the 14th Brownsea. Though unlike the other Guides, not least in an outsize pre-war uniform, she was cheerful, independent and loyal – even though she had to leave meetings early in order to put the younger children to bed, as her mother worked evenings. The Guides long to help her, but need to find a way of doing it tactfully . . .
Curlew Camp (1954) – The Guides of the Curlew Patrol have been hoping for adventure – and they get it when they find the camp they are to join in the country near the Welsh coast – does not exist!
The Swallows See It Through (1955) – 1st Inglefield is a long-established Company but has gone slack – of the ten Guides, the two eldest are off to Rangers now, and the remaining four Heathers are finishing off First Class before following onto Rangers soon. The future of the Company thus lies in the hands of the remaining younger Guides forming the Swallow Patrol – Barbara, Marie, Zena and Frick – and although they are all between 13 and 15, none have gained Second Class, in each case for want of effort or stickability. Their Captain sets them a challenge – recruit all 12 girls in the village who are of age for Guides within 6 weeks, or the Company will be closed . . .
Freda Collins wrote a number of books for Brownies in the post-war period. She produced a series about the ‘Woodland Pack’, and several collections of short stories, as well as encouraging ‘beauty quests’ of nature study, principally flowers, feathers and shells, and of religion.
The Brownies At No. 9 (1936) –
Pow Wow Stories (1948) – 1948 – Freda Collins – Pow Wow Stories – University of London Press. A selection of short stories which appeared in “The Guider” or “The Guide”: The Magic Necklace, The Brownie Who Wanted To Be First, The Lonely Grown-Up, The Fly On The Wall, Christine And The Toffee Papers, The Brownie Who Forgot, The Little Brownie Man, The Wish-Bone, The Shiny Badge, Starlight, Adolphus The Germ, The Golden-Brown Forest, The Magic Parcel, Brownie Bobly-Bitis, The Hopping Signpost, The Flag Country, Snakes And Worms, Everyday Land, The Steel Dragon, The Rules Of The Road, Balls And Bruises, Dirt And Danger, Table Manners, The Fairy, The Sprite, The Little People, The Ghillie Dhu, The Elf, The Bwbachod, The Imp, The Leprechaun, The Kelpie, The Pixie, The Tylwyth Teg, The Gnome, Beauty Quest, Woodland Ways, Fox-Glove, The Storm, Two Vain Rats, and, Mother Wolf.
The Beauty Quest Book For Brownies (1954) – The book is presented as monthly challenges in nature study, along with short stories, challenges and puzzles.
The Pack That Ran Itself (1955) – The woodland pack consisted of only five Brownies, each with an animal nickname. But Brown Owl is ill and has to go abroad to recover, and with Brown Owl’s house shut up, they have no meeting place either – and two of the five due to head to boarding school soon. They continue meeting, in the woods . . .
Brownie Year (1957) – A book split into monthly chapters with puzzles and poems as well as stories. Stories: The Pack Surprise, The Bad Brownie, The Swallows Of Innsbruck, Susan In Distress, The Warbler And The Wren, At The Zoo, Mrs Squirrel’s Dusting Brush, Charlie Cockatoo, Prince Dragon-Fly, Alfie Goes Fishing, Flying Up To Camp, Lend A Hand, Mr Sun Sees, The Rescue Party, The Story Of Saint Faith, The Sad Princess, The Brown Tea-Party, and, The Shepherd’s Lamb.
The Woodland Pack (1957) – One of the Brownies, Blackbird, has been ill and is sent to the seaside, and the rest of the pack join her there – leading to them having an adventure in a cave . . .
Barny And The Big House Pack (1960) – The woodland pack have been scattered while the Big House is undergoing alterations, to become a home for Polish girls living in camps in Europe . . .
Do My Best Brownie Book (1960) – A selection of activities under monthly headings. Short stories are: The Pack Is Puzzled, The Lonely Road, The Star Fairy, Her Duty To The King, The Brownie Garden, The Magic Journey, The Golden Letters, The Reluctant Goat, The Paper Rose, How Guiding Came To France, Amelia The Marmot, Twinkles In Trouble, The Promise Comes Home, Good-Bye Googly, The Grand Salute, Princess November, and, The Christmas Bells.
The Silent Three (1961) – Although Brownies has been started in the village, there is no Guide Company. Sisters Peggy, Joan and Betty have formed ‘The Silent Three’, vowing to protect wildlife. When they find a puppy by the river they take it home, and get permission to look after it if owners do not come forward. A few days later down by the river they meet Miss Grant and Miss Austin, the owners of the lost puppy. They are Guiders, and planning to hold a camp on a nearby island, and invite The Silent Three to be regular visitors . . .
Pack Tales (1962) – Book of short stories: The First Pack Tale, Bossy Bessie, Great-Grandmother’s Doll, The Brave Brownie, The Almond Nut, The Brownie Who Grew Long Ears, The Mountain Chalet, The Lonely Leprechaun, The Four Jays, The Feathery Father Christmas, The Guy Outside The Gates and The Little Brown Donkey.
The Good Turn Hunters (1963) – Twins and Brownies Nicky and Jill move to Nobden, as the town they are moving to does not have a unit, they accept their Brown Owl’s challenge to become good turn hunters . . .
The Brownies And The Fam Pig (1964) – The book is a combination of a story, interspersed with articles, crafts and recipes. The story element tells of a Brownie Pack who obtain a china pig and try to fundraise in order to fill it with money for Oxfam, the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief. During their fundraising they pay imaginary visits to countries they are fundraising for . . .
The Pack Mascot (1966) – Twins Nicky and Jill are founder members of the new 1st Nobden Pack, and as the only girls who have been Brownies before, are the Sixers. Their old Brown Owl brings a mascot for the new Pack – Barny the puppy – and the Sixers are tasked with looking after him.
The Patchwork Pack (1968) – Melanie Barker and Alison Fenton are sailing from New Zealand to the UK, a voyage of several weeks. They discover there is a Brown Owl and various Brownies from different countries on board, and opt to form a temporary pack – inspired by the patchwork Brown Owl sews, and the mix of nationalities, opt to call themselves the Patchwork Pack.
Verily Anderson, who had worked at Guide Headquarters during WW2, wrote Brownie fiction books in the 1960s and 1970s. Pamela Sykes wrote Brownie fiction in the 1970s. Dorothy Richardson mainly worked in the 1980s. For all three authors, the focus was on a small group of Brownies within a pack, who try their best to do their good turns, and can find themselves involved in mysteries or adventures – there is much less whimsy or focus on nature study or picnic outings than there had been in Brownie stories of past decades.
By this era, bar a few stories in the annuals, Guiding fiction was almost entirely Brownie fiction, with no new Guide fiction books being published. As “The Guide” became “Today’s Guide”, so there too, stories were replaced by factual articles, badge hints, and Patrol activities.
Verily Anderson:
Amanda And The Brownies (1960) – Amanda the new recruit seems a bit of a duffer and none of the Sixes are very keen to have her join them – until the Elves realise she rides to meetings on her pony. They are keen to have shots of riding the pony and are miffed when Amanda refuses permission. So during a pack nature hunt, they sneak away and saddle the pony . . .
The Brownies And The Golden Hand (1963) – Tulip’s cousin Lucinda and her parents are moving into the village from London – and Lucinda already has her Golden Bar badge. Tulip has plans for things they can do together – but Lucinda isn’t impressed with the country, and when she turns up at the Brownie meeting half in uniform and half not, and then disrupts constantly, Tulip is torn between loyalty to the pack and to her cousin . . .
The Brownies Day Abroad (1964) – with their Leaders unable to get enough time off for a Pack Holiday, Brown Owl instead arranges a day trip to France. Naughty new recruit Sassy is coming – her twin brother Sam doesn’t want to be left behind . . .
The Brownies And The Ponies (1965) – Tulip can’t attend the Brownie Revels as she is invited to visit cousin Lucinda in London. When Tulip gets there Lucinda is not in a good mood – it turns out she has appendicitis. While Lucinda and her mother go to hospital, Tulip stays with next door neighbour, Joey, and her mum. Joey longs to learn to ride, but so far has had to make do with the model horses and stable which she has made for Toymaker badge – until Tulip has an idea . . .
Brownies On Wheels (1966) –
The Brownies And Their Animal Friends (1969) – Amanda and her Brownie friends decide to have an animal quest – their love of and experience of animals proves useful when they are asked to provide a special item of entertainment at a festival . . .
The Brownies And The Wedding Day (1974) – With the arrival of a new rector, the Brownies have the idea that he could marry Tawny Owl, then they could all help with wedding preparations . . .
The Brownies And The Christening (1977) – Emma doesn’t care for babies. She wants a dog – like all her friends. So the news that not only is Tawny Owl going to have a baby, but so too is Emma’s own mother, isn’t welcome . . .
Pamela Sykes:
Air Day For The Brownies (1968) – The Brown Owl of the Barnwell Brownie Pack has organised a visit to an air day – and a stolen earring and a discarded match add to the excitement . . .
The Brownies At The Zoo (1969) – The Barnwell Brownies have agreed to entertain at the Senior Citizens’ party, but need ideas of what they could do. A group of them discover an escaped parrot in the woods and help to capture it. In return they are invited to the zoo – and that gives them an idea for entertaining the Senior Citizens . . .
The Brownies And The Fire (1970) –
The Brownies On Television (1972) – Twins Marion and Mandy King move into Barnwell, from London, with their TV-Producer father. The Vicar tells some of the Brownies about the May Fair which used to be held in Barnwell, and the Brownies decide to revive it, to raise money for a Guide Dog. Then Mr King thinks of making a TV programme about the old fair’s revival . . .
The Brownies In Hospital (1974) – Three days before Pack Holiday Tracey breaks her leg in a road accident and has to swap a week in the country with her friends for a fortnight in hospital. At first she is miserable – until one of the nurses reminds her about the Brownie Law . . .
The Brownies Throw A Party (1976) – When Susan, Tracey and Jane discover two little Asian boys lost in the park, they find themselves tackling a new Brownie Venture – will it be ruined by the gang from Bellview Mansions?
Juliet Joins The Guides (1984) – When her dad’s building firm moves to the country, Juliet finds moving from the city hard – and the firm’s plan to build on a greenfield site doesn’t help relations with the locals. Then Kate and Judy approach her at school, and she meets old Mrs Mitchell and her dog . . .
Dorothy Richardson:
Wait Till I Tell You the Story of the Irish Brownies (1969) –
The Secret Brownies (1979) – Brown Owl announces that she is going to Australia for a long visit, which will leave the pack without a Guider. Despite efforts no-one is found, and Brown Owl leaves a present of a wooden owl. She tells the Brownies that the carver said there was a secret about the owl – but wouldn’t say what. They decide to continue as secret Brownies – and try to discover the owl’s secret . . .
The Brownie Adventurers (1983) –
The Brownie Explorers (1984) – When Maureen and Valerie spot a Brownie record book floating in the stream, and discover it’s owner, Elizabeth, it leads them to explore . . .
The Brownie Rescuers (1984) – During their hallowe’en party at their hall, the Brownies see a face at the window, then find a picture of a witch with a letter ‘A’ on it – what can it mean?
The Brownie Entertainers (1985) – The Brownies are heading off on a Brownie Holiday, and choose an enchanted castle theme. Taking a wrong turning on the way to their holiday they find themselves outside Barnfield Castle, so stop to go in and explore – just the first of their adventures . . .
The Brownie Elephant Hunters (1986) – For Thinking Day, the Brownies want to raise money to send to the Guides and Brownies in Trinidad, who lost their headquarters in a cyclone. The challenge is on to find goods for a ‘white elephant’ sale . . .
The Brownie Campaigners (1987) – Ferndale was growing, and had a growing litter problem. The Pixies decide to work on Conservation badge, especially when they hear of plans for more housing on greenspace land . . .
The Brownie Foxwatchers (1987) – The Pixies have been challenged to catch up with the number of badges the other Sixes have, and opt to each work for either Pathfinder or Rambler, three doing each. When they suggest to Brown Owl that they could go to the new open-air museum’s preview day as part of their badge-work, she agrees to go with them. While tackling the nature trail, they see a fox in the undergrowth, and long to get a better look . . .
THE STANDARD-ISSUE PLOTLINES
Throughout all of the fiction books written, some common themes arise regularly – so regularly that is is easy to create a list of themes and start allocating book titles to each. Some of these themes are as one might expect – but others are less obvious topics for Guiding fiction. The list of common themes would include:
- ‘Our Week At Camp’ – usually contains enough incidents for three or four years’ worth of camps, but all individually plausible.
- ‘Bad Girls Made Good’ – either one or several girls who are getting into trouble until they join Guides, and are changed as a result . . .
- ‘Ruritania’ – in a monarchy somewhere in Eastern Europe, there is a Princess – either she goes to boarding school and becomes a Guide, or has a wicked Uncle who wants to kidnap her to get the throne, but his plot is foiled by a Guide – or both.
- ‘The Big House At Risk’ – Her family have lived in the same house for generations, but can’t afford to any longer – unless the long lost treasure buried by their ancestor (probably during the English civil war) could be found. Just before moving out they host one last camp for her Guide or Ranger friends . . . (it’s taken for granted that it would be a terrible thing if they had to move to somewhere smaller and more modern).
- ‘The Family Scandal’ – The family are now reduced to poverty and living elsewhere because of a family scandal where they were accused but innocent, it happens that Guide Camp is being held near the ancestral home, which would allow the daughter to try to prove their innocence . . .
- ‘The Independent Girl’ – The Ranger leaves home and moves to a relative’s house or to a hostel to take up work – and often night school classes, succeeding against odds or despite pressures – those who spend their evenings at public entertainment instead of night school or Rangers are, natch, feckless.
- ‘The Poor Girl At Posh School’ – The girl who gets a scholarship or unexpected inheritance, fears being out of place, but finds Guides a way of being an equal.
- ‘Ace Guide Saves Run-Down Company’ – The Company is a mess, the PLs are thinking of quitting as nothing is achieved at meetings due to disruption and misbehaviour – until Ace Guide arrives, sorts the discipline, inspires the Leaders, and turns the Company around in weeks.
- ‘The Downtrodden Orphan’ – Usually lives with a stepmother or aunt, sometimes an orphan, sometimes a child left with relatives while parent(s) are abroad long-term. Usually employed as a domestic slave who can do no right, her one escape being Guide meetings, which for reasons unclear is the one outside activity she is permitted to attend . . .
- ‘The Guide Detective’ – the Guide or Guides discover a crime, turn detective, and outsmart the police, presenting the police officers with all the answers on a plate, so they can stroll in and make the arrests.
- ‘The Guide In Secret’ – She isn’t allowed to join the Guide/Brownie unit, so becomes a member in secret, tries to live by the promise, learn the skills – and then the crisis happens, she uses the skills she learned, and the adults change their minds about Guiding . . .
- ‘The Back To Basics Guides’ – In a Unit that isn’t working, they discover a copy of “Scouting For Boys”, start doing activities from it, and are immediately inspired and reformed . . .
- ‘The All Work And No Play Patrol’ – So keen about Guides, that school is seemingly squeezed in around Guiding – they’re never at home unless to host the rest of the Patrol, every evening seems to be devoted to Good Turns, Patrol meetings or badge-work. Where they fit in homework or housework or time with their families besides at bolted mealtimes isn’t clear . . ..
- ‘The Sea Ranger Camp In Cornwall’ – if they are Sea Rangers they will camp by the sea in Cornwall, locals will be suspicious of the incomers and the Rangers will foil smugglers. Seemingly Sea Rangers never camp anywhere else, and every coastal village has smugglers . . .
- ‘How our Company Started’ – first a single young lady moved into the cottage, then met the vicar and arranged for a Guide unit to give a demonstration, then every girl signed up except one – not for long . . .
Annuals
As well as Guiding fiction books, Guiding made a few abortive attempts at Annuals before achieving a long-running series. These were large-size books aimed directly at the Christmas-present-buying market, and often featured a number of standalone fiction stories, alongside factual articles, craft ideas, puzzles, jokes and in later years, photo features. Initially there were the occasional annual produced by mainstream publishers, some endorsed by the Guide Association, some not. Later there were attempts at official books not titles as ‘annuals’ – “The First Trail of the Girl Guides” and it’s sequel (naturally, “The Second Trail . . .”). There were a series of ‘Rucksack books’ which appear to have been intended for Guides to take to camp as reading material during ‘rest hour’. This meant that although annuals were popular in wider society, it wasn’t until the late 1950s that regular official annuals were produced, initially for Brownies and Guides, later also for Rainbows. They had their heyday from the 1960s to the 1990s, but sales dwindled, and production had ceased by the early 1990s for Guides, and mid 2010s for Brownies.
Throughout their existence the annuals featured a number of fiction stories. Or, should I say, during the Purnell years, re-featured – a lot of recycling went on, on the assumption that every few years there would be a new generation of readers who wouldn’t twig. So the same story might appear featuring Guides in the annual one year, reappear a couple of years later in the Scout annual with the characters transformed from a Guide into a Scout patrol – then a few years later appear in the Brownie annual, presented as offering a taster of Guides for older Brownies . . . Many of the same stories were further recycled by being packaged in books, attributed to the annuals’ editor, Robert Moss, such as the ‘Challenge’ and ‘Venture’ books of Brownie/Guide Stories.
Magazines – Guide
Just as “The Scout” had done, so “The Guide” from it’s earliest days featured fiction stories. These were usually long-running serials, some of which went on to be published in book form afterwards. Each appeared weekly, with a synopsis at the start of the episode, to allow those who had missed issues to catch up on the plot, followed by three or four pages of densely packed print, in chapters, and illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings. These serials were naturally intended to encourage regular purchase, or subscription. A number of the early stories were by the same writers who provided serial stories for “The Scout” – later the editors of “The Guide” and “The Guider contributed regularly under their pen-names, Catherine Christian, Carol Forrest or Patience Gilmour – as at that time, Rangers (and Brownies) were catered for in “The Guide” magazine.
Storylines in the early fiction stories tended to feature the Patrol set up in the face of local opposition to ‘tomboy’ activities, who nevertheless stick to working on their skills, and go on to carry out an act of heroism which persuades the critics of their worth. Or adventure abroad involving detectives and plots against monarchs in far-off fictional eastern-European kingdoms. Or Guides foiling local poachers or thieves. Or of Guide units in boarding schools, where those in the Guides are shown as ‘goody-goody’ until the ringleader of the rebels is converted, and soon becomes the keenest Guide in the school – and often the heroine in a crisis as well. Many of the serial stories ended up appearing in book form – such as the Luck of the Scallop Shell, Guide Gilly Adventurer, House of Simon, etc.
Once World War 2 threatened, more ‘targeted’ fiction appeared – one could go as far as to say, propaganda – featuring Guides getting ‘back to basics’ with their Guide skills in case a war came where those skills would be tested, learning their tracking and firelighting and first aid – and once war started, devoting many evenings of their free time to their ‘dig for victory’ gardens, their waste paper collection rounds, their canteen work, welcoming and integrating urban or European evacuees into their units. However, it wasn’t long before paper rationing dug deep, The Guide magazine was reduced from eighteen to only eight sides of paper (other than for occasional special issues), and fiction of necessity had to be briefer and more concentrated on the propaganda-type stories, covering gardening, and fundraising for the BP memorial fund or the GIS – and in some weeks was entirely crowded out by other material.
Postwar, paper rationing continued and long serials were largely out, standalone or short-run stories were the only survivors, with the magazines focusing much more on practical activities, badgework, advice for Patrol Leaders and the like. Through the 1970s and 1980s, items on fashion and pop music photos became more common, and fiction even rarer, and usually about finding or keeping boyfriends – and despite a couple of attempts at relaunch, with renaming first to “Today’s Guide”, and then in the 1990s to “Guide Patrol”, by it’s latter years the magazine was more commonly read by Guide Guiders than Guides, and publication ceased in March 1994.
Magazines – Brownie
From the earliest days of “The Guide”, a couple of pages especially for Brownies were included. These tended to feature a ‘letter’ from ‘Brown Owl’ with some sage advice, a three-panel cartoon featuring anthropomorphic animal characters, a simple craft activity from scraps, and a story, often along fairy-tale lines. Each story was of two or three paragraphs, and standalone.
With the coming of World War 2, paper rationing impacted “The Guide” and the Brownie section of the magazine was reduced further, often amounting to one side of a page out of the eight pages which the magazine was reduced to. Fiction still appeared, but the stories of necessity were too short to allow many characters or much plot.
In the early 1960s a new publication appeared – “The Brownie” – at last Brownies had a magazine of their own, initially roughly A5 in size. As well as features, badge hints and space for submissions by Brownies themselves, short stories regularly featured.
By the 1970s the magazine was increased to A4 in size, and often featured a mini serial on the front cover, featuring one or other of the Six emblem characters. Standalone stories often appeared inside, the larger page size allowing more room for stories, as well as permitting line drawings. These tended to feature fictional Brownies getting up to plausible mishaps or adventures.
In the 1980s the content of the front cover changed to being a cartoon strip, featuring a new character, “SuperBrownie” who regularly used her superpowers to save the day in adventures – and these were in full colour. Fiction stories became less common, but continued to be more likely to feature Brownies.
But as with the Guide magazine, it became clear that the number of actual Brownies buying “The Brownie” was becoming outnumbered by the Guiders who bought it, and it was eventually closed in February 2005.
Magazines – Ranger
Pre-WW2, Rangers were catered for initially in the ‘Girl Guide Gazette’, but as soon as it started, in “The Guide”. They usually had a couple of pages in every issue, plus occasional issues focused towards one branch or other of Rangers, including items on testwork. In addition, some of the serial stories in “The Guide” featured Rangers, particularly those by Patience Gilmour.
It was in the 1950s that “The Ranger” magazine (also called “Senior Branch News” for some of it’s existence) came into being. It tended to focus more on factual articles and features rather than fiction. It closed in March 1974 due to consistently low sales, with a limited amount of material for Rangers appearing in “The Guider” thereafter, but not normally fiction.
Magazines – Guider
Initially the “Girl Guide Gazette” was the only magazine produced by Guiding, and so covered Guides and Rangers as well as Guiders. Once “The Guide” was founded it was the main home of fiction, but some appeared in “The Guider” aimed at adults. Often this was in the case of ‘training through tales’ – fictionalised accounts of events such as District Rallies, AGMs or Brownie Revels where the tales presented examples of ‘what not to do’ through humorous accounts of rallies where the guests were wind and rain lashed while perching on hard chairs not-quite-able-to-hear the speaker for want of amplification, the catering failed to materialise, etc.
In 1938 a particular serial was started, featuring a significant degree of propaganda. it featured Dr Harriet Gore, a former Guider returning to the UK after 10 years abroad and meeting up with her former Guides. It followed her as she moved into a village and became it’s new District Commissioner, the steps she took to prepare the District in case of war, and how she dealt with the different attitudes and ways amongst the Guiders, and the units in different parts of the town with different characteristics. As war broke out, it followed her as she carried through the plans for her District during the early months of the war. It was later released as two books – “Harriet” and “Harriet Takes the Field”, by Catherine Christian.
Post-war, fiction tended to return only in the form of the ‘mock diary’. Items such as the ‘diary of a District Commissioner’ or by ‘Mr Brown Owl’ giving semi-fictional humorous accounts of the realities of Guiding seen from those roles. Despite these fictional diaries being extremely popular with the readers, in the 1990s these last traces of fiction (and of humour) were lost as the magazines sought to have a more corporate approach and outlook.
The adult magazine continued to be published monthly until the early 2000s when they moved to quarterly, and in the late 2010s they started to become online-only before rapidly ceasing altogether.
In 1997, to celebrate their tenth Anniversary, two issues of a special magazine, “Rainbow” were produced. prior to that, Rainbows had had to manage with an occasional supplement within Brownie magazine, “Rainbow Guide Extra”.
Fiction Book Summaries
1865 – Juliana Horatia Ewing – The Brownies And Other Tales – George Bell And Sons. The book which was adapted by Robert Baden-Powell as the ‘Brownie story’, the original is a story-within-a-story. The doctor, visiting the vicarage, finds the young daughter crying – the vicarage children are in a row because their toys are all mixed up and missing bits, and she has forgotten to do her chores. They question why they should have to do small jobs. So the doctor tells them the story of Tommy Trout. Tommy Trout senior was a tailor, a widower who lived with his elderly mother who knitted rugs out of the tailor’s offcut scraps, and three children – Tommy jnr, Johnnie, and the baby. Tommy and Johnnie made extra work for the adults instead of doing any, until their Grandmother told them about a certain wise owl . . .
1912 – Dorothea Moore – Terry The Girl Guide – Nisbet. Terry’s five brothers are keen Scouts and regular campers, and though she hides her disappointment in helping them pack and giving them early breakfast, in most other activities she could join in with them but not Scouts. Then on holiday with her father at the French coast and waiting for her first swimming lesson from him, she sees two children struggling in the water and can do nothing to help but call her father – she hates feeling so helpless and determines to do something about it . . .
1913 – Brenda Girvin – The Girl Scout – Milford. Aggie Phillips’ brother Peter brought the news of the burglary at Woodbourne. Peter was Patrol Leader of the Panthers, a Patrol founded by the owner of Woodbourne, Colonel Norton. Colonel Norton had made a written offer “Five pounds reward will be paid to the Ashleigh Patrol if, on or before Monday evening next, information be given which will lead to the capture of the thief or thieves who were at Woodbourne House last night, and as to the exact whereabouts of the missing property.” Peter hopes to secure the reward, which would enable the Patrol to furnish their recently acquired meeting place. When Aggie suggests that she and her friends could form a Patrol and have a try at tracking the burglars he is scornful – which makes her more determined . . .
1913 – A.M. Irvine – Nora, the Girl Guide – Partridge. Nora Gilbert is Abbotswell Hall’s most troublesome pupil. All of the pupils bar one are ‘agin the Government’ and support each others’ misdeeds, but Nora is the leader. The exception to the pupils’ own code of honour is Brenda Gale, a new girl, who has been a Guide, and tries to keep her Promise despite being the odd one out. It is Brenda who suggests to the head that a Guide company might be started in the school. The school boarders are invited to Miss Baldwin’s house, as happens each term, but this time Miss Baldwin offers that anyone who wants to know about Guides should stay for an extra hour. To her surprise, at the end of the picnic, not only do all the under 11s go back to the school with the escort mistress as planned, but so too do all but four of the seniors, due to Nora’s threats if they don’t. Nevertheless, she explains about Guides to the four – including Brenda and Nora herself. Miss Baldwin is called away early to an accident, so asks the four girls to head home early and trusts them to go unescorted for once. Nora and Claire opt to go to the cinema for an hour, which they could do and still return to school on time, but Brenda and the younger Kathleen will not join them. Brenda and Kathleen are spotted returning early, but Brenda refuses to say where Nora and Claire are. Nora makes up a story about being sent to the chemist to fetch medicine, but that night her conscience bothers her for the first time, as she thinks over what Miss Baldwin had said about Tenderfeet, and honesty. Could she confess, and lose face?
1918 – Constance Gregory – The Castlestone House Company – Pearson. A new Guide company is started at Castlestone House school, with several of the girls keen to join. Their headmistress gifts the Company a Union Flag, which arrives in time for their Empire Day outing to the quarry woods. On arrival at a clearing in the wood, they stowed their coats, and as Mademoiselle is feeling the heat and prefers sitting on the rocks to exploring, she is left to look after the coats and flag, and build the fire to make tea later. One of the girls slips in the stream so heads back to dry her wet stockings by the fire – approaching the rocks she sees something, then runs to report to the other Guides – that she has seen Mademoiselle throwing mud at the flag . . .
1919 – Amy Irvine – Naida The Tenderfoot. Naida joins the Guides to have fun and her good turns tend to be fun ones – she avoids anything which involves helping her mother or looking after the younger ones – her Captain strips her of her Tenderfoot badge. Sent to boarding school, her Aunt’s hopes of her regaining her Tenderfoot Badge before going there are dashed, until the crisis comes . . .
1920 – EL Haverfield – The Happy Comrade – Milford. Penelope Druce lives with her mother and artist father – due to her father’s ill health he is only able to work spasmodically, so money is tight. The only other girl in the village is Monica Wingfield, daughter of Sir Anthony, and two years younger. Though Penelope has gone to boarding school since she was 8, Monica hasn’t been allowed to until now, when she has finally persuaded her father. But she is soon disillusioned of the idea of their being best friends at school just like at home – quite apart from two years’ difference in age, Penelope is head prefect. Nevertheless, Monica is confused to discover that Penelope is not popular with her new fourth form classmates due to her enforcing rules – leaving Monica with difficulty loyalty choices . . .
1920 – Ethel Talbot – Peggy’s Last Term – Nelson. Peggy’s Aunt, Grace McNair, had received a letter from the school. Peggy was to be expelled at the end of term, her Aunt will send her to a stricter school. Peggy couldn’t deny the school’s decision was fair. She decided that when she went back she’d pretend she didn’t care. Then on arrival, to her consternation, she finds that she of all people has not only been made Dormitory Prefect, but also Patrol Leader too – and a new inter-Patrol Cup competition has been introduced . . .
1921 – EE Cowper – Celia Wins – Collins. Celia Hanbury is a pupil-teacher at The Meads boarding school, having been orphaned with no close relatives in the latter part of her school career. Suddenly a distant relative has died and has left a house and a yearly income to Celia. Next morning she catches the train down to visit the house – the locals seem interested in her, though the Vicar let slip that the house has had several short lets in recent years. Celia opts to spend the summer in the house, and take four of the school Guides with her – despite rumours of the house being haunted . . .
1921 – EE Cowper – The Mystery Of Saffron Manor – Blackie. Following the loss of their father and brother in WW1, the Fortescue sisters Elizabeth, Anne and Dulcie, and Aunt Dulcibella, are left in charge of Saffron Manor – or effectively Elizabeth and Anne are, Dulcie being too young and Aunt Dulcibella being rather mentally detached from the new realities of their circumstances. The elder girls’ responsibility is not an easy one – teenagers themselves, money is extremely tight despite cutting expenses to the bone, and household repairs will soon become pressing. An offer raises their hopes – a family want to rent the house for six months, and offer a good sum for doing so, enough for the repairs the house will need – but they require a certain number of servants which the manor does not have – and affordable servants are impossible to obtain in such a rural area. Then there is the question of where the Fortescues are to live affordably, if not at home? Dulcie has an idea – she and Aunt Dulcibella could live shut up in the north wing, while the rest of the house was let – and Elizabeth and Anne could work as the servants. Can they get away with the ruse . . . ?
1921 – AM Irvine – The Girl Who Ran Away – Partridge. Honor Harvey has been brought up by her father since her mother died five years ago. Spoilt throughout, she considers herself mistress of the house, only doing what she wants, and talented to genius level at art, writing and acting. Her father finally decides to send her to the school run by his sister-in-law, her Aunt Eleanor Kendall. There Honor undergoes many trials in trying to adjust to life as an ordinary schoolgirl in the lower fourth form of a boarding school . . .
1922 – E. E. Cowper – Wild Rose to the Rescue – Sheldon Press. Millie Fanning is left to run her stepfather’s remote farmhouse single-handed, and look after an infant boy, after a series of accidents. At first she struggled to keep up with the workload – but suddenly, she started finding jobs on her chores list had been done, with no clue as to who could have done them. The goat and kids were stolen. Then one wet night a herd of ponies was let into the garden, stampeding over the lawns and vegetable garden – and a mystery figure with a whistle herded them away. When Millie came downstairs from reassuring the boy, she glimpsed a figure dressed in a blue serge skirt and jumper – and found the goats returned, and all her clothes mending work done. Who was the enemy, and who the friend?
c1922 – Brenda Girvin – Betty the Girl Guide – Humphrey Milford. The eponymous heroine is on holiday, and gets the chance to take part in a skiing outing with her new friend Rodger, and his mother. Rodger would be heir to his Great Uncle’s estate were it not that he hoped to make music his career rather than join his Great Uncle’s business empire when the time came. At the ski hut she found various odd signs – brown splashes in the snow, a buckle on the floor – and a mysterious note – “One hundred points will be paid to him who shall identify the last visitor to this hut.” Can Betty work it out?
1922 – Dorothea Moore – Greta Of The Guides – Partridge. The Wendover Scholarship is a national competition amongst state schools which provides four years’ free boarding school tuition plus expenses, and the latest winner is – Greta Ward of Ashrington Municipal School. And thus Greta, daughter of Lord Ashby’s Head Gardener, found herself going to Wendover, among the daughters of the upper classes. And there is the prospect of lots of new experiences, like joining Guides . . .
1922 – Dorothea Moore – Guide Gilly, Adventurer – Nisbet. Gilly Seaton had, for as long as she could remember, lived with her journalist father and two of his colleagues, Denham Chester and Hugh Rawson, in rented rooms. Now that her father is dead, and the other two her guardians, Gilly agrees with the landlady’s suggestion of boarding school, and as she has worked out that Denham Chester’s next assignment will be to the kingdom of Dornia, she proposes going to Dornia with him and enrolling at a school there. Of course, when a reporter is sent on a hush-hush foreign assignment, it is usually because there is political trouble brewing . . .
1922 – F.O.H. Nash – How Audrey Became a Guide – Sheldon Press. Twelve year old Audrey had been living with her Granny, Now her Father was leaving the army and setting up a home for Audrey, with his new wife, a few miles from Granny. Audrey liked her new stepmother Hilda, except for one thing – she was a Guide Commissioner. And when Hilda’s young cousin Patsy, a keen Guide, comes to stay for the holidays, Audrey is even less keen. Patsy was unused to being in the country, and using a log to cross a stream, it suddenly tipped, and Patsy twists her ankle – with no help near what will Audrey do . . .
1923 – Joyce Bruce – The Twins To The Rescue – Pearson. Twins Betty and Judy’s plans for the school summer holidays are suddenly disrupted – their parents have suddenly been called away to South Africa on business, so they must go to stay with Aunt Alice. Just before the train departs, a man jumps into their carriage at the last second, tripping up the step and landing on the floor, his bag bursting open. During the journey he seems to stare at the twins a lot, then suddenly, when the train comes out of a tunnel, the twins discover that the man has disappeared . . .
1923 – Winifred Darch – Poppies and Prefects – Milford. The Poppy Patrol from Moreton End School are camping in Normandy with Captain Miss Aylmer. Most get on well, but Margaret and Meriel are inclined to rub each other up the wrong way – especially as Meriel is a reluctant member, and only a Guide at her mother’s insistence. Margaret encounters a half-French girl, Jeannine, whose late father was an artist. Margaret persuades her parents to pay for Jeannine to attend Morerton End after the summer. That term Margaret finds she is not only one of the three new prefects – but also Head Prefect – and seeks to recover the school from slack ways. Meriel leaves Guides and seeks to use Jeannine to get at Margaret . . .
1923 – Margaret Stuart Lane – Meg of the Brownies – Milford. Meg, a Brownie, lived at Lindons Farm with her elder sister Lucy, a Guide, and brothers Rupert and Sammy. Nearby Ellen Glaysher lives with her strict father and nervous Aunt. Ellen is not allowed to play with the local children, and has been ill again. Meg meets Ellen’s father, and offers Ellen an invitation to her birthday tea, being held in the hayfield, which all the Brownies are attending, but he abruptly declines, saying “I’ll have no child of mine taking up with Brownies” – a conversion challenge that Meg accepts.
1923 – F. O.H. Nash – Audrey in Camp – Sheldon Press. A sequel to ‘How Audrey Became A Guide’. Audrey goes to a camp involving four Companies, and enjoys all of the camp fun.
1923 – Ethel Talbot – The Island Camp. Robin, Peter and Jan Vaughan are expecting a visit from their cousins, Dick and Donald Lennox, at the Chase, which has been the family home for generations, albeit declining fortunes mean most of the house is closed. But when Dick arrives Mrs Vaughan discovers he is unwell and may have scarlet fever. So the other children camp on an island at the end of the garden, by the gardener’s cottage. There they hear odd noises – banging and clinking – and see strange lights – and also hear hints of a family secret . . .
1924 – Janet Aldis – A Girl Guide Captain In India – RTS. Newly arrived from London, the author becomes Captain of a listless group of ‘European’ Girl Guides in India. As they are accustomed from birth to having everything done for them by servants, it isn’t easy to persuade them to work on Tenderfoot and Second Class skills, but soon enthusiasm grows . . .
1924 – Alys Chatwin – Two Schoolgirl Guides – Sharp. Orphan twins Belle and Myra Hatherton live with their Aunt and attend Spinminster Girls’ Secondary School, working for scholarships in hope of attending teacher training college. The twins are popular and attract the jealousy of a fellow pupil, Bertha Hopkins, who has always mocked the Guides as babyish, but secretly, would like to belong. When Bertha joins the same Patrol, and they head off to camp . . .
1924 – Winifred Darch – Cecil Of The Carnations – C Tinling & Co. Three friends are moving into the sixth form in the North Tower House at Lone Cross School – Clarice, Nina and Cecil – and all are immature. Clarice is a rebel, always looking out for her own interests, Cecil is a fun-seeker, often in and out of scrapes and rows, and both want to be the best friend of Nina, who takes everything casually and usually takes the easiest route. But Cecil is starting to realise that next term, when they all join the sixth, they will also be the only realistic candidates by age for several positions of responsibility – form head, hockey captain, patrol leader – especially as the new Head of House is not likely to be any great shakes at maintaining discipline unless they back her. Are any of them ready to step up to responsibility?
1924 – Winifred Darch – Heather at the High School – Oxford University Press – Heather Finlay earns a scholarship from her basic council school to Bampton High, but finds it difficult to settle in, especially as she has an enemy making trouble for her. Until she joins Guides . . .
1924 – HB Davidson – Pat Of Whitehouse – Sheldon Press. Pat Hamilton is brought up by her father, who is headmaster of a preparatory school, which for convenience Pat has attended alongside the boys. But she is inclined to pranks, and after one prank too many her Aunt persuades Dr Hamilton that it is time Pat attended a girls’ school. He registers her at Whitehouse, and takes her on a visit to the area for a few days. While exploring they come across Mr & Mrs Bryson cooking over a fire in the woods by their cottage, and accept the Brysons’ invitation to share their lunch. Having opted not to join the Guides, Pat joins ‘the gang’, which is anti-Guides, but over time finds it becoming less satisfactory. Pat is appointed a ‘hare’ on a hare and hounds race and is paired with a senior, Ella, and they head out cross-country – but during their lunch-stop, Ella reveals that she intends to go into the nearby town to the cinema, against the rules – but Pat refuses, and whilst abandoned by Ella, slips on a grass slope, turns her ankle, and can’t walk on it – she realises she is near the Brysons’ cottage . . .
1924 – H.B. Davidson – Peggy Pemberton, Brownie – Sheldon Press. After living all her life abroad with her father, the Pembertons return to Britain – and as her father has to head to America on business shortly afterwards, ten year old Peggy was sent to live with her Uncle and Aunt, and her cousins Gladys and Betty. One Saturday they drove the horse-cart to the local village, and Peggy spotted a group of Brownies, and meets a couple before she is called away. Then, after a row with one of her cousins, she went for a walk to calm down, met up with a Brownie, and went to the Brownie meeting with her – she was just leaving when discovered by the family governess – the punishment given was that she could not attend Brownie meetings, so she decided to become a Brownie in secret . . .
1924 – Phyllis Hanley – Winning Her Way – Epworth Press. Avis Yorke lives with her Aunt Amelia, Postmistress of Churchleigh, near Grimborough where Avis attends the Grimborough Girls’ Secondary School. Avis’s father had gone to Canada hoping to take up farming, had opted to go to the Klondyke, and was on his way home when his ship went missing. Unable to cope, his wife had ended up in a convalescent home, leaving Avis in Aunt Amelia’s capable care. The plan was for Avis to train as a Secondary teacher, but the Building Society her Aunt had invested her savings in had crashed, meaning Avis’s sights had to be lowered to becoming a pupil-teacher. Then she comes upon robbers at her Aunt’s post office . . .
1924 – Nancy M. Hayes – The Plucky Patrol – Cassell. The Curlew Patrol are the only Patrol in the Company, but long to have their first camp. They try to get permission to camp on the Hall estate by the village of Perry, but Sir Howard Hale is opposed to Guides and refuses, so they rent land nearby, for 8 Guides and one Leader. On departure day the discover that Captain’s father is ill, and they will need to set off by themselves, and work out how to set up the camp as best they can . . .
1924 – Mrs A.C. Osborn Hann – Peg’s Patrol – R.T.S. A girls’ club exists in a parochial hall in Walworth, London, technically run by Miss Peek, but in reality by the ringleader, Peg. The new vicar proposes the opening of a Guide company, but though they know little about Guides, the ringleaders are not impressed with the idea. The next week a visiting Guide company give a demonstration, then at the infants’ Christmas party there is an accident with a lighted candle, and Alice, a former Guide, knows what to do and does it. This persuades Peg that Guides might be a good idea, her friends follow – and the adventures begin . . .
1924 – Marjory Royce – Eileen the Lone Guide – Harrap. Eileen Polmont lived in a London suburb – and had always wanted to be a Brownie and Guide, but had not had the chance before – though when her Navy Officer father returned from the war, her parents helped her with the skills for Tenderfoot and Second Class, so she would be ready if the chance came. Then her father left the Navy and they moved to the country – and as there was no Guide Company there either, Eileen vowed to become a Lone Guide . . .
1924 – Ethel Talbot – Betty At St Benedick’s – Nelson. 13-year-old Betty has, until recently, effectively been mother to her younger siblings, but now Aunt Frances has arrived, her father wants her to go to school and be a child rather than an adult. She is the only new girl, and the 33rd pupil. With every other girl in the school already a Guide in one of the four Patrols, she is told that as 32 is the maximum, she cannot join the Guide Company, though she could be a Lone Guide if she wanted – or a mascot . . .
1925 – Christine Chaundler – Bunty Of The Blackbirds – The Children’s Press. Bunty Bevan – or Rosemary Marcella Bevan to be formal – was notorious in Form 4a at Mexton House School – as despite best intentions, whatever she tackled she was sure to put her foot in it before long. The Blackbirds are otherwise the crack Patrol of the Company, so when Bunty announces that her mother has given her last-minute permission to go to the forthcoming Guide Camp, and Captain says she will allow it only if Bunty passes her Second Class beforehand, the Blackbirds have little choice but start work on coaching such an unpromising candidate . . .
1925 – Winifred Darch – Gillian Of The Guides – Oxford University Press. Gillian Berners is in the sixth form of Lynnaford High School, a Prefect and a PL in the Guide Company, and looking forward to the Company’s forthcoming trip to Belgium – and a livewire, who has yet to be fully tamed. She reckons herself the only likely candidate for Head Girl – but is she?
1925 – HB Davidson – Peggy’s School Pack – Sheldon Press. With their governess getting married earlier than planned, Peggy Pemberton and her cousin Betty are to head off to boarding school, and soon become involved in producing an idea for the pack’s performance at the Brownie Revels . . .
1925 – H.B. Davidson – The Guides Make Good – Sheldon Press. Kit and Phil Falconer have been brought up in India. At fifteen they come to live with their Aunt, Lady Chalenor, during the holidays, and attend the small Heathergreen boarding school to complete their education, while their father stays with their ill mother at a Swiss sanatorium. They find the tone of the school very half-hearted, with the pupils having little pride in it, so they decide to set up a secret Guide Patrol . . .
1925 – Nancy M Hayes – Meg-All-Alone – Cassell. Meg lives with her Aunt, Miss Grantham. She was at boarding school until, when she was 13, her Aunt suddenly suffered money problems, and career hopes had to be laid aside in favour of studying shorthand and typing in the time remaining before she could leave school at fourteen and start in a works office. She was a Guide, though she hadn’t been able to persuade her fellow office juniors to join, so having left the school Guides, she was now a Lone Guide. For a few days she had noticed a lonely-looking girl in the town – then one day she spotted the girl wearing a Tenderfoot badge – so there was another Guide in town after all, and one who seemed to need help?
1925 – FOH Nash – Audrey At School – Sheldon Press. After a delay due to whooping cough, Audrey is heading to Boglemere Park School, which has an active Guide company . . .
1925 – Katharine L. Oldmeadow – The Pimpernel Patrol – Collins. At Miss Lamb’s School For Girls, most of the pupils are out for fun. One senior pupil, Georgina, would like to institute behavioural reform, but her ‘Sisterhood of St George’ with it’s vow to do splendid things for the sake of St George and England, whilst putting down slang and the reading of cheap magazines through fines – was unlikely to appeal. Meantime the Games Mistress is trying to bring discipline in her own way – through daily compulsory hockey practice sessions in fair weather and foul, which wasn’t popular either. Then came the bonfire night incident with the guy . . .
1925 – AC Osborn Hann – Rhoda The Rebel (reprinted as Rosemary The Rebel) – RTS. Rhoda Sullivan lived with her father – and was employed by him. He planned the burglaries and removed a pane of glass from the window, she wormed her way in and did the stealing. She also played up in school, and around the area she lived in – Walworth, home of the 32nd Southwark Guides. One night she threw a handful of banger fireworks into their meeting hall, and though the Guiders weren’t able to catch her, one of her classmates, Anne, recognised her – and so is tasked by the Guiders with the far from easy task of bringing her along the next week as a recruit . . .
1925 – AC Osborn Hann – Smiler A Girl Guide – Black. Gwendolen Moran, known as Smiler, and her younger sister Gracie return from Guide camp to find that their hot-tempered father was threatening to ‘do them in’ on their return home if they tried to go in the door, so they headed back to the vicarage, where they are given use of the tent and camp fireplace the Rover Scouts had set up. The next morning their father is still angry, and is lifted by the police, enabling the girls to go home. Meantime the Guide Captain goes with Smiler to the Labour Exchange, and helps get her a job as a clerk in a department store. But a jealous ‘friend’ would rather she lost the job . . .
1925 – Ethel Talbot – The Girls of the Rookery School – Nelson. Peggy Hyland joins as a new pupil, encounters the Rook Patrol, and is determined to join the Guides . . .
1925 – Elizabeth Walmsley – Mary Court’s Company – Pilgrim Press. Mary Court spots Janie and Violet stealing sweets from a stall in the crowded market square of the industrial town. It’s a poor glove-making town, and after school 13-year old Janie, like the other girls, worked sewing in the finger tips of gloves, ready for her mother to finish the seams. Mary is a newcomer to the town, but sets about recruiting glove factory workers like Janie’s elder sister Hetty, as well as those of school age, to be Guides. She invites some Guides from her old Company to set up a demonstration camp near the town, and to participate in the public meeting to launch the Guides – and Brownies, and Rangers – and to share in the adventures . . .
1926 – A W Bradley – Won By Pluck – Pilgrim Press. Orphan Josie has been brought up by family friend Mrs Worth. When she is 14, a school fellow of her father visits and advises that her Uncle has sent him to be her guardian, and arrange for her to be sent to school alongside his own daughter Clara – leaving her past life behind in 10 minutes’ time. The next day she is off to Seacliffe Cottage, which she finds is in the hands of bullies led by Clara . . .
1926 – MC Carey – The Girl Guide’s Book – Pearson. A collection of articles, plays poems and stories. Stories: The Amateur Detective, Passing The Love Of Women, An Experiment, The Foolish Adventure, A Ghostly Visitor, Water-Colours-A Rainbow Fantasy, and, Penelope The Practical.
1926 – EM Channon – The Honour Of A Guide – Nisbet. 13-year-old Ethne O’Hea lives on Inishru, a tidal island off the west coast of Ireland with her artist father, and though she has no formal education, her father has taught her a good deal of Irish history and lore, she is a keen reader, and has learnt knitting and fine embroidery. When a storm comes while most of the Islanders are on the mainland attending mass, Ethne helps her father launch the boat to go to the rescue of a stricken yacht while she stays to look after the younger children. Later that night, wreckage from the boat her father was in is washed up, but he is not found. As she has no relatives, the fellow islanders, though sympathetic, cannot afford to take her in. The only clue to relatives is an old letter in a secret drawer in her father’s desk, from her great-aunt, Miss Steele in England. On being contacted, Miss Steele offers to take Ethne in, and Ethne leaves the island for the first time in her life, bound for an unknown elderly relative in a foreign country . . .
1926 – HB Davidson – Geraldine, A Ranger – Nelson. Geraldine Alcroft is leaving her home town to rent a room at her Aunt and Uncle’s house in the suburbs, in order to take up a job in London as Assistant Cashier in a department store. At her Aunt’s house she meets her cousin, Minnie, albeit briefly as Minnie rushes in from work, quickly changes, then goes out partying until late. Geraldine finds her fellow clerks aren’t very friendly, and she is lonely until one evening she spots a notice for a Ranger Company outside a Church Hall, goes in – and bumps into a girl, Polly, whom she has seen on the bus to work. Soon she is a member of the Fir Patrol, and involved in all sorts of activities . . .
1926 – H.B. Davidson – The Ardice Fortune – Sheldon Press. Elsie Hutton planned to join the new Guide Company, being started by Miss Carter, who had recently come to live in Oldgate. She had left school to keep house for her father, whose business was struggling, but Miss Carter assured her he wouldn’t mind her having one night out each week. She had just come home from her first meeting when her father told her that he’d had exciting news – his father had lent money to a Mr Ardice years ago to set up a business abroad – the business had made a fortune, and though old Mr Hutton had died, his will stated the fortune was to be split between his son Fred and Mr Hutton, a condition being that the Huttons live with Mr Ardice while the business affairs are sorted. On arriving at the Ardice house they meet Mr Fred Ardice, and his cousin Jack. Days pass and Fred seems in no hurry to sort the business – meantime Elsie’s suspicions grow, especially when she is suddenly sent away to boarding school leaving her father alone with the Ardices . . .
1926 – Brenda Girvin – June The Girl Guide – Oxford University Press. June was a young Guide, recently enrolled – with the Guide meeting having finished early four of the Guides opt to go blackberrying in the wood, and invite June with them. Becoming slightly separated from the rest, she notices a previously empty old house is now occupied, and the lady, looking over the fence, invites June in to pick flowers. June notices that Mrs Webber has been crying, and Mrs Webber explains that the Doctors recommend that her daughter Rachel go to a home at Davos in Switzerland for her health – but Mrs Webber doesn’t have the money. The old caretaker had given her a pottery pot which has a legend attached – that if the pot were put under a rose tree in the garden of that house on the fifteenth of September, and a Webber was in need, the pot would contain the money needed . . .
1926 – Phyllis Hanley – Girls Grit – Sharp. The town of Blackington is bleakly industrial, with Collieries and cotton mills. Aimee Fosbrooke lived there, having left school at fifteen when her mother died, to look after her younger siblings Fred, 13, Ethel, 11, and Christine, 7. Their heartbroken father died three years later, leaving scant savings. Aimee turned her skill at needlework to good effect, becoming a dressmaker, Combined with selling the farm to move to a small house in town, Aimee made ends meet, and aided by Ethel’s scholarship was able to keep her in school, and then into a typist job at the local mill. Christine was at school and had become a Girl Guide. Fred, however, was a worry not a help. One Saturday Aimee was walking through the woods to Gipsy Hall to deliver a dress when she found her path blocked by a local ruffian, who tried to grab her. Christine and her Patrol were practising stalking nearby, and on seeing her sister impeded, Christine wielded her stave, delivering first one blow on his back, then another on the back of his head . . .
1926 – F.O.H. Nash – Some Brownies and a Boggart – Sheldon Press. A new Brownie Pack starts at Monks Verney, and Alison Murray, one of the Sixers, enjoys the pack’s adventures.
1926 – Mrs A.C. Osborn Hann – The Pluck of The Coward – A&C Black. Hope Chittenden, an orphan, lives with her Aunt and Uncle. Mrs and Mr Pincher, and their lazy, spoilt daughter, Ermyntrude. Though Mr Pincher was vaguely kind to his niece, Mrs Pincher employed Hope as a skivvy. Hope’s teacher suggests that she should try for a scholarship, with the possibility of gaining a place at college and a teaching career – but her Aunt is determined that Hope will leave school on the earliest possible date, and take the first job going. This is a piecework job in a factory, shelling Brazil nuts at twopence a pound for whole kernels, working at a table with Emma, Jessie, Flossie and Liza. Emma is a Guide, and looks after Hope, but Jessie, Flossie and Liza are not so kind. Then Emma persuades Hope to go to Guides with her . . .
1926c – Elsie J Oxenham & Jessie Leckie Herbertson – Girls’ Patrol Book – Collins. Contains two short stories: Jen’s Presents, and, Hidden Treasure.
1926 – Mrs John G Rowe – The Girl Guides of St Ursula’s – Pilgrim Press. Twins Ella and Brenda Bright arrive at St Ursula’s Select Academy for Young Ladies, and soon prove to be livewires – nevertheless, they join the Guide Company . . .
1926 – Ethel Talbot (& others) – Bringing Back The Frasers – Nelson. Title story is about the Fraser sisters having to leave their ancestral home, which is to be let. The school Guides next door have always had access to the grounds, so why does the gate-keeper bar them – and why is the Estate Agent hearing tales from potential buyers about the place being haunted? Also contains The Gallery Ghost by Ethel Talbot, On the Way to Market and The Spectre of the Classroom by Violet Methley, The Gallery Ghost by Mary Shrewsbury, The Shell Gatherers by Phillippa Francklyn, and What Happened to Josie by Jessie Leckie Herbertson.
1926 c – Elizabeth Walmsley – The Wishing Chair – Pilgrim Press. The new girls at St Hilda’s School are told that there is a wishing chair nearby, and everyone at the school who has tried sitting in it and wishing for something has got what they asked for, so long as they do not reveal their request. The Head announces that the new Mistress will be starting a Sea Guide Company at the school. The school’s pupils set to work raising funds for their new unit . . .
1927 – Winifred Darch – Cicely Bassett Patrol Leader – Oxford University Press. Cicely lives with her father, elder sister Helen, younger sister Mirth, and Mirth’s twin brother Mike. She is in the sixth form at Quenton High School, and is a Patrol Leader in the High School Company. It is announced that the High School’s long-serving headmistress is retiring, and a new headmistress, with artistic ideas, has been appointed from next term. Several of the school staff – including both Guiders – opt to resign; the new headmistress brings several of her own staff – and also 20 boarders, though the High is a day school. On holiday in Rouen, Helen and Cicely meet a school group at their accommodation. The school wear matching loose djibbah frocks, wide floppy panama hats with blue scarves, thin grey-blue woollen stockings and sandals. Each girl has the exact same hairstyle – bobbed straight all round with a long fringe over the forehead – and are all stated to be vegetarian. That evening, after vegetarian dinner at the boarding house with Miss Popham and her pupils, Helen and Cicely are hungry, so go to a nearby restaurant – there they see two of the schoolgirls sneak in unescorted – and eat a full meal, including the fish and meat courses. On the boat home, Cicely and Vanna, one of the schoolgirls, end up on a different boat to Helen and the school party. They discover that next term, Miss Popham is to be the new Head of Quenton High, and is likely to bring a number of her ideas with her, including the school parliament and her ‘Society of Torchbearers’ – but will not be keen to support hockey or Guides . . .
1927 – HB Davidson – Bridget And The Dragon – Nelson. The Long Gretton Guides are off on their first camp. Next to their camping field is a thatched cottage, owned by a Miss Jenkins, a stern elderly lady, who disapproves of the camp, and of the idea of Guides in general . . .
1927 – H.B. Davidson – Jerry and Joan – Sheldon Press. Joan’s father is unwell, and sent to a sanatorium abroad, and while her mother accompanies him, Joan is sent to live with her Aunt Clara, Uncle Dick, and Cousin Jerry. There she discovers that Jerry is a Cub, and that Brownies meet in the same building, and she gets permission to join . . .
1927 – Phyllis Hanley – Bridget of the Guides – Epworth Press. The new Curate of Parkleigh set up a Boy Scout Troop – and such was the pressure from their sisters that his wife called a meeting about setting up Guides. Most of the girls who were eligible turned up to register – as did a middle-aged woman, Bridget O’Connell, who expressed her determination to become a Guide. With the lady determined, and no clear reason to refuse, her name was added to the list. Patrol Leader O’Connell was one of the keenest Guides in the Company – and a lively addition to the Parkleigh Guides’ ranks . . .
1927 – Nancy M. Hayes – The Guides at Calamity Hill – Cassell. Joan Henderson and her friends in the Wild Rose Patrol in Bruton, are bored. At the meetings in their hall they learn the knots and signalling and first aid – but have never been on a hike. Miss Florden’s thoughts had turned to going away in the summer – she had advertised “for rooms for nine in a quiet farm, with country comforts and cooking.” When Joan ventures “we couldn’t possibly camp out there?” her Captain advises “Camping is rather rough for people like ourselves, who have been brought up in towns. Some year we will certainly make up our minds to go, but now we will just have a nice quiet country time – reading, and picking wild flowers, and getting ahead with needlework and our hobbies, without the rough work of cooking, pitching tents, and so on. After all, what do we know about camping?” So they gathered at the station, suitcases in hand. When they finally arrived at the remote station, there was no transport, and the porter advised that their destination of Stone Farm was known to locals as Calamity Farm. The porter eventually managed to arrange a rickety dray to transport them. On arrival they find that farmer and his son have both been struck down with flu, the maid has quit for fear of catching it, and there were no bedrooms for them, just a hay barn to sleep in. The farmer’s wife begs them to stay, as they are behind in the rent and with both menfolk ill, there is no-one to harvest the hay or see to the livestock . . .
1927 – Margaret Middleton – The Guide Camp at Herons Bay – Blackie. The Company’s campsite is not available at a week’s notice, and everywhere else is booked up. With transport and equipment hired they were loath to cancel, so one of the Guiders heads down to the area to hunt for possible sites, and succeeds in finding a site at Heron’s Bay, and getting permission from the landowner, who locals see as odd and mysterious . . .
1927 – Dorothea Moore – Brenda Of Beech House – Collins. Princess Brenda of Nystrea is sick of her restricted life with her governess and servants – especially with the prospect of her brother going away to boarding school in England, leaving her even more alone. Spending the Easter break at the summer palace. Brenda and her brother meet a family of picnickers and discover that the daughters attend Beech House School in England. That night at dinner, her father King Conrad advises that, after all, she will go to school – at Beech House . . .
1927 – AC Osborn Hann – Peg Lieutenant – RTS. Peg is involved in an accident with a lorry, ending up pinned against a wall by it, and after six weeks in hospital, is told that she will be unable to work for two years. She is sent from London to live with her Uncle and Aunt, and young cousins Beattie, Jane and Horry in Somerset, far from her London frends and Fiance Bert. Peg meets the Rector’s wife Mrs Fortescue and her daughter Daphne. Mrs Fortescue is planning to start Guides in the village, and wants Peg to be her Lieutenant . . .
1927 – Mrs A.C. Osborn Hann – The Sunshine Shop – A&C Black. Sheila, Bertha, Pixie, Lucy, Winnie, Norah and Aggie form the Shamrock Patrol and are looking forward to the start of term. Sheila, the Patrol Leader, lives with her mother above the fish shop they run together – her father lived there some of the time, but at other times he disappeared for days or weeks leaving no word of where he went or might be back – nevertheless Sheila and her mother keep cheery faces on whilst working in the shop. Together the Shamrock Patrol have adventures . . .
1927 – Maud Rowe – The Guides Of Pexton School – RTS. The Guides of Pexton House Girls’ School are playing a tracking game on their half-holiday – and the Daffodils opt to go into Morby Caves, enabling them to spot and catch approaching attackers of the Blackbird Patrol. But whilst hiding silently in the pitch-black cave, they realise the figure they hear approaching is an adult not a Guide – and as he slips into the cave past them, his lantern does not give away the hiding Guides’ presence, and unaware of being overheard or observed, he goes through to an inner cavern and is heard moving stones around – then emerges carrying a knapsack under his arm – and from the light of his lantern they get a glimpse of his face and outfit . . .
1927 – Margaret Stuart Lane – Tales for the Brownies – Oxford University Press. A selection of short stories, some written by Ms Lane and others selected: The Sorrowful Adventure of the Sing-Song Man, The Smuggler’s Cave and Francis Drake, Poor Tom, One Christmas Eve, The Shepherd’s Cloak, That Good Turn for Farmer Brown, How Scarlet Comb the Cock Defended the Right, The Bear Called Ben, The Secret of the Road, The Wonder-Wonder Who Built a Little House, Jacky and Some Others, The Frost Child, The Tale of John Dietrich, and, The Lost Dream.
1927 – Ethel Talbot – Jan At Island School – Jim and Jan’s father has been declared bankrupt, and with him determined to pay back the debt, the offer of a boarding pupil-teacher place at The Island School on quarter fees is one which Jan is delighted to accept. Boarding school on an island, Guides – and the possibility of Sea Guides once she turns 16 . . .
1927 – Ethel Talbot – Jill, Lone Guide – Ward Lock. Since Aunt Agatha’s death a month ago, Harry and Jill had stayed on in Columbine Villa, Jill keeping house while Harry was out at work. Now the villa was re-let, and Harry had taken rooms for them to move into. Then the night before the move they receive a letter from their Aunt’s cousin offering Jill a home. Jill is at first inclined to refuse – but then thinks of Harry’s fiance Ethne – they must be keen to be married, but Harry could not earn enough to keep three, nor did she feel she could stand in the way of their getting married any longer – so she replies to accept Aunt Deborah’s offer, leaves a note for Harry to say where she has gone, and travels early next morning to Midsum. But when she gets to The Grange, the butler advises that Miss Barrett had taken suddenly ill, and died at midnight. Jill walks away, homeless . . .
1927 – Various – The Second Trail Of The Girl Guides – Blackwell Books. An ‘annual’ type book, second in the series. Stories are: A Snowflake In The Wilderness, The Grig, Mademoiselle Maria Gloria, Mates, The Saving Of Castle Malcolm, Excalibur, Coppinger’s Cave, Katug The Snow Child, and, Freeze.
1928 – Elinor M. Brent-Dyer – Judy, The Guide – Nelson. Judy Carey lived on a ranch in Canada, when her Godfather visits, realising she is the bookish member of the family, offers her a scholarship to St Ronan’s School in England. There she joins the Guides. She experiences discrimination, is falsely accused of theft, and ostracised – until . . .
1928 – Catherine Christian – Greenie And The Pink ‘Un – RTS. Avril Delawny lives with her Aunt and Uncle. Her mother died a few months ago and her father has been away in Russia for almost a decade, and hasn’t been heard from for two years, other than one brief scrawled note advising that he had escaped to Siberia and intended to head home – but that was many months ago. Misunderstood by her Aunt and Uncle and not relishing their life moving from one hotel to another, she realises they don’t think her father is coming home. Determined not to live on their charity, she runs away. Seeing a group of Guides swimming at a nearby beach, she lifts one of their neatly-folded uniforms, hides behind the bush they too had used as a changing area, and changes into it. Thus disguised, she catches the train to London, in search of her father . . .
1928 – EE Cowper – Camilla’s Castle – Blackie. Camilla Carmichael had placed a newspaper advertisement – “Romantic family require habitable ancient castle in any part of Europe, preferably on sea; limited income.” with contact details. They receive a response offering “Le Camp Geffroy”, built AD 900. Within a fortnight the family home was let out and the Carmichael family were catching the boat-train to the continent, and adventure . . .
1928 – H. B. Davidson – Meg and the Guides – Sheldon Press. Florrie leaves her home and Guides to live with her Aunt, the Housekeeper of Thornby Manor, and gain a few months’ practical experience of being a housemaid ‘in service’ prior to job-hunting in the autumn. While there she befriends Meg, who lives on a nearby farm. When a picture is stolen from Thornby Manor, Florrie and Meg, along with two Scouts camping at Meg’s home, turn detective . . .
1928 – Edna Lake – The Mystery Of Tower House School – Warne. Patrol Leaders Margaret Withers and Jane Roberts head to the old coach house of the school – recently converted into a club-room for the school Guide Company. Though the room is kept secured and the whereabouts of the only two keys can be vouched for, Patrol property belonging to various Patrols has been going missing . . .
1928 – FOH Nash – Richenda And The Mystery Girl – Sheldon Press. Richenda Arden is a livewire member of the Lower Fourth at Rawdon Court School, and a recently appointed Patrol Second. But when she goes home for the school holidays she discovers that due to limited finances she won’t be going back to her school – instead her parents had received an offer from their friend General Lloyd for Richenda to live with him as his daughter Bethan’s companion, and share her governess. Out exploring one afternoon while their governess is unwell, they explore nearby woodland and discover a cottage. Seeing a girl chopping wood there, they are just asking her about the local wildlife when an old man comes out of the woodshed and drives them off, accusing them of trespass. Who is the girl?
1928 – Mrs A. C. Osborn Hann – All About a Brownie – R.T.S. IvyJoan lived on a farm in the country. When she and her mother saw an appeal for old clothes to help fund country holidays for poor children from London, they collect together a large boxful to send – and then decide to offer a holiday to a poor child. So Theresa Tagg, known as Terry, came to stay with IvyJoan and her family, and as a keen Brownie, Terry was delighted to discover a pack was being started, which she and IvyJoan could join . . .
1928 – Mrs A.C. Osborn Hann – Peg the Ranger – R.T.S. Peg has been PL of the Daffodils for over three years, and now she is over 16, she is persuaded to give Rangers a try. She joins the Scarlet Pimpernel Patrol and joins in with their adventures . . .
1928 – Mrs A.C. Osborn Hann – Captain Peg – RTS. Peg’s marriage has been delayed, meantime the Guide Captain she has been acting as Lieutenant to – Mrs Fortescue – is again being pressed to take on the District Commissioner role. With her private life on hold, Peg reluctantly agrees to step up to Captain in order to free Mrs Fortescue for the new role. They decide to enter the local County Challenge Cup competition for Second-Class Guides, and start training the two Guides chosen towards it . . .
1928 – Sybil Owsley – Dulcie Captains The School – Sampson Low, Marston & Company Ltd. Next term, due to a high number of leavers, Dulcie Dorman will be the only remaining member of Upper Sixth at Hedley High School, and School Captain. She lives with her widowed mother, and they take in pupils as boarders to make ends meet. The workload involved means Dulcie hasn’t been able to be an active Guide of late. Then her cousin Deborah comes to join the household . . .
1928 – Margaret Stuart Lane – Joan of the Brownies – Oxford University Press. Joan Meredith lives in Smuggler’ Cottage in Cornwall with her father and grandmother. She befriends the local shrimp girl, and takes part in a gardening competition, On a pack picnic she became separated from the rest, and in climbing onto a boulder, it tips, and she finds herself dropping into a hidden cave below . . .
1928 – Sibyl B Owsley – An Absent Minded Schoolgirl – Shaw. Rosemary Lingard of the sixth form of St Monica’s School, at the urging of her mother and headmistress, opts to leave her friends in the main school to transfer to the school’s domestic science annexe, for a year’s training. An absent-minded dreamer, and with no experience of domestic subjects, she is in no sense a natural for domestic science. She discovers her fellow students are a livewire bunch, who take Rosemary punting, camping – and persuade her to join the Cadets . . .
1928 – Sybil Owsley – The Guides of North Cliff – Blackie. Lorna Drake joins her cousin Dorothea at North Cliff school but, already being 16, and having a more mature outlook from having lived exclusively with adults, she finds it difficult to fit in. Her decision not to join Guides further alienates her – those who do not join are treated as outsiders . . .
1928 – Ethel Talbot – Brownies at St Bride’s – Frederick Warne. Having come home from India to find his only daughter spoilt, first from her Ayah in India and then by her Granny’s servants, her father sends 9-year-old Polly to be a boarder at St Bride’s school. She finds that every girl in her class is a Brownie, and prepares to join too – but is she really ready?
1928 – Ethel Talbot – Ranger Rose – Nelson. Rose had loved her school, especially hockey and cricket. But during a ‘rag’ – hanging a banner on the gym roof in support of the hockey team. The result had been almost a year of lying flat, and now some short walks only. Then it was off to school – a new school. But with so much she would have to sit out of, what would that be like?
1928 – Various – Girl Guide Stories – Nelson. Stories: Skins And All, Last Night In Camp, Kathie-Angela Lone Guide, Crusoes Up-To-Date, Lennie’s Wild Animals, and, The Money In The Mustard Tin.
1928 – Various – The Guides’ Kit Bag – John F Shaw. Compendium of short stories – Self-Sufficient Cynthia, The Perfect Patrol, The Imp, The Hike In Goblin Coombe, Uniforms Off, and, An Unofficial Guide.
1928 – Various – The Second Trail Of The Girl Guides – Blackwell Books. An ‘annual’ type book, second in the series. Stories are: Patricia Comes Home, Sally In Our Alley, The Key, The Lady’s Prisoner, Vendetta, The Wrist-Watch Castaways, A Gentleman Of Burgundy, The Story Of Mr Bell, and, My Hat.
1928 – Madge Torrence White – Chum-The New Recruit – Warne. Gerry Gorden has found a new recruit for the Robin Patrol of 10th Westwell – Elizabeth Chumleigh, known to her friends as Chum – who has joined just in time for camp. The camp is at Cliffdon, on land owned by the Squire, and is to be joint with 8th Westwell, a Company from a poorer area. Chum lived with Nanny, and had never known her parents. Now, Nanny decides that Elizabeth is old enough to hear her story – her mother was an orphan who lived with Nanny and a guardian during her schooldays and was then sent abroad – where she sent word that she had met and married an Army Major called Chumleigh Graham. Days before World War 1 broke out, Nanny answered the door to find an army officer carrying a baby wrapped in a blanket – Elizabeth. The Major said that her mother had died when she was one, her name was Elizabeth Chumleigh Graham after both of her parents – but advised leaving off the Graham from her name. He asked Nanny to look after her, left half of a sketch map, and said he would be gone for a week. He never came back. Chum and Gerry agreed to work together to try and trace both Chumleigh Graham – and the meaning of the map . . .
1929 – K.N. Abbott – The Camp at Sea View Meadow – Blackie. Vera Lucas is surprised to see her schoolfriend Jean in Witheringlea – she knew Jean was heading off to Guide camp, but didn’t realise it was on her Uncle’s farm where she lived. Things on her Uncle’s farm aren’t so good this year – there has been a falling-out with the neighbour over new-fangled farming practices and straying livestock, and locals have sided with the neighbour. The Guides determine to try to find the lost livestock and resolve the dispute . . .
1929 – HB Davidson – Jane The Determined – Nelson. After her father marries one of her old classmates from school, Jane Weaver decides to move into her Aunt Emma’s house 100 miles away in Shipdale, and get a job – so she does. Her new employer, bookseller Mr Pennybright, soon sees her potential and encourages her to enrol in evening classes; she also joins Guides. Her future is looking bright – but on her return from Guide Camp the blow falls . . .
1929 – Margaret C Field – Cecile At St Clare’s – Warne. Cecile Benson, daughter of an explorer the head knew some years ago, has arrived at St Clare’s School, only an hour after the letter from her father arrived – advising that she had been expelled from her (unnamed) old school, her mother is dead, her old nurse is off to Canada, so he is sending her to St Clare’s on the spot, part-way through summer term. Cecile refuses to tell the head, Miss Moore, which her previous school was or why she was expelled, other than that she was wrongly accused. Given the lack of information, Miss Moore does not feel she can let Cecile mix with her pupils, so she is sent to an attic room, and put on her honour to stay there until she reconsiders . . .
1929 – Margaret Middleton – The Guide Adventurers – Blackie. Deborah, Penelope, Mary and Bridget debate whether one can live on twelve shillings and sixpence a week, so they go off to camp for a fortnight, living entirely on that funding and the equipment they take. They organise a lift on the back of a lorry, and head off towards the country in search of adventure . . .
1929 – FOH Nash – Merrie Brandon – Warne. Merrie Brandon is not a popular girl in Hengestbury School, due to her tendency to put fun before sense. She also refuses to talk of her old school, St Jerome’s, or why she left it. Then a new girl arrives at Hengestbury who used to go to St Jerome’s while Merrie was there . . .
1929 – Mrs A.C. Osborn Hann – Peg And Her Company – R.T.S. Peg and her new husband Bert live in a country cottage, and Peg is Captain of the local Guides. It’s a small company, which has been running for a short time. A new Guide, Angela, joins – with four service stars and a lot of confidence – but for all her badges, she shows signs of being less than honest . . .
1929 – AC Osborn Hann – Peg Junior – RTS. Peg’s daughter, Peggy, is now a Brownie, and involved in all the pack’s fun . . .
1929 – Sibyl B Owsley – A Make-Believe Brownie – Nelson. Barbara is much younger than her brother and sister, and has spent her nine years ‘wrapped in cotton wool’ in case she might catch an illness or injury,. She isn’t allowed to join Brownies for fear she might catch Mumps or Measles from the other girls. Finally the elder children persuade her mother to accept an offer to visit Italy, while Barbara goes to stay with her Aunt Mildred and Uncle Harry, and cousins Ron, Stephen, Tim, Nicholas and Robina, on their farm – just like they used to. There she has various adventures whilst trying to live by the Brownie Promise, even if she can’t yet make it . . .
1929 – Ethel Talbot – Meta the New Girl – Collins. Speech day at St Chad’s School is imminent, and sisters Robin and Sibyl have followed custom and invited their nearest relatives in the UK, their Aunt and Uncle, despite knowing they could not afford the journey. They’re surprised to get a reply from their Aunt and Uncle’s stepdaughter, who has always longed to come to ‘Chad’s’. The note advises of her intention to attend Speech Day – but how? School Patroness, the Countess of Glasgow, has her valuable black pearls stolen. And one of the Daffodil Patrol finds a baby in the woods. Will the pearls be found?
1929 – Ethel Talbot – Skipper & Co – Warne. S.R.S. Hopeful are an urban Sea Ranger Crew, whose only opportunity for actual sailing is at their annual camp. So the prospect of three weeks in a ‘cottage with boat’ at Tregant in Cornwall excites them. But when they arrive they find the new Squire opposes their presence, and warns the locals against giving them any advice or help . . .
1929 – Ethel Talbot – The Peppercorn Patrol – Cassell. Sisters Peggy, Joan and Jill’s school term has ended early due to scarlet fever at their boarding school. Unable to stay with their Aunt for fear of spreading infection, she instead arranges for them to stay in the country with Mrs Wallace. She expects genteel young schoolgirls from London, hasn’t seen Guides before, and is old-fashioned – so is shocked when the trio arrive in Guide uniform and laden with backpacks, billycans, cameras, signalling flags, a Union Flag, and a portable gramophone!
1929 – May Wynne – The Guide’s Honour – Warne. Evebell Scrayne joins Bisford House School, with fellow new girl Angela Flenton, both Guides. They meet Miss Laurent the Guide Captain, and outgoing Angela is soon quizzing her about Guides, discovering that a camp is being held in the holidays – at Sattlesbury-on-sea. Miss Laurent notices that Evebell has gone white at this news. Nina discovers that the Scraynes left Sattlesbury suddenly, and determines to find out why . . .
1930 – E.M. Channon – Her Second Chance – Nisbet. The Headmistress of St Madern’s, Miss Pember, has a sudden vacancy for a modern languages mistress, and plans to interview the only candidate with any potential – Margaret Monsal. Looking at the newspaper, she spots that a former pupil, Anita Lyon, had died in an accident, aged 25 – and that Sir Isaac Salmon, father of Anita’s cousin Rita Salmon, had left a vast sum in his will, presumably to his only child. Some years ago, Anita had been expelled, after which Rita had, under Anita’s instructions, gone to St Madern’s with the express intention of ruining the school in revenge – and had nearly succeeded. When Miss Monsal arrives for interview, she reveals that she is actually Rita Salmon. She has found out that her father’s fortune was ill-gotten, has spent to get rid what she can of it, and now wants to earn her own honest living – and regrets that she took revenge on Anita’s behalf only to later find out that Anita’s expulsion was fully justified. She now claims to want to make good on what she did before, and begs a second chance . . .
1930 – Winifred Darch – The Lower Fourth And Joan – Oxford University Press. Following her father’s sudden death Joan Miller’s future is uncertain – she didn’t win the scholarship to the High School, and her Aunt and Uncle have doubts that her elder brother can make the mill pay, so there is no money for school fees. Then it is discovered that a trust fund could be applied for which could fund her education at the high; she is granted it on the chair’s casting vote – but one of those opposing is Mrs Billing, mother of Chloris. Chloris failed to get into the exclusive local private school, so is also joining the High – Mrs Billing isn’t happy at the thought of her girl mixing with ‘scholarship and charity girls’ . . .
1930c – HB Davidson – Bunch, A Brownie – Blackie. Victoria Beatrice Meadowbrow, known as Bunch, lived on the estate of Rexborough Hall, where her father was Head Chauffeur, near her best friend Mabel Penrose, known as Micky. Both are keen Brownies and excited at the prospect of a visit to a nearby school to see some plays and then go boating on the lake . . .
1930 – H.B. Davidson – The Castle Tea-Garden – Sheldon. Aunt Cora Malcolm has sailed back from the USA, on hearing that her nieces’ father is terminally ill, and meets sisters Vera, Teddy and Judy at their home – as it formed part of their father’s medical practice, it must be sold with the practice. Aunt Cora suggests that they move together to the country and open a tea-garden – she and Vera could work in it full time; Teddy and Judy could help after school and at weekends. They find a suitable house in Kent, in the village of Burnham Castle, and open up their business. But something seems to be keeping potential customers away . . .
1930 – Dorothea Moore – Judy, Patrol Leader – Collins. Judy Bethune is an orphan, living in the Orkney Islands. Her Uncle, Mr James Bethune, is Latin Master at St Oswyth’s Boarding School for Girls in Merchester and lodges in a house near the school. Returning from school one day he finds his niece on the doorstep of his lodgings and expecting to stay – the lady she has been living with in Orkney has had to move abroad suddenly. Judy has every intention of acting as her Uncle’s housekeeper, despite his already having one, and the next morning early she enters the school grounds by means of climbing over the wall, then climbing onto the porch, up a fire-escape ladder, round the ledge and in a window which was slightly open . . .
1930 – Mrs A C Osborn Hann – Ten Little Brownie Girls – RTS. Gay and Annie live in Great Burrington, and when a Brownie pack is started Gay is made Elf Sixer – they have even more fun when they go on Pack Holiday . . .
1930 – Mrs A.C. Osborn Hann – What The Brownies Did – Lutterworth Press. IvyJoan has a new baby brother, Brian, and is visited by her urban friend, Terry, who also joins her at Brownies . . .
1930 – Diana Pares – The Hawthorn Patrol – Blackie. The Hawthorn clan move into a new house – Mr and Mrs Hawthorn, their daughters Evelyn, Beatrix, Daphne, Jocelyn and Cherry – and their orphaned cousins Constance and Audrey. The Captain visits, and as she feels the existing Patrols wouldn’t like new recruits, they agree to join the Company as a ready-made Hawthorn Patrol – and on doing so find the Guide Company very slack. They set out on a mission to improve the meeting hall, and the Guides . . .
1930 – Tess Peppard – Seven Robins – The Sheldon Press. The Robin Patrol of the 1st Glenalyn Guides all live in the same village outside Glenalyn, and the book tells of their good turns.
1930 – Isabel Pike – At The Grey Farm – RTS. While their parents are on holiday, Olga and Denie are staying with their mother’s old Nurse, Mrs Bunce. As a bedtime story she tells them an old story about nearby Bruckendale Hall, and how they are poor now because the family’s treasure was lost in the English Civil War, after the young squire was killed, and his cousin moved in but could not find the treasure . . .
1930 – Various – Collins’ Girl Guides’ Annual – Collins. An annual of short stories and articles. Stories: The Story Of Deirdre, Smugglers’ Den, The Lost Bells, La Fleurette Of The Shadows, The Two Pools, In The Dead Of Night, The Lost Darning Needle, The Swimming Relay, Gannets For The King, Buried Above Ground, An Adventurous Christmas Eve, and, A Test For Tenderfoots.
1930 – May Wynne – Bobbety the Brownie – Warne. Beryl Lyndon, known to her family as Bobbety, has recently become a Brownie, and is asked by her mother to go away to a friend’s house for the summer and share lessons with the children, Alan and Tessa – as Mr and Mrs Lyndon have to go to France for three months. She gets on well with Alan, who hopes to join Scouts soon, but finds Tessa much harder to get along with, as she always wants her own way. Then comes the incident with Joe’s broken leg . . .
1931 – Reginald Callender – Pamela Guide & Captain – Black. Her father died in a motor car accident, and within the week her mother dies too, so Pamela comes to live with her Maiden Aunts Rebecca, Bertha and Miriam. They are in their fifties and sixties, and live a solitary life in the seaside village of Lynton, especially as money is very short. During term-time school gives Pamela a break from the dull life at home, and a much-needed hot meal at lunchtime. The holidays, however, consist of housework, and polite walks combined with constant criticism of her manners and deportment from Aunt Rebecca – until one afternoon when she slips out to the beach and meets Sheila Johnson, a Guide, who is staying in the area for the holidays . . .
1931 – Catherine Christian – Cherries in Search of a Captain – Blackie. 1st Westbury Guides have a problem. That they have got through three Captains in five months isn’t their fault, but limits the prospects of finding another – the situation is worsened by their losing their headquarters to structural problems. Add the opening of a new school, whose closed-sponsored Guide Company would take all of the Guides who were pupils there, but none who were not – and from 5 Patrols the 1st Westbury was thus reduced overnight to 5 Guides, with neither Guiders nor premises. Patrol Leader Cherry Fielding and Patrol Second Petronella Harcourt of the Scarlet Pimpernels, Jessie and Violet King of the Poppies, and their Cousin, Lottie King of the Sunflowers. The Commissioner agrees to them working as a Lone Patrol, and suggests the Leaders read up the copy of the first Guide handbook which the founding Captain of the company had gifted to it.
1931 – Vera Marshall – The Quest of the Sleuth Patrol – Cassell. Meriel Mardon and Gabrielle Lancaster – or Merry and Gay – and Gay’s brother Robin, live with Gay and Robin’s Aunt Maud. Robin was due to inherit a large estate when his father died – unless father’s long-lost cousin turned up – and as Robin had no desire to run an estate, he hoped Cousin Edgar might be found. Having been taught by a governess, this term Merry and Gay start at Ravensdale School, and start researching into Cousin Edgar’s possible whereabouts, aided by their Guide friends . . .
1931 – Violet M. Methley – The Windmill Guides – Blackie. Flooded out of their camp on the first night, next morning the two Patrols and their Guider move their soggy gear to a nearby empty windmill. The owner allowed them use of the lower three floors of it, but not the top floor, the hatch to which she kept locked. Searching for an item of lost property, one of the Guides touches the hatch lid, and it falls open . . .
1931 – Margaret Middleton – Three Girls And A Car – Blackie. Unity Avon’s Aunt has died, and left an unusual bequest. Unity has been left £100, but certain conditions apply – namely that she has to spend a minimum of 20 days at her Aunt’s old house in Avoch-av-Ord in northern Scotland. With permission from her parents she invests in a second-hand car, and accompanied by her classmates, sisters Noel and Jane, they head north from London, car laden with camping equipment for their overnight stops. As they travel, they wonder about the will’s strange contents . . .
1931 – FOH Nash – Audrey The Sea Ranger – Sheldon Press. While their house is having an extension built, Audrey with her father and stepmother move into a house at the coast, at Heathmoor Bay. This enables Audrey to link up with two friends who are staying there, join their Sea Ranger ‘Ship’ over the summer holidays – and become involved in their adventures . . .
1931 – F.O.H. Nash – Kattie of the Balkans – Warne. Bunnie Cooter, Peggy Newcome, and Kattie Ilieff from Silaria, are pupils at St Cecilia’s school and members of the Guide Company. Bunnie was due to go home for the holidays, and during the break attend Guide Camp with her home Guide Company, and Peggy was joining her. On hearing that Kattie would not be able to travel home to Silaria for the holidays, Bunnie invites her to join them, little realising the adventures that would lead to . . .
1931 – AC Osborn Hann – Peg’s Babies – RTS. Peg is now married with two children – Peggy, 6, and David, 5, and they have fun in the country . . .
1931 – Mrs A.C. Osborn Hann – Peg Junior – R.T.S. Peg’s daughter Peggy is now a keen Brownie in the pack run by the rector’s daughter, Daphne Fortescue, and fond of animals. A former Guide from Peg’s London days, Lydia, gets in touch, and Peg invites her to stay – though Lydia finds herself a fish out of water in the country . . .
1931 – Doris Pocock – The Kengarth Brownies – Nisbet. Gwen Hamilton lives with her elderly Grandmother and Aunts, and older (and rather staid) Cousin Cicely, while her parents are in India. As a livewire, her life is a round of being told ‘don’t’. Hanging around the railway halt, she saw the arrival of Cicely’s friend Connie Cameron, home for the school holidays. Crossing the level crossing to go home, she slipped, and fell just as the train was approaching. Connie, being a Guide, urged her to lie between the rails until the train passed, then treated her for shock. Visiting that night, Connie offers to help with occupying Gwen. She sets up a Brownie pack – and then challenges Cecily to take it on after the holidays . . .
1931 – Madge S. Smith – Guide Margery or The Real Thing – Oxford University Press. Margery Acland comes to live with her cousin Bridget Swayne and her family – both are Guides, though Bridget is more keen and more advanced, having gained many badges. Margery’s Guide attendance has been more patchy, partly due to her mother’s illness, and because her unit put less attention on badges and more on other Guide activities. Bridget and her friends discover Margery’s sewing skills, and rope her into their scheme to secretly ‘adopt’ a local poor child and make clothes for her. Then, embarassingly, their good turn is discovered . . .
1931 – Ethel Talbot – Brownies All – Warne. Poppy is starting at a new school – as the only day girl at boarding school. Her one concern is that moving house has meant leaving her old Brownie Pack. So she is delighted to find there is a Brownie Pack at the school, and she can join in all their adventures.
1931 – May Wynne – Girls Of The Pansy Patrol – Aldine Publishing Company. When Captain Arden announces the venue of the 1st Benleigh Company’s next camp, every girl is thrilled bar one. Jessamy Barson knows there is a family secret around Bargellan Woods and the landowner, Sir Ramon Tarrall. When her parents hear they let her into the family secret – that their family name is Tarrall, she is actually Sir Ramon’s granddaughter. There was a scandal involving one of Sir Ramon’s two sons, her father was blamed and could not prove it was actually his brother. But, if she goes to camp, maybe Jessamy could find the proof?
1932 – Christine Chaundler – Jill Of The Guides – Nisbet. Jill Harlow and her friend Irma come home from their first day at high school desperately keen to join Guides, but both families refuse – Jill had been delicate, and her mother considered school and homework to be strain enough on Jill’s health for now. One of the Patrol Leaders suggests that rather than irritate their mothers with pleading, Jill and Irma should seek to win permission to join by showing good results at school. This works for Irma, but Jill’s mother isn’t persuaded . . .
1932 – H.B. Davidson – Belle Joins the Brownies – Blackie. Nine-year-old Belle Clarke lived in a children’s home, and one evening was summoned to the Matron’s room and received her first ever visitor, a Miss Dickson. Miss Dickson was to be her new Auntie, and they would live in a house in the country in a fortnight’s time. On arrival she meets neighbouring children Jill and Tony. Jill’s mother invites Belle to go with them to Brownies . . .
1932 – H.B. Davidson – The Makeshift Patrol – Sheldon Press. The Skylark Patrol head off to camp in Sussex, with two borrowed Guiders. They camp in a field next to the Smuggler’s Inn, reputed to be haunted.
1932 – Constance Harvey – Pam Wins Through – John F Shaw & Co Ltd. Pam Pritchard, Games Captain at Holmwood College, finds the Captain of the School, Mildred Guthrie, hard to get on with. Their House Captain advises her that Mildred, as School Captain wants to play in the School’s Hockey 1st Eleven – in spite of her being poor at Hockey. What lies behind it?
1932 – Joan Herbert – Lorna’s First Term – Sheldon Press. Lorna Morrison’s parents, both professional singers, were killed in an accident when she was very young; since then she had been brought up by her mother’s old nanny in a cottage in Wales, miles from the nearest neighbour and with no power or running water. Now she is almost 12, the lawyer visits and advises that she is shortly to inherit, according to the terms of her parents’ will. The terms are that if she shows talent, she is to be funded to attend her father’s old musical college, as well as becoming a Governor of it. As she doesn’t, the other option applies – funding to attend a boarding school of her choice, plus nevertheless being appointed a College Governor. She opts to join Kingsdown School, which happens to be the one the lawyer’s sister has just left. The sister gives Lorna a booklet of insider advice, realising that the move from a lonely rural cottage to a busy boarding school must be daunting . . .
1932 – Dorothea Moore – Sara To The Rescue – Nisbet. Sara Seven, an orphan, has lived with her late Aunt’s landlady since Aunt Amelie died, and works for Mrs Jennings to make up for the limited rent she is able to pay. On the way to post her resignation from Guides on account of her having to work more hours, she bumps into a girl asking directions to Paddington Station, and as the girl is foreign and seems to know nothing of London, and time is short to meet the train, she opts to escort the strange girl by bus. On arrival at the station and heading towards the train, an elderly lady dashes forward, grabs the foreign girl’s case and asks if she is Sara – as soon as she confirms that much, the lady dashes off, and as they approach a train the porter pushes all three of them aboard before Sara or the foreign girl can protest, the door is closed and it is on the move, headed for Cornwall . . .
1932 – AC Osborn Hann – June Runs The Company – Shaw. June receives a copy of Girl Guiding for her birthday but, not really having heard of Guides, after a glance isn’t much impressed, so takes the book to Alice, a sixteen-year-old disabled friend. Next time June visits, Alice is excited to share the things she discovered in the book – the stalking, camping, firelighting and first aid. Now equally excited, June writes to Guide Headquarters to ask how to set up a Guide Company in the village, and without worrying about the rulebook, sets up a Company with herself as Leader . . .
1932 – AC Osborn Hann – What Happened To Peg – RTS. The final story in the ‘Peg’ series sees Peg suffering a series of misfortunes, and drama for the participants in the Guide Drama Cup Competition . . .
1932 – Sibyl B Owsley – Andy, A Pixie – Harrap. Andrina lives with her spinster Aunts, bringing mess and muddle to her Aunts’ home. Then the Pack Leader and Brown Owl persuade Andrina to give Brownies a try . . .
1932 – Sibyl B Owsley – The School That Was Different – Shaw. Miss Hermione Glynn has spent the past ten years bringing up her late brother’s children since their mother’s death. Now all the elder children are settled in careers or are training for them, the youngest is ready to leave school and take over the running of the house. Miss Glynn realises she will be free to take up the teaching career she laid aside a decade ago. But not as a teacher working under someone else – instead she finds a run-down day school and takes on the task of transforming it – buildings, teachers, and pupils – including starting Guides . . .
1932 – Sybil Owsley/Mrs A.C. Osborn Hann – Brownie Revels – John F. Shaw Publishers. A collection of short stories – A Great Big Adventure, Ten Little Brownie Girls, Boggart or Brownie, Brownie Revels, The Changing of Philippa, This Brownie Business, Lend A Hand, and, The Brownie Who Lost Things.
1932c – Various – Thrilling Stories Of Girl Guides – Nelson. Short story collection. Stories: Curly And Co In Camp, The Rival Camps, The C3 Rangers, Tinker’s Luck, Helping Hawkins, Sheila’s Second Thought, The Famous Four Of St Margaret’s, Moira The Muddler, and, Guides On Guard.
1932 – U.M. Williams – For Brownies – Harrap. A selection of games, and stories: The Little Brown Goat And The Magic Pea, Mushrooms, Canary-Bird, The Story Of The Silver Birch-Tree, Plumpy Cat, The Blue Wizard, Princess Jemima And Her Baby Dragon, King Kelpie, The Story Of The Twins, The Badge That Ran Away, The Dragon Who Had Hay-Fever, and, Tavi Of Gold.
1933 – Christine Chaundler – The Amateur Patrol – Nisbet. Kit Duncan and her friends Hazel and Peggy are involved in a train accident whilst travelling to school. One lady faints, they don’t know how to help, a nurse notices, saying that had they been Guides they would have known what to do. All wanted to be Guides but their Headmistress was opposed. But the idea had been planted, especially after they see a Guide rally . . .
1933 – H.B. Davidson – Sea Rangers of the “Rodney” – Sheldon Press. Mary Rose had kept house for her miner father in Staffordshire ever since her Aunt left them to be married – then her father was killed in a pit accident, and within a fortnight the furniture had been sold and she caught the train to her Aunt’s house in Sussex. During a power cut she meets up with a group of friends who are planning to start a Sea Ranger crew, and joins them. With a few months before their Skipper can start, they make a start on swimming lessons, rope-work, and getting out in rowing boats with the lobster fishermen . . .
1933 – Irene Mossop – Hilary Leads The Way – Warne. Hilary Mansfield’s family has fallen on hard times, giving her sudden cause to work hard to win the junior school scholarship, unlike the other third formers who tend to slack at everything. But her success in the scholarship means Hilary leaving behind her third-form friends to become the youngest member of the fourth form and middle house – and in the fourth form, the fashion is to work hard in school and out . . .
1933 – AC Osborn Hann – A Brownie From The Caravans – RTS. Nine-year-old Carlotta Smith lives with her traveler family in a caravan by the woods. She joins the local school but finds it hard to settle, as though she doesn’t know book learning, she considers she knows far more about other things, so causes trouble in class. To the Brownies’ shock, Brown Owl suggests that Carlotta should join the pack . . .
1933c – Sybil Owsley – A Madcap Brownie – Blackie. Moppy’s younger brother Wriggles is preparing to head off to Wolf Cub Camp, and Moppy finds it unfair that she doesn’t get to go to camp. Then she realises that her fellow Elves, Iris and Ann, usually spent the school holidays in their family’s cottage in Urchin Bay, near the site of the Cub Camp, so she asks them if she can go with them, and have a camp of their own. Iris and Ann’s mother agrees, and Moppy starts planning adventures . . .
1933 – Ethel Talbot – Anne-On-Her-Own – Ward Lock. Anne Heriot, a keen Ranger, has been looking after her widowed invalid mother, with the help of money sent by her married elder brother keeping the family finances afloat while she finished secretarial college as top student. Newly graduated, her search for a job leads to a post at the Brimsham Hosiery Company, far away enough to require her to leave home – but with her younger sister ready to take over caring for mother and the college place, Anne is able to accept the job, and take a room at a hostel for girls in the town. On her arrival at the hostel, the night before she is due to start work, she finds a letter waiting for her from the hosiery company – they had merged with a rival, and there was no longer a post for her. Not wanting to upset her mother and sister’s plans, but knowing her meagre savings won’t pay hostel fees long, Anne faces up to the prospect of being jobless and homeless in a strange town . . .
1934 – Elinor M Brent-Dyer – Carnation Of The Upper Fourth – Lutterworth. Carnation de Lisle has joined Shapcott High School. Her mother having died when she was born, she had lived a wandering life with her father, a musician and composer – as such she knew various languages and cultures but had never been to school, until they settle at Shapcott and Aunt Nancy joins them as housekeeper. At school she meets Madge Harley, one of a large family who lives on the same street, and is a Guide – and Madge coaches her through her Tenderfoot tests. But Carnation finds it difficult to fit in at school . . .
1934 – HB Davidson – Brenda In Belgium – Sheldon Press. Unable to go home for the school holidays due to her brother having measles, Brenda joins her classmate Ruth, who is spending the holidays in Belgium, in the home of her old nanny. Whilst there, they meet with the local Guides and share in adventure . . .
c1934 – Penelope Gaunt – Kitty Goes to Camp – Sheldon Press. After a long wait, Kitty gets to join Guides. The Company being in a poor area, she takes part in the fundraising concert and bazaar to raise money for camp, and gets to enjoy the camp fun . . .
1934 – Pat Gordon – Madcap Petrina – Hutchinson. Petrina Applebee, a fruit-rancher’s daughter from California, arrives at Heathfield School in England at age 13, unaccustomed to discipline or being declined her wishes. She finds an English girls’ boarding school very different . . .
1934 – Mary Lean – Joan Of Glen Garland – RTS. A Company of Canadian Girl Guides from Toronto are tasked with building a hut in the Don Valley for a Guide competition – and have adventures in creating and using it . . .
1934 – Violet M Methley – Mystery Camp – Blackie. 7th Knutsbridge Guides are in the lorry with all their gear, ready to head off for a three-week camp in the New Forrest, and are just waiting for their Lieutenant to arrive, Captain having headed off the day before. But at Lieutenant’s approach it is clear that something is wrong – Captain has been in an accident and is now in hospital with a broken leg – and as they had the New Forest site on condition that Captain was present, the camp’s off. Then Lieutenant has an idea, and manages to get permission for them to camp in the grounds of Favour Royal, the Earl of Lorimer’s empty house. While the Guides explore the overgrown kitchen garden in search of fruit and veg they see a strange sight in the fruit-bush thicket – “there came a most unearthly and hideous yell, a kind of wailing howl . . . at the same moment a face was thrust forward through the tangle, fiercely, threateningly . . .”
1934 – Veronica Marlow – Sally Wins the School – Hutchinson. Sally Brendon leaves her London orphanage to join the Allen family in their Welsh seaside home. Major and Mrs Allen are welcoming, their daughters less so – especially behind their parents’ backs. As Sally opts to join the local Guides, the Allen sisters set up an anti-Guides group, seeking to discredit the local Guides and see Sally sent back to the orphanage . . .
1934 – Violet Methley – The Queer Island – Blackie. English Sea Ranger Carol Hayes, in Australia to visit her elderly Aunts in Sydney, joins up as a temporary member of the local Sea Ranger Ship, Captain Cook, and enjoys a three-person hiking camp with Australian Sea Rangers Dorcas Wilde and Wynne Aldred. While swimming in the bay they have an encounter with a shark, Carol found herself attacking the shark to try to save Dorcas, and having an encounter with a mer-child, before arriving at their campsite at Fortune Bay. They experience a bad storm, and on emerging from the cave where they were forced to shelter, discover that as well as fallen trees around their campsite – a new island has appeared in the bay – so they swim out to explore it . . .
1934 – Dorothea Moore – Sara to the Rescue – Nisbet. Sara lives with Mrs Jennings, who runs a faded boarding house in London. She had stayed there with her late Aunt, who had suddenly died, leaving Sara there at a reduced rent in exchange for work, Guides being her one escape. Finding a girl needing directions to Paddington, Sara opts to take her on the bus, and on arrival ends up, through mistaken identity, being bundled onto a train bound for Cornwall, where further intrigues follow.
1934 (c) – Elisabeth Mumford – Judy Joins The Jasmines – CSSM. Judy Stanisford lives with her mother, a widow who is not in good health. The doctor recommends a stay at a Hydro in Germany, which would involve Judy going to Hadley Court boarding school. On the train to school she is joined in her carriage by fellow pupils Nella, Jill – and Sheila Massinger, all Guides. On arriving at school she finds that she is in a small dorm with Sheila, and Anna Aldonova, who weren’t expecting a ‘third’ – and Anna is not happy about it . . .
1934 – Mrs A.C. Osborn Hann – Captain – Partridge. Vonnie Mayhew was an only child, who lived on a farm and was kept indoors due to frequent bouts of illness, and away from the ‘rough village girls’. The latter part was understandable, as Topsy, Sallie and Margie were troublemakers at school, and the despair of their teacher. In revenge for a deserved detention they sneaked up to the school after dark on a Saturday, helped their younger brothers climb into the classroom by means of a window with a broken catch, and set the boys to vandalising the classroom, leading to an appearance in the Police Court, and fines. Then two newcomers move into a cottage in the village – Hilary Winslow and her younger sister Brenda. They consider setting up a village Guide Company – then the Vicar calls and asks if they would consider starting Guides – the remaining challenge is persuading the parents . . .
1934 – Sibyl B Owsley & AC Osborn Hann – Three Guides Adventuring – John F Shaw. We follow three Guides from the Ladymead Company – Nicolette Hatherall, her Cousin Elspeth, and Laurie Dawson. Nicolette and Elspeth take up work, Nicolette as a haberdashery apprentice and Elspeth as a nurse probationer, while Laurie, the daughter of the lighthouse keeper and his wife, goes home to help her parents at the lighthouse. Each has adventures . . .
1934 – Sybil Owsley – School Knight Errant – John F. Shaw & Co Ltd. Margaret and Vivian Cambie have lived with their Aunt and Uncle, following the death of their mother and while their father was abroad. Six years on, the position is unchanged, the girls spending most of the year away at school; Margaret is an excellent student. But Vivian is a problem – seeing unjustness in just situations and campaigning for one supposed underdog after another – and causing disruption to the school as a result. The head warns Margaret that Vivian is close to being expelled. When the other PLs realise what is worrying Margaret, they propose taking Vivian to the next Guide Camp, despite Vivian not having Second Class yet . . .
1934 – Mary Shrewsbury – All Aboard the “Bundy” – Pilgrim Press. A group of Sea Rangers in a school company are leaving school, but arrange one last holiday together at the home of Nancy, one of the Sea Rangers, in Cornwall. Just before camp, the group discover that Nancy’s family have had a financial crash. By the time the group arrive, the home and car are gone and bailiffs at the house, so they sail out to an island in Nancy’s own boat to camp in a cave, in hiding. Then they spot strange goings-on . , .
1934 – Ethel Talbot – Betty And The Brownies – Warne. Nancy is the new Sixer at her boarding school’s pack, as the former Sixer (and her best friend) left at the end of last term. A new girl, Betty, joins the school, having been living in India – Nancy had hoped for a recruit to fill her Six’s vacancy, but Betty declares Brownies to be babyish, and refuses to join – but why . . . ?
1934 – Kathleen M Willcox – The Stanford Twins at St Faith’s – G.O.P. Twins Janet and Marjory – or Jan and Jo – live on a farm in Canada built up by their parents. A friend of their father’s offers to pay for the education of both, with all related expenses – provided it is at a school in England. There they take part in all the school activities, and get in various scrapes – including during Guide camp . . .
1935 – H.B. Davidson – The Brownie Village – Lutterworth Press. A meeting is called at the school for all girls aged over 8 – a Brownie unit was being formed for the 12 girls of the right age – with every girl joining, it was going to be a Brownie village . . .
1935 – Patience Gilmour – Three’s A Company – RTS. 15-year-old Lone Guide Laurie has just started the school summer holiday from her Paris convent school with her stepmother, actress Viola, when an acting job in the USA comes up, resulting in Laurie being left on her own in the hotel at St. Gabrielle, after only two days, while Viola and her new husband head to the USA. Laurie’s Lone Guider asks her to visit Ann Mallory, who is bedbound after a riding accident. When they meet Ann’s new nurse, Dorothy, and discover she is a Ranger, they form a mini-Company. Then Laurie finds out that Viola hasn’t paid the hotel bill, and the landlady turns her out . . .
1935 – May Marshall – Jan Solves the Riddle – Girls Own Paper. Jan returns home from boarding school to find there is trouble in the village – the local landowner has returned from years abroad, and all the estate workers are threatening to go on strike. What has upset them, and can Jan resolve the dispute?
1935 – Margaret Middleton – The Island Camp – Blackie. Patrol Leaders Philippa, Joe and Hester are camping independently next door to the Company Camp. The ‘mystery house’ nearby, which they had seen at last year’s camp, is now let, they find the occupants – a lady who wears high heels and a foreign manservant – curious . . .
1935 – Ethel Talbot – Pluck at St Cyprian’s – Plgrim Press. Hesther, Peggy and Jean attend St Cyprian’s School – the school buildings were once a monastery, and the school still owns old pre-reformation manuscripts. At the start of the new term the Head reveals that she has received an offer to sell the manuscripts, and asks the school at large their view – the pupils oppose sale, so the head advises that they will be lodged at the bank after half-term for safe keeping, by wish of the Governors. Will the delay be cause for regret?
1935 – Ursula Moray Williams – Adventures Of Anne – Harrap. A series of short stories about Brownie Anne and her adventures: Anne In Switzerland, The Ponies, Anne And The Circus Pony, Anne And The Copycat, and, Magicking Miss Manderson.
1935 – Mrs AC Osborn Hann – Lieutenant – RTS. Brenda Winslow, Lieutenant of 1st Shenstone, is preparing to take the Guides to camp – although her elder sister Hilary Graham is still the registered Captain, it is now Brenda who runs the Company. The newly-formed Poppy Patrol are especially keen on their forthcoming camp.
1935 – Ethel Talbot – Brownie Island – Warne. Brown Owl, a teacher, lives at Riverweir during the school holidays – this year she invites her small Pack to come with her to stay there, and to sail to River Island . . .
1935 – Ethel Talbot – Pioneer Pat – Ward Lock & Co. With her elder brothers having left home, Pat has looked after her father until his recent death. Now she is heading to lodgings with a £20 note to pay for her accommodation, keep, and a secretarial course. On the train a woman rushes into the carriage depositing her bags and papers – then realising she is on the wrong train gathers them up and rushes off again – in doing so she has also lifted amongst her stuff Pat’s money, leaving her penniless. A visit to a bookshop to try and sell some of the more valuable books in her suitcase leads to an encounter at Hoggins Bookshop . . .
1935 – Ethel Talbot – Sea Rangers All – Warne. Six Sea Rangers, all pupils at St Treen’s School, get permission to go on a sailing holiday together at Pengorm in Cornwall, in their last term at school. One of the group, Hilda, lived there during the holidays, but financial difficulties were forcing her to leave school at the end of term, and her house there was up for sale, meaning a stay at her nanny’s cottage. They soon realise they are in a part of the country where superstitions are followed . . .
1935 – Madge Torrence White – Puck of the Priory Guides – Hutchinson. Orphaned Sophie MacPherson, known as Puck, comes from London to live at St. Baron, and joins the local Priory Guides. Knowing nothing of the country, she struggles to fit in. Some of the Guides believe they have seen the legendary St. Baron’s ghost – can Puck, and her friend Gipsy, uncover the truth?
1936 – HB Davidson – How Judy Passed Her Tests – Sheldon Press. Judy Challoner has left India and come to live with her Aunt, she expects living in the country to be dull, but meets Anne, who invites her to join Guides – and her adventures begin . . .
1936 – Patience Gilmour – Seven Wild Swans – Lutterworth Press. Friends Laurie, Ann and Dorothy had met in the south of France five years ago – Laurie was holidaying alone, Ann was recovering from an accident, and Dorothy was engaged as Ann’s nurse-companion – and all were Rangers. Now Ann and Laurie are reunited, and Ann has an attic room in her parents’ new house which she wants to use as a Ranger gathering place, but Dorothy is unemployed – until as a result of almost running over a child, they discover Saint Elizabeth’s Orphanage – and Miggs – and the Seven Wild Swans begin to gather . . .
1936 – FOH Nash – Richenda In The Alps – Sheldon Press. Richenda Arden is at school, and receives a letter from her friend Gwenneth Wynne. Gwenneth’s mother is a film star, and as her next role is a French one, she plans to travel there to pick up the atmosphere and accent, and invites both girls to travel to France too, to spend part of the time with her and part with a professor friend to improve their french. Once her mother’s approval for the journey is received, Richenda is ready for her first trip abroad . . .
1936 – MW Newman – Sybil Makes Good – Sheldon Press. Sybil Finley lives with younger sister Barbara, Barbara’s old nurse Nana who is now the housekeeper, and their distant widower father. Since their mother’s death the girls had both had a lot of freedom, until her father had suddenly noticed that Sybil had academic potential and entered her for the high school scholarship – that attained, her father is determined that she should not waste the opportunity frivolously. Until now she has enjoyed Guides as her one recreation, but her father is concerned that it is getting in the way of her completing her homework thoroughly . . .
1936 – F.O.H. Nash – Hopefuls Adrift – Frederick Warne & Co. Home from their schools for the summer holidays, Joy and her brother Roddie plot to find hidden Danegelt. With their parents working abroad for three weeks, they were free to find adventure.
1936 – AC Osborn Hann – The Redheaded Patrol – RTS. The Scarlet Pimpernel Patrol happen all to have red hair, and with their ringleader Judy, they are the terror of the Company. The other Patrol Leaders despair of doing anything with them, but Ray has an idea . . .
1936 – Sibyl B Owsley – Brownies All – Blackie. Georgina MacVinnie is one of 12 Brownies in 1st Burrswood Pack. She has many adventures, including one involving a toddler climbing up a high ladder . . .
1936 – Diana Pares/Frederica Bennett – The Guides of Fairley and other stories of school and adventure (‘other stories’ being one – Elizabeth and Beth) – Epworth Press. Although billed as several stories, there is the title story and only one other. The Guides of 1st Fairley are based at Fairley Lodge boarding school, proud of their clubroom and their progress at badges. The 2nd Fairley are based in the village, and attended by working class girls who are more interested in practical skills than badges – and have been without a Captain. So – a merger is proposed. The girls of neither company are keen on the chalk-and-cheese experiment . . .
Beth Smith was on board ship, sailing away from the quayside where her parents were watching and waving farewell as she set off on the three week journey to England, where she is to be met by her Aunt – whom she hasn’t seen before. But – she wasn’t the only Miss Elizabeth Smith on board due to meet an Aunt she hasn’t seen before . . .
1937 – Catherine Christian – The Marigolds Make Good – Blackie. The headmistress of St Bridget’s School finds it has become slack – with falling results both academically or in sport – so rules that the school Guide Company shall be suspended until progress is made. The Marigold Patrol decide to carry on independently . . .
1937 – HB Davidson – Billy Goes To Camp – Sheldon Press. On the train to Melrose School, Billy gets out at a wayside stop in search of a chocolate vending machine, overhears a disembarking family talking of their route to nearby caves, and doesn’t hear the train departing behind her until it is too late. With no train for hours, Billy decides that she may as well go to the caves. Slipping in with the family, she opts to leave the main tour group, and meets another escapee from the tour group, a Guide, Ray. Billy joins up with her, and gets a lift on their coach, which is heading back to their school – when the bus arrives Billy discovers she is at – Melrose School! Billy joins the Guides, just in time to join the Company’s camp . . .
1937 – Joan Herbert – The Three Halves – R.T.S. Girl Guide Joan Moreton lives with her widowed Aunt and her three young children. She was adopted by her Aunt when aged 2 after her parents were drowned in a shipwreck she survived. She now finds out from her Aunt that she had had a twin brother John, who was not found after the shipwreck. At a Guide rally she meets a lookalike, Jean Lindsay. Jean picks up an injury and persuades Joan to swap roles with her at the rally. Jean is off to boarding school, but hates that it involves leaving her horse Pegasus at home. Then she hears that Pegasus has had a fall and his life is in danger, so she writes to Joan asking her to come to the schhool and swap places with her for 24 hours . . .
1937 – Joan Herbert – The Trail Of The Blue Shamrock – RTS. Anne Whitfield is a new girl at Buckleigh Abbey school, and at 14 has never been to school before, having lived a solitary life in the country and educated herself. She finds school bewildering at first – and is disappointed to find there is no Guide Company any more, as she would have liked to join – a couple of years before the prefects had opted to drop all the extra clubs and groups, bar hockey. Then the abandoned Form gardens are discovered to have been dug over and weeded – and the only clue to who did it was a slip of paper with a blue trefoil drawn on it – then the library shelves are tidied and the books repaired – the Prefects are concerned at the outbreak of activity they haven’t instigated or authorised . . .
1937 Doreen Ireland – Lynnette of Carisgate – Epworth Press. Lynnette Chantry arrives at Carisgate School part-way through the term – and seems strangely reluctant to talk about her home or family, or to join the new Guide Company the school is starting. Irene Dixon is especially keen to find out why she is so secretive . . .
1937 – Theo Lynch – Adventures Of The Eastmere Guides – Partridge. Miss Clifton first encounters the Eastmere girls when out on a walk – they had organised a paper chase but Doris, one of the hares, had tripped and hurt her wrist, and her friends were looking for an adult to help fetch a doctor. Whilst tending to Doris’s wrist, Miss Clifton discovers that there aren’t any organised activities for girls in Eastmere beyond the paperchases they arrange for themselves, and determines to start Guides. There is difficulty over persuading the Vicar, and more difficulty in persuading the Parish Council, but Miss Clifton gets her way . . .
1937 – Ivy FE Middleton – The Adventures Of The Scarlet Pimpernel Patrol – Sheldon Press. Kay Danvers, Scarlet Pimpernel PL in the 1st Redbridge Company, is tasked by her Patrol with writing a play about ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’ for their contribution to the Company’s fundraising concert. As they are rehearsing they hear a crash outside, and find an injured girl, wearing a Guide badge, she has come off her bicycle while cycling home in the thick fog outside. The girl is desperate to find a phone as whilst on her way she heard two voices talking, seemingly suggesting they planned to carry out a burglary . . .
1937 – Phyllis I Norris – The Mystery Of The White Ties – Sheldon Press. Clifford Bramley and Derry Hastings have recently married – and with both being orphans with younger sisters, they have merged their families – Clifford’s sisters Betty and Daphne, and Derry’s sisters Madge and Una. All have moved to a new house in Gorseley. All the girls have been Guides but, on hearing the local Guides have no spaces, they decide to set up a secret Patrol of their own, and test the Guide skills of the Gorseley Guides . . .
1937 – Sibyl B Owsley – A Round-The-Year Brownie Book – Girl’s Own Paper. Annual-style book. Stories: Wee Folk, A Happy New Year, Thinking Day, The Wolf Cub Pup, Two Tweenies, The Song Of The Storm, Lily Flower, A Tail Of Woe, Wendy Goes Wandering, The Tweeny Who Couldn’t Laugh, The Sign Of The Three Owls, The Golden Journey, The Eve O The Golden Hand, Brownies Grow Up, Through Sylvia’s Eyes, Hide And Seek, and, A Birthday Story.
1937 – Kathlyn Rhodes – A Schoolgirl in Egypt – Harrap. Fifteen-year-old Sylvia Rodney’s father gets a job opportunity in Egypt, and at first it is assumed that she will have to stay at boarding school in England for the next eighteen months. Then her father finds out about an English school in Cairo, from a friend whose daughter Hilary is due to start there, and they arrange that The Rodneys and Hilary will live together in Cairo, and the girls attend Miss Carroll’s school there. At school they join the senior class, and the Guides, and have various adventures . . .
1937 – Ethel Talbot – Sea Rangers’ Holiday – Warne. Four Sea Rangers are holidaying for a week at Round Hill Grange, belonging to a friend of one of the parents, before returning to school. They had written – but when they arrived at the station there was no-one to meet them, and having squeezed onto the local bus – horse-drawn – on arrival they find Round Hill Grange empty, and the locals unfriendly – why . . . ?
1937 – Heather White – Daffodil Row – R.T.S. Ruth Singer and her 13-year-old twin brother David lived in a tiny flat on the run-down Daffodil Row in London’s dockland slums. Mr Singer had drowned at sea some years before, and Mrs Singer had to give up dressmaking and become a cleaner. Ruth had joined Guides and had almost saved up enough to buy her uniform. But when the rent collector comes round the twins discover there are arrears. Ruth’s uniform money pays some of it, David takes a job on a boat and Ruth gets a newspaper round – but it’s not enough. Then Aunt Mary visits, and Ruth’s life is turned upside-down.
1937 – May Wynne – Audrey On Aproval – Ward Lock. Audrey Belthorpe wasn’t expecting her mother to visit her at school, far less with the news that instead of joining her family on holiday in Switzerland at the end of term, she was heading immediately to stay with Great Uncle Trevorne, in Cornwall – a relative she barely knew existed, and about whom there was a great deal of mystery . . .
1938 – Catherine Christian – Bringing up Nancy Nasturtium – R.T.S. Hazel’s Ranger Patrol were going nowhere – no headquarters, no Guider and not much enthusiasm. With the surprise news of her young cousin Nancy coming from South Africa to live with Hazel’s family, just when mother was away, Hazel found herself interviewing for a governess, preparing to look after her cousin, and trying to keep Rangers going . . .
1938 – Doreen Ireland – Margery-The Mystery – Epworth Press. Margery Bell joins Bargate school on the same day as a lively American Girl Scout, and is initially overshadowed, finding herself among the school’s non-Guides – but one of the girls – Jasmine – treats her oddly, calls her ‘Gerry’, and accuses her of being in parts of the school she has not been in . . .
1938 – Ivy F.E. Middleton – Kay of the Pimpernels – R.T.S. Patrol Leader Kay has had her first book accepted by a publisher, organises a Patrol literary party, ends up visiting London, and meets up with ‘the three Musketeers’, a group of London Ranger Guides.
1938 – E. E. Ohlson – Pippa in Switzerland – Nelson. Pippa in Switzerland follows her adventures in the school holidays following her first term. Rejecting her family’s plan for her to stay with an Aunt in Lowestoft, Pippa determines to join her sister Nita, whom the family is taken on a holiday to Switzerland for the benefit of her health. Travel abroad, and staying in a new country provide plenty of opportunities for Pippa’s variety of ‘Good Turn’ ideas, even if it doesn’t do much for Nita’s health . . .
1938 – Ethel Talbot – Rangers and Strangers – Nelson. The Sea Ranger crew from the Midlands are camping at St Pen’s in Cornwall. Although they had assumed there would be both, on arrival they find neither a village nor any prospect of a boat they could hire. The next morning they discover St Pen’s consists of one cottage, occupied by an old lady whose son is at sea, who offers provisions, and use of a boat. But – who are the two strange men who arrive demanding use of the boat, and what are they up to?
1938 – Marjorie Taylor – With the Speedwell Patrol – Blackie. Patrol Leader Mary Blair overhears her new next door neighbour, an invalid girl, Dawn, who lives with her Aunt, playing violin in the garden. Mary and her younger brothers and sisters befriend Dawn, who lost her father in an air accident shortly before the accident that left her an invalid. Doctors recommend that Dawn should travel abroad for the benefit of her health – and that Mary should accompany her. While there, Mary meets a man at a nearby sanatorium who was the engineer of Dawn’s father’s plane . . .
1939 – EMR Burgess – Hilary Follows Up – Blackie. The Peridew sisters all attended Merevaile School – and each had made a name for herself at sport, thinking of little else. Hester had got ‘colours’ at every possible game, then Hope had been hockey and tennis captain, and Honor the demon fast bowler, was now attending Physical Training College. Now the latest Peridew, Hilary, is joining the school, and it is assumed by pupils and teachers alike that she will match her sisters’ sporting records if not exceed them. Whereas Hilary has a far wider range of interests – most of them not games . . .
1939 – Catherine M. Christian – A Schoolgirl From Hollywood – Blackie. Marilene Yates was a child actress in Hollywood before being sent to school in England. In her first school her fame was known, and fellow pupils flocked round fussing over her, and doing work for her, resulting in her being expelled. Her English Aunt Jackie changes her name back to the original Mary Ellen, and sends her niece to the spartan Whitehaven School she had attended. Mary Ellen meets fellow new pupil Lindsay Graham, and on arrival find the school a shadow of it’s former glory, and the Guide company (membership compulsory) gone slack. Lindsay, with Mary Ellen’s support, sets up the Phoenix Patrol, to get the school back on track.
1939c – HB Davidson – A Gipsy Brownie – RTS. Anne Barnes is missing her friend Winnie, who has just moved away. Anne’s family live in an estate cottage on the Hazlehurst estate. Having heard that gypsies had arrived and were camping nearby, she was surprised to find one joining her school class – and noticing her alone at break time, Anne tries inviting her to join the group of friends, but she declines. Then following a playground fight amongst a group of boys, the girl runs out of the playground into the street – and is involved in a car accident and slightly injured – Anne is asked to escort the girl home as she lives nearby, and starts telling her about Brownies – so Birdie comes along to the next Brownie meeting . . .
1939 – R de B Frigout – The Smuggler’s Hole – Epworth Press. Elizabeth, the Mayor’s daughter, and Kathleen, the cobbler’s daughter, become friends at Brownies. When Elizabeth catches measles and passes it to Kathleen and her brothers, two of the brothers are really poorly, so Elizabeth’s mum arranges for Elizabeth’s Nanny to take all the children to their seaside cottage to recover along with Kathleen’s mother. There the girls have fun with the local Brownies, then at the Revels, Elizabeth discovers the Smuggler’s Hole . . .
1939 – Joan Herbert – One’s A Pair – Partridge. Diana Barton and her 13-year-old brother Dick live at Hilton Towers, the family home for generations. But with both parents now dead, their only close relative was their mother’s brother, Brandon Berry, recently arrived from South Africa. He is firmly of the belief that the logical option was for the siblings to sell Hilton Towers and go to live with him in South Africa, so arranges for Dick to go with him to South Africa and Diana to return to her boarding school. But Diana fears the house will be sold if left with only the servants in occupation, and when she bumps into a girl in a photographer’s shop who could almost be her twin, a plan forms . . .
1939 – Ivy F.E. Middleton – Triumphant Pimpernels – Lutterworth Press. Kay Danvers and her Patrol in 1st Redbridge continue their adventures, trying to raise funds to buy a radiogram for a lonely old lady as a Patrol good turn. They enter a film review competition with a cash prize in hopes of putting it towards buying a radio, and take part in The Guide magazine’s Christmas Stocking Trail . . .
1939 – Sibyl B. Owsley – Brownie Gold – Lutterworth Press. Collection of short stories – Kathleen’s Key, February Face, One Little Welsh Girl, He Kindled a Fire, The Hazel Wood, Too Tame a Dragon, The Golden Flute, The Real Maureen, A Brownie and Cordelia, Vanessa and Brownie Magic, Brownie Wings, Crossed Crutches, Brownies Get Busy, and, Mrs Murphy’s Jane.
1939 – Nora Pitt – Fernhill Adventures – RTS. With several girls having moved off to Guides, and the new housing not yet built, the Fernhill Preparatory School Brownie Pack, containing 12 Brownies (albeit one was underage) was small – but it didn’t stop them having adventures . . .
1939 – Marjorie Taylor – Prior’s Island – Blackie. Doreen Craig was Patrol Leader of the Poppies, a rather disunited Patrol – she, Betty, Jean and Kate went to the High School, but Milly went to a Board school, whereas Patrol Second Thelma went to a small private school – Milly and Thelma regularly clashed. Doreen’s own father was an archeologist, who was due to go to Greece, meantime Doreen would spend the school holiday at a cottage with her old Nanny – but when Nanny falls ill shortly before her father’s departure, and he worries of her being there alone, she proposes that the Patrol could join her for a fortnight. She visits their families to set it up – what she discovers at Thelma’s and Milly’s houses changes her views of both of them . . .
1940 – Catherine Christian – Diana Takes a Chance – Blackie. Diana Tremaine, who has recently walked out of her Swiss finishing school, is told that the ancestral family home had to be sold, her mother was going to remarry, and while her mother and stepfather travelled to Australia to try to set up a new family home there, Diana would look after her new young stepbrother and stepsister in a flat in a poor district of London. There she meets the neighbours, including Sally Sparrow, a Ranger . . .
1940 – Ivy Middleton – The Fourth Musketeer – Lutterworth Press. Kay Danvers and her parents are moving to London – and at a week’s notice. It will mean leaving her Guide Patrol – but on a visit to London the previous year she met a Ranger Leader, Miss Grey, and a trio of her Rangers, nicknamed the musketeers – Kay hopes to be accepted as a member of the musketeer gang . . .
1940 – Marjorie Taylor – The Highland School – Epworth Press. Christine Desmond lives in Glasgow with her father, mother (who suffers ill health) and medical student brother, who is over-working for a scholarship prize. Christine wins a scholarship to the Highland School, which has a high reputation. There she is involved in anonymously writing a school play for performance at the end-of-term prizegiving – and finds herself cast in one of the leading roles. At the end of term a Guide camp is held near Loch Lomond, after which Christine is due to stay with her French schoolfriend on a remote island. There she hears a radio report that her beloved brother is missing . . .
1940 – Heather White – Watersmeet – Lutterworth Press. Mariska Day, former member of ‘The Gang’, a group of child petty thieves, and still a friend of one of the gang, Cluny, has joined Guides. When she is evacuated from London to the country with her two young cousins to Mr & Mrs Pickle’s farmhouse at Watersmeet village she finds herself taking charge of the cousins, and having regular meals and schedule. She becomes involved with the Guides, and discovers there is a reform school in the village for boys who have been involved in crime in the London area – and one of the pupils is Cluny . . .
1941 – Catherine Christian – Harriet -The Return of Rip Van Winkle – Pearson. Dr Harriet Gore, a former Guider, is just returned from ten years working abroad, with hopes of taking up Guiding again. She discovers many changes, amongst her former Guides, and also in Guiding . . .
1941 – Patience Gilmour – The Quest Of The Wild Swans – Lutterworth Press. The Wild Swans are a Lone Ranger Patrol – each is following a different career but they meet up regularly with each other, and with their Rover Scout colleagues, the Lions. Every year, each Ranger takes on a self-improvement quest – and the Patrol seek to broaden their horizons as well as their Good Turns . . .
1941c – Pauline Hope – Pamela Ventures Abroad – RTS. Pamela Parsons receives an invitation to stay in a villa in Biaritz as a companion to Cora while with her Grandparents, and accompanied by Cousin Dorothy, a Patrol Leader. They have various outings.
1941 – Ivy Middleton – The Musketeers And Wendy – Lutterworth Press. Rangers Alison, Pamela and Agatha, known as ‘The Three Musketeers’ all belong to a Ranger unit in London where they have been joined by Kay Danvers, who moved from Redbridge. Now a member of Kay’s old Patrol, Wendy, is arriving in the city with her sister Jill, and a plan to open up a shop selling handcrafted ornaments and other items . . .
1942 – Catherine Christian – Harriet Takes The Field – Pearson. Dr Harriet Gore, now Lady North after her recent marriage, has come to live in Irminster, taking over both the house, and the District Commissioner post, of the late Commissioner Lady Felicity Harman. She faces the challenge of winning over the Guiders in her District, with their differing personalities and outlooks – and preparing the District for the threat of World War 2 and the effects it might have on them . . .
1942 – Catherine Christian – The Kingfishers See It Through – Blackie. The survival of the Guide Company is threatened by the rival attraction of the new wartime training Youth Squad – especially as many of the Guides have been half-hearted for some time in the absence of Guiders. One of the younger Guides, Paddy, is determined to change things and if the Kingfishers were willing to keep going under their new Leader Sylvie, she could write to her sister Lorn for advice. Then Paddy admits to Sylvie that Lorn is fictional, and Sylvie faces the problem of drafting letters to the Patrol from the fictional Lorn as well as leading the activities . . .
1942 – Carol Forrest – The House Of Simon – C Arthur Pearson Ltd – The Dellacott family have had a wandering life with their widowed father, most lately living in Portugal. But with the war situation worsening, their father realises that a return to living in England isn’t wise. So he sends the children sail to England to meet up with Aunt Jennifer before travelling with her to the USA. But they lose her address, and by the time they find it she has already left for the USA, leaving them alone and homeless in wartime London . . .
1942 – Mrs A.C. Osborn Hann and F.O.H. Nash – Merrily Makes Things Move – Oxford University Press. Merrily and her boarding school friends plan to spend the school holidays hunting war spies. Merrily and older sister Rosemary go to stay with their Aunt and Uncle, their three evacuees, and a bombed-out pensioner couple, at their rural rectory in the Mendips. Merrily finds out about a secret passage between the church and manor house, and she and the evacuees plot to get access to it . . .
1942 – BM Wilson & YS Baume – Brownie Secrets – Warne. A book of stories, puzzles, activities and Brownie testwork advice. Stories: The Boggart, The Christmas Tree And The Candle Flames, A Simple Story, The Shepherd’s Tale, The Magic Path, and, The Skylark.
1943 – Jennifer Ford – Patsy Podger Plays The Game – Harrap. A small book written by a 15-year old Guide, about a girl becoming a Brownie and tackling her first good turn . . .
1943 – F.O.H. Nash – Lucy Of The Sea Rangers – Blackie – It’s April 1941 and Lucy Butler stays in London to continue working at her department-store job, staying in the shop’s hostel and attending Sea Rangers, whilst waiting to be old enough to join the WRNS – whilst her mother moves to Birmingham to become a munitions worker. But that night the store is bombed, and her job and hostel-place are both gone, so she catches the train to stay with her shopkeeper Aunt in Somerset. There she starts a Sea Ranger Patrol, SRS Black Swan, and has adventures . . .
1944 – Catherine Christian – The School At Emery’s End – Pearson. Orphaned themselves, adult Elspeth and her schoolgirl sisters, Gillian and Molly Hardy inherit an orphanage from their crochety old Uncle on condition they occupy it for three years; and as Elspeth cannot leave her war job, Gillian and Molly give up their planned move to St Anselm’s Boarding school, and instead go to Emery’s End. They find it is akin to a Victorian workhouse, but it does have a secret Guide Patrol . . .
1944 – Carol Forrest – Patteran Patrol – Pearson. Berry, a member of the Wagtail Patrol, is left a gypsy caravan by her late Uncle and offers use of it as a Patrol headquarters, and PL Chris arranges for most of the Patrol to visit and collect it, and take it back. PS Penny introduces a new recruit to the Patrol, a German refugee, Gerda, who had been sent by Penny’s Aunt Flick. When they get to the field the caravan is gone – taken that morning. Meantime the two who stayed back, Gerda and Pam, spend part of the day helping look after infants, then visit the home of Pam’s scientist father. Pam discovers that, behind her back, Gerda slipped into the scientist’s study unauthorised. The next day, important papers belonging to Pam’s father are discovered to be missing . . .
1944 – Joan Herbert – Jennifer Gay (First Time Jennifer) – Lutterworth Press. Jennifer Gay, at 16, has left school, and her expensive service-flat home in London where, with all the housework done by staff including cooking and serving meals, cleaning, and chauffeuring, she has never done a hand’s turn and does not know how to. She has entered for the Cargill Award, which provides a year’s free tuition at Secretarial College, and assumes it is in the bag, so when her widower father is invited to attend a conference in the USA involving being away for several months, the live-in London college place seems ideal. But – the Cargill Award is won by her friend Daphne, who couldn’t otherwise have afforded to go to college – and with it, appears to go Jennifer’s first chance to do something for herself. Until she meets Mrs Miller, an old friend of her mothers, involved in judging the award, who suggests that she instead attend a small secretarial college in the country – she accepts – but does not tell her father about the change of plan . . .
1944 – Ivy FE Middleton – Red Trefoil – Lutterworth Press. Four ex-Rangers opt to leave their separate digs and move into a house together, which they name Red Trefoil. They volunteer for war work, and also to re-join Rangers, and find themselves putting their new Ranger training to good use . . .
1944 – D.V. O’Brien – The Three at St Christopher’s – Hutchinson. Sisters Fiona, Pamela and Isabel are initially reluctant Guides, and pupils at St Christopher School, the book follows their school adventures . . .
1944 – AC Osborn Hann – Jane’s First Term – Lutterworth Press. Two contrasting girls sitting the entrance exam of Melford School take an interest in each other. Audrey Forrest is good looking and also confident – her widowed mother works as a private nurse and regularly moves job, so Audrey has started at many schools – her mother’s latest post is at a large convalescent home on the edge of town – or as she presents it, she lives in a large house with an estate. Jane Smith is nervous, and plain of appearance – she lives with her father, stepmother, and younger brother and sister – many of her free hours are spent in running errands for her stepmother or looking after the younger children. How will school change them?
1945 – Carol Forrest – Two Rebels and a Pilgrim – Pearson. Chris and Penny are Patrol Leaders, but have become bored of Guides, wanting to explore. They had asked their Captain about doing outdoor activities, but her health wasn’t good, and although she had suggested the two could take the Company out, Penny and Chris felt anxious about doing it. They’re overheard by Penny’s Aunt Flick, who suggests that if they’re getting nothing out of Guiding and putting little in, they should resign. She offers them the chance to join her on her walking tour of England, and sets them to planning the adventure . . .
1946 – EMR Burgess – Cherry Becomes International – Arthur H. Stockwell. With her parents bound for South America for a year in connection with her father’s work, Cherry England is sent to an international boarding school in Switzerland, Pensionnat La Marjolaine. The girls who have been Guides before coming to the school form an ‘International Patrol’, adopting ideas from the Guide programmes of each of their countries . . .
1946 – Catherine Christian – The Seventh Magpie – Blackie. The Carrier Pigeon Patrol are out on a hike, and during it see seven magpies. From then on their good fortune turns – they are wrongly accused of starting a grass fire, and decide to ‘go underground’, training in secret . . . Reprinted as “Sally Joins The Patrol”.
1946 – AC Osborn Hann – Chris At Boarding School – Lutterworth Press. Two new girls join dormitory B at Beechlands – vicar’s daughter Chris Cunningham and farm manager’s daughter Josephine Fenton – before they even arrive the other girls in the dormitory object, as two of their friends have been moved out, part of a move by the matron to split up troublemakers, though three remain – and keep up the tricks . . .
1947 – Catherine Christian – Phyllida’s Fortune – Newnes. With the death of their father, and resulting death duties, Phyllida Olcott’s family have had to move out of their ancestral home, Queen’s Langley, which has been let, and into a smaller house nearby – Stone House. And with her mother ill with flu, it is Phyllida who has to go to the station to meet her siblings as they return from boarding school, and break the news to them. They find it difficult to adjust – and it isn’t made easier when they receive invitations to the annual Boxing Day party in Queen’s Langley which they used to host . . .
1947 – Carol Forrest – The Quest of The Curlews – Newnes. Captain had warned the Guides that their traditional access to the Manor grounds had been rescinded by the new owners. “That’s an order. No questions.” Most of the Company understood the new people wanting the place to themselves. But, not knowing the reason why, the Curlews pledged themselves to solving the puzzle . . .
1947 – MM Green – Schoolgirl Janet – Blackie. Janet Lea is sitting the exam for the County School, the one her best friend joined a year ago. But though she gets a place in the school, she doesn’t get to join her at the seaside Guide Camp – partly because her parents consider her too delicate, partly because they have a family seaside holiday planned. Whilst at the beach Janet meets Miki and Cecile Muller, from Switzerland. Her parents arrange for her to visit the Guide Camp for the day – but she ends up staying longer . . .
1947 – Mrs A.C. Osborn Hann – More Fun in the Country – Lutterworth Press. Twins Peter and Prue have moved from London to the country with their parents, and have various adventures, including joining Wolf Cubs and Brownies . . .
1947 – May Wynne – Ginger Ellen – Nelson. Twins Ellen and Sam Baker live in a rough part of London’s docklands during WW2 and regularly get into fights and scrapes – they were not evacuated initially because their widower father did not have the money. A Ladies’ Committee funds their evacuation to a farm in South Devon, along with snobby stepsister Melia and her scruffy brother Wallie. There the twins and other evacuees set up ‘Young London’, a group of children determined to track down ‘fifth columnists’ – with some success. Then some visiting Guiders organise a camp for the evacuee children, and ask Ellen to be one of the Patrol Leaders. Keen to get Ellen sent home to Dockland in disgrace, Melia plots with her brother and some old friends of his . . .
1948 – Nancy Breary – It Was Fun In The Fourth – Nelson. At first Diana Lindsey wished she had never gone to Leighton Grange school – she had no special chum and felt out of things – until she found her feet in the Daffodil Patrol . . .
1948 – EMR Burgess – Ready For Anything – Arthur H Stockwell. Noel Baring is new to Greenacres and has just joined the Greenacres Guides – who have a poor reputation due to their previous leadership. The new Captain is go-ahead, and as Noel was a Patrol Second in her old Company, she is made PL, and they opt to become the Holly Patrol – whose motto is ‘ready for anything’. But when Noel chooses the Patrol hike over playing tennis with some new classmates from “The Cedars” a school “for the daughters of gentlemen” which she has joined – including Eve the Form Captain – she is assumed to be a prig – as none of The Cedars’ pupils are Guides nor would dream of joining. School relations aren’t helped when Noel’s superior hockey sees her replace Eve’s best friend in the Second XI . . .
1948 – Freda Collins – Pow Wow Stories – University of London Press. A selection of short stories which appeared in “The Guider” or “The Guide”: The Magic Necklace, The Brownie Who Wanted To Be First, The Lonely Grown-Up, The Fly On The Wall, Christine And The Toffee Papers, The Brownie Who Forgot, The Little Brownie Man, The Wish-Bone, The Shiny Badge, Starlight, Adolphus The Germ, The Golden-Brown Forest, The Magic Parcel, Brownie Bobly-Bitis, The Hopping Signpost, The Flag Country, Snakes And Worms, Everyday Land, The Steel Dragon, The Rules Of The Road, Balls And Bruises, Dirt And Danger, Table Manners, The Fairy, The Sprite, The Little People, The Ghillie Dhu, The Elf, The Bwbachod, The Imp, The Leprechaun, The Kelpie, The Pixie, The Tylwyth Teg, The Gnome, Beauty Quest, Woodland Ways, Fox-Glove, The Storm, Two Vain Rats, and, Mother Wolf.
1948 – Antonia Forest – Autumn Term – Faber & Faber. Twins Nicola and Lawrie long to live up to, or even improve upon, their elder sisters’ reputations at achool – but it doesn’t work out as planned . . .
1948 – Mrs A C Osborn Hann – David and Jean – AR Mowbray & Co. David joins the Wolf Cubs. The Akela is a local priest and also teaches David about Catholicism. At first there is no Brownie Pack for Jean to join, but as soon as there is she is one of the keenest recruits . . .
1948 – C.R. Mansell – The Ragtail Patrol – Black. Experienced Guide Judy has moved to Ferrar’s Booth, discovered a Guide Hall, but finds to her disappointment that there are no Guiders, and the Guides are too busy arguing or fighting or messing around to notice her arrival. She discovers the Patrol Leaders are meeting in a side room, they advise that they have just decided to disband the Guide company. On discussion, the PLs reveal that there are 6 troublemakers who lead the rest astray. Judy offers to take all the troublemakers into a separate Patrol, and be the reforming PL of it . . .
1948 – F.O.H. Nash – Guides of the Glen School – Warne. Sylvia Roberts has been living with her mother in a caravan, while her father was working abroad, and they are heading to visit her Aunt and Uncle, and their family. Sylvia is going to attend the neighbouring school, she thinks as a day pupil, but unknown to her, she is going to be a boarder with her cousins. She joins the school Guide Company and has various adventures with them . . .
1949 – M Vera Armstrong – Biddy The Brownie – Warne. Biddy Green, Sixer of the Pixies, is heartbroken – at pack meeting Brown Owl announced that she was suddenly having to move away, and that Brownie meeting was to be the last one. Then Biddy had an idea – the Pixies could meet every week and practice their Brownie skills, in hopes of one day finding a new Brown Owl . . .
1949 – Frederica Bennett – Harum-Scarum Jill – Wells Gardner. Jill Curwen lives with her widower father, and is mature for her 12 years as a result. Her father has been considering sending her to boarding school among girls her own age. He receives an invitation to a skiing holiday in Austria with old friends, so, leaving Jill with a governess, he heads off – two months later Jill receives a letter from her father – amongst the group he met an old friend, has married her, and will be bringing his wife and her twin daughters home imminently. From the moment of their arrival, it is clear that neither the new Mrs Curwen, nor her daughters’ French governess, approve of lively Jill. As time passes, the twins cause trouble, Mademoiselle deliberately exaggerates it, and Jill gets the blame, until Mrs Curwen persuades her husband that Jill must be sent away to school – Mrs Curwen registers her at Fendon College. On her first night Jill discovers there is a new French mistress at the school – her stepsisters’ French governess . . .
1949 – C.R. Mansell – The Littlest Guide – Lutterworth. Lee Morris was small and scruffy, and lived in a poor part of town by the docks – but she wanted to join the Guides, and joined the 14th Brownsea. Though she was unlike the other Guides, not least in her outsize pre-war uniform, she was cheerful, independent and loyal – even though she had always to leave meetings early in order to go home and put the younger children to bed, as her mother worked evenings in a shop. The Guides long to help her, but needed to find a way of doing it tactfully . . .
1949 – Geoffrey Prout – Sea Rangers at Sloo – Blackie. Tess, Joan and Monica head off on holiday to Sloo Manor on the Essex coast, and there encounter a Sea Ranger crew camping nearby. The three join the Sea Rangers and encounter various adventures . . .
1950 – M. Vera Armstrong – Rival Camps – Warne. As soon as Paddy Keane and her three wildlife-watcher friends hear that a Company of Girl Guides is coming to camp in the next field, they determine to do all they can to drive the Guides away, for fear that the Guides will frighten away the animals they have been befriending. Chris, the Guide Patrol Leader, is equally determined not to leave, and to try to show the rebels that they are mistaken . . .
1950 – Winifred Scott – Girl Castaways – Pickering & Inglis. Sea Rangers Audrey and Monica spot an unusual yacht on their way to Muster, then on their way home hear splashing and voices at the bottom of the cliff, as if men have landed there by fishing boat. The next day they head off early to explore, and find the yacht gone. Having abseiled down the cliff they head into the cave, through several tunnels to a cavern. Near the cave entrance they find a hut and, the door being unlocked, they go in, and explore it, finding a radio. When they turn to leave they discover they’ve been followed – facing them is a man pointing a gun . . .
1950 – Various – The Guide Gift Book – The Girl Guides Association. Collection of short stories and articles. Stories: The Astonishing Island, Curfew At Sunset, The Fly-Posters, The Flower-Show Hat, and, The Cobbler.
1950 – Doreen Wyld – The Girls of Queen’s Mere – Blackie. Jean Ogilvie faces many problems as the new Form Prefect of the Fifth. There is the deposed former form captain, the mysterious Kerena, the arrival of Thelma, and the new Guide and Ranger Companies . . .
1951 – AC Osborn Hann – Five In A Family – Lutterworth Press. Mrs Graham, a widow, has five children. Stephen, the eldest boy, is away at boarding school and Pat, the eldest daughter and a Guide, is always out of the house seeking to help others. The youngest children, Ann and Chris, are livewires. The odd-one-out of a cheerful bunch is middle daughter Phil, who is moody, nervous and temperamental – until Miss Hazell, a former ballet dancer, moves in next door – and realises Phil’s potential to be a dancer . . .
1951 – AC Osborn Hann – It’s Fun In The Guides – Lutterworth Press. All the girls in the village joined the new Guide Company – except Penny. Her parents dead, she and her two brothers and sister lived with her Aunt, although it was Penny who did most of the housework. Her Aunt didn’t hold with Guides, considering it ‘a pack o’ nonsense’ – and the Guide Captain isn’t able to persuade her otherwise – so Penny becomes a Guide in secret . . .
1952 – Anne Bradley – The Widening Path – Girl Guides Association. Phillida West, super-keen Patrol Leader and Captain’s right hand – discovers she is moving house to an industrial area. Her Captain tries to suggest that when she moves, she should consider joining Rangers rather than Guides, but Philida holds a negative view of them based on the one Ranger she has met. Will she change her view?
1952 – F.O.H. Nash – Second Class Judy – Warne. Guide Judy Redford longs to go to camp with her Company – but there is a problem. For Judy lives with her disagreeable Aunt Gladys while her father is in Australia trying to build a life for them both, sending back money towards her keep. Although she usually attends Guide meetings, it is only if her Aunt concedes that housework allows, and attending Guiding activities outwith the weekly meeting is forbidden – meaning that 14-year-old Judy hasn’t been able to finish Second Class yet. Then the chance of camp comes, and Captain manages to work on Aunt Gladys until she agrees to Judy attending – and the Headmistress offers Judy and two other Guides work clearing up after school dinners for sixpence a day each, to provide their pocket money. Thus Judy can go on her first ever holiday and work on Second Class . . .
1953 – M. Vera Armstrong – Maris of Glenside – Warne. Maris Michael lived in Kashmir with her guardians until coming to Glenside School. She is disappointed to discover there is no school Guide Company, until during a walk she meets a Guide Patrol from a neighbouring school, and becomes a secret Lone Guide . . .
1953 – Mary K Harris – Henrietta Of St Hilary’s – Spring Books. Henrietta returns to St Hilary’s minus her best friend and partner-in-crime Jacqueline, who has gone to Africa with her family. She finds Jacqueline’s bed has been taken by Griselda, to whom she takes an instant dislike – and she determines to find out where the girl disappears to every Saturday, seemingly authorised by the Head?
1953 – AC Osborn Hann – Tomboy Terry – Lutterworth. Terry and Rosemary were next door neighbours, but quite unalike. Rosemary was an only child, always having to be careful of her clothes for fear of getting them dirty, whereas Terry was one of a long family, and a tomboy. In spite of her mother’s concerns, Rosemary joins Terry in her adventures . . .
1953 – Mildred A Wirt – The Brownie Scouts At Windmill Farm – Cupples And Leon Company. The Rosedale Brownie Girl Scouts are invited to help with the Rosedale Annual Tulip Show . . .
1954 – Freda Collins – The Beauty Quest Book for Brownies – University of London Press. The book is presented as monthly challenges in nature study, along with short stories, challenges and puzzles.
1954 – Susan Jolly – Marigold Becomes A Brownie – Blackie. Marigold is told by her Gran and Aunt Edith that everything needs to be tidy at home tomorrow because Marigold’s father is bringing a visitor. When she pressed them on who the visitor would be, they told her – “a lady, who was to become her mother.” So Marigold ran away . . .
1954 – CR Mansell – Curlew Camp – Lutterworth Press. The Guides of the Curlew Patrol have been hoping for adventure – and they get it when they find the camp they are to join in the country near the Welsh coast – does not exist!
1954 – Constance M White – Kay Of Kingfishers – Hutchinson. Kay has missed half a term of school at Castle Towers – and while she has been away from school several changes have occurred – the retiral of the old headmistress Miss Benson after thirty years and the arrival of her replacement, the much younger Miss Oliver – and as a result a greater focus on achievement both in work and in out-of-school activities – and the introduction of a Guide Company. Through loyalty to Miss Benson, Kay is resistant to change . . .
1955 – Freda Collins – The Pack That Ran Itself – University of London Press. The woodland pack consisted of only five Brownies, each of whom had an animal nickname. But they faced a problem – Brown Owl is ill and has to go abroad to recover, and there is no Tawny Owl – and with Brown Owl’s house shut up, no meeting place either – and two of the five would be heading away to boarding school soon. They decide to continue meeting, in the woods, without Guiders . . .
1955 – CR Mansell – The Swallows See It Through – Lutterworth. 1st Inglefield is a long-established Company but has gone slack – of the ten Guides, the two eldest are heading for Rangers, and the remaining four Heathers are finishing off First Class. The future of the Company lies in the hands of the remaining Swallows, Barbara, Marie, Zena and Frick – and although they are all between 13 and 15, none have gained Second Class, for want of effort or stickability. Their Captain sets them a challenge – recruit all 12 girls in the village who are of age for Guides within 6 weeks, or the Company will be closed . . .
1955 – Mrs A.C. Osborn Hann – Terry’s Adventures – Lutterworth. Tomboy Terry, her brother Robin, and friend Angela live next door to Rosemary – and Rosemary’s mother dreads her turning into a tomboy like Terry. Terry and Angela have been Brownies, but are preparing to fly up to Guides – and go to camp . . .
1956 – Patricia K Caldwell – Prefects at Vivian’s – Chambers. The new term means a new and reforming Head Girl, Chris, a new Prefect. Chris is a natural choice for Head Girl, and her best friend Pat for Games Prefect. Kathleen the Senior Prefect, and her friends Joan and Doreen, are surprised at the Head’s appointment of Lesley as a new Prefect. Chris and Pat are Cadets, and Lesley opts to join too – the others are not. Soon the Prefect team are divided by jealousy . . .
1956 – Phyllis I Norris – The Harlands Go Hunting – Nelson. Arriving home from boarding school for the holidays, sisters Claire, Linda and Alice, and their teenage Aunt Cynthia, were surprised to find that Mr & Mrs Harland were still in Paris and would be for some weeks – and that the local Guides are suspended. Then their friend Norah’s dog is stolen, shortly after their neighbour, Miss Marston, had also had a dog stolen. With Miss Marston’s help they set out to find the thieves . . .
1957 – Mary Bard – Just Be Yourself – Hammond, Hammond. Located in the USA, the writer’s children are encouraged to join Brownie Girl Scouts by Phyllis, an enthusiastic Brownie who expands on the benefits at every opportunity – but there are no spaces nearby, and the Girl Scout Council are clear that what is needed is a keen parent or two to start a new Troop. So, with the youngest of her daughters having just started school, and her daughters applying increasing pressure, she finds herself starting a Brownie Troop . . .
1957 – Anne Bradley – The Problem Patrol – Lutterworth. It would have been fine if Captain hadn’t fallen ill and had to cancel our camp – as it was, just before her operation she had written to a Guider friend to see if there were spare places at her camp – and that’s how three of us ended up heading to Pye Nest Hall – and split up into different Patrols in a joint camp. Jenny, used to her sister taking charge, found herself appointed Patrol Leader, and in charge of Caecelia, Theodosia and Marlene. But instead of Marlene, her young sister Dawn turns up, having slipped away from home. Caecelia considers learning camp skills a waste of her time and doesn’t listen to instructions, whereas Theo is so keen to be helpful, but clueless, meaning that she is as likely to spoil work that has already been done as achieve any to her own credit . . .
1957 – Freda Collins – The Brownie Year – University of London Press. A book split into monthly chapters with puzzles and poems as well as stories. Stories: The Pack Surprise, The Bad Brownie, The Swallows Of Innsbruck, Susan In Distress, The Warbler And The Wren, At The Zoo, Mrs Squirrel’s Dusting Brush, Charlie Cockatoo, Prince Dragon-Fly, Alfie Goes Fishing, Flying Up To Camp, Lend A Hand, Mr Sun Sees, The Rescue Party, The Story Of Saint Faith, The Sad Princess, The Brown Tea-Party, and, The Shepherd’s Lamb.
1957 – Freda Collins – The Woodland Pack – University Of London Press. One of the Brownies, known as Blackbird, has been ill and is sent to the seaside to recuperate, and the rest of the pack join her there – leading to them having an adventure in a cave . . .
1957 – Various – The Third Rucksack Book – Blandford. Compilation of articles, short stories and puzzles. Stories: A Sixth Pilgrim, Observation Adventure, Picnic In December, Hiking Hitch, Four Boys In A Boat, Ponsonby, Tess Swims Alone, Rescue At Seal Island, Thrill At Trebarvan, Guide’s Honour, and, Pat’s Imagination.
1958 – Anne Bradley – The Guides in Hanover Lane – Lutterworth. The First Flaxminster Company have lost their headquarters and Guiders, and Beechy Stansfield has to ask the grand Miss Flemming at Hanover Lodge if the Guides may meet in her old laundry – she agrees only on condition that her young adult niece Erica, who lives with her, is present each week to monitor behaviour – Erica is not impressed at being landed with the chore. The Guides are not welcomed by the local teddy-girls either, who for a joke send in two ‘recruits’, Julie and Deanna. Will 1st Flaxminster survive?
1960 – Verily Anderson – Amanda And The Brownies – University of London Press. Amanda the new recruit seems a bit of a duffer and none of the Sixes are very keen to have her join them – until the Elves realise she rides to meetings on her pony. They are keen to have shots of riding the pony and are miffed when Amanda refuses. So during a pack nature hunt, they sneak away and saddle the pony . . .
1960 – Jean Blathwayt – The Mushroom Girl – Warne. The Brownies are meeting in the wood, and Brown Owl is just finishing telling a story, when the Brownies realise they aren’t the only audience – they get a glimpse of a figure and rush to try and find out who it is, but cannot find out. Philippa determines to keep looking and discovers a girl about her own age – but who is she, and why is she so nervous?
1960 – Ailsa Brambleby – Ten Tales For Brownies – Brown, Son & Ferguson. A set of short stories – The Dragon Who Lost His Voice, Prunella The Problem Princess, How Mousekin Became Mouse King, Mr Belingo’s Hat, The Cauldron That Leaked, The Youngest Dragon, Lost-A Squeak, Wanted-A Beard, The Giant Who Had Cold Feet, and, Globbo And The Silver Bird.
1960 – Freda Collins – Barny and the Big House Pack – University of London Press. The woodland pack have been scattered while the Big House is undergoing alterations, to become a home for Polish girls living in camps in Europe . . .
1960 – Freda Collins – Do My Best Brownie Book – University of London Press. A selection of activities under monthly headings. Short stories are: The Pack Is Puzzled, The Lonely Road, The Star Fairy, Her Duty To The King, The Brownie Garden, The Magic Journey, The Golden Letters, The Reluctant Goat, The Paper Rose, How Guiding Came To France, Amelia The Marmot, Twinkles In Trouble, The Promise Comes Home, Good-Bye Googly, The Grand Salute, Princess November, and, The Christmas Bells.
1960 – Cris Johnson – The Rising Of The Larks – The Children’s Press. A Guide Company comes to Brantwood for it’s annual camp, and grocer’s assistant Gipsy Latimer is so impressed with what she sees of them during their week in camp that she is determined to set up a Guide Company. With her friends Lorna and Glynis, she starts the Skylark Patrol and tackles the challenge head-on . . .
1961 – Freda Collins – The Silent Three – University of London Press. Although Brownies has been started in the village which their younger sister attends, there is no Guide Company. Sisters Peggy, Joan and Betty have formed ‘The Silent Three’, vowing to protect wildlife. When they find a puppy by the river they take it home, and get permission to look after it if owners do not come forward. A few days later down by the river they meet Miss Grant and Miss Austin, the owners of the lost puppy. They are Guiders, and planning to hold a camp on a nearby island, and invite The Silent Three to be regular visitors . . .
1962 – Freda Collins – Pack Tales – University of London Press. Book of short stories: The First Pack Tale, Bossy Bessie, Great-Grandmother’s Doll, The Brave Brownie, The Almond Nut, The Brownie Who Grew Long Ears, The Mountain Chalet, The Lonely Leprechaun, The Four Jays, The Feathery Father Christmas, The Guy Outside The Gates and The Little Brown Donkey.
1963 – Verily Anderson – The Brownies And The Golden Hand – Brockhampton Press. Tulip’s cousin Lucinda and her parents are moving into the village from London – and Lucinda has already gained her Golden Bar badge. Tulip has great plans for things they can do together – but Lucinda isn’t impressed with the countryside, and when she turns up at the Brownie meeting half in uniform and half not, she disrupts constantly. Tulip is torn between loyalty to the pack and sticking by her cousin . . .
1963 – Ailsa Brambleby – More Tales For Brownies – Brown, Son & Ferguson. Short Story Collection: Tineke’s Toadstool, Old Jonathan, Bombast And Belinda, Hamish The Horrible, A Problem Meal, The Brownie And The Bulldog, No Ordinary Ostrich, Dusky, The Flower Palace, and, Peacock Pandemonium.
1963 – Ailsa Brambleby – Three For Trouble – Knight Books. Triplets Kay, Sandra and Linda join the pack – but their reputation for causing trouble has gone before them – and their enthusiasm for doing good turns leads them into all sorts of scrapes . . .
1963 – Freda Collins – The Good Turn Hunters – Brockhampton Press. Twins and Brownies Nicky and Jill move to Nobden, As the town they are moving to does not have a unit, they accept their Brown Owl’s challenge to become good turn hunters . . .
1964 – Julie Bonner – A Pack Of Trouble – World Distributors. Micky Hartley, a Brownie Sixer in the Tallsteeples Pack, wants her Six to solve a problem. Their Guider, Miss Cracknell, keeps having to cancel pack meetings when her elderly mother is ill. Karen’s mother is a health visitor and Karen advises that her mother had said Mrs Cracknell wasn’t really ill, she was just acting up. Micky decides that the Pixies should try to solve the problem . . .
1964 – Julie Bonner – The Fix-It Six – World Distributors. Tallsteeples has decided to enter the ‘Prettiest Village in England’ competition, and the Tallsteeples Brownies are determined to help, especially Micky and her Pixie Six. They come up with lots of improvement ideas – and get into lots of adventures . . .
1964 – Ailsa Brambleby – Three For Pack Holiday – Knight Books. Triplets Kay, Sandra and Linda are heading on pack holiday – which doesn’t stop them getting into scrapes . . .
1964 – Freda Collins – The Brownies and the Fam-Pig – Knight Books. The book is a combination of a story, interspersed with articles, crafts and recipes. The story element tells of a Brownie Pack who obtain a china pig and try to fundraise in order to fill it with money to donate to Oxfam, the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief. During their fundraising efforts they pay imaginary visits to some of the countries they are fundraising for . . .
1964 – Ivy F.E. Middleton – Chris Temple Patrol Leader – Victory Press. Chris has been newly appointed Patrol Leader of the Poppies, and is looking forward to her new role. During a Patrol wide game they meet Andrea, who is out with her Guide Dog, and they decide to raise the £250 cost of training a Guide Dog as a Patrol, and have adventures as they set to work to earn the funds . . .
1965 – Verily Anderson – The Brownies And The Ponies – Brockhampton Press Ltd. Tulip can’t attend the Brownie Revels as she has been asked to visit her cousin Lucinda in London. When Tulip gets to London Lucinda is not in a good mood, and it later turns out she is ill with appendicitis. While Lucinda and her mother go to hospital, Tulip stays with their next door neighbour, Joey, and her mum. Joey longs to learn to ride and work for her pony rider badge, but so far has had to make do with the model horses and stable she has made for her Toymaker badge – until Tulip has an idea . . .
1965 – Ailsa Brambleby – The Commonwealth Pack Story Book – Brockhampton Press. A collection of short stories from eight Commonwealth countries, for Brownies. Canada – Red for Danger. Australia – Camera Clue. India – Priti Wants an Adventure. Zimbabwe – A Leopard for Linda. New Zealand – Brownie Bookworm. Pakistan – Wanted a Bluebird. Australia – Kangaroos and Keys. Jamaica and Great Britain – Thinking Day for Rosie.
1965 – Delia Huddy – Blackbirds’ Barn – Constable Young Books. Alice Turner is persuaded to join the local Guides, and unfortunately the shy girl is placed in a Blackbird Patrol notable for it’s lack of team spirit – until they discover a tumbledown barn with the potential to be a meeting place for the Company . . .
1965 – Kevin McGarry – Blue Goose East – World Distributors. Marty Dean travels to New York to spend the holidays with her father, a security officer for the Allied Governments, and her long-lost Aunt and cousins. The adults away on business, Marty and her cousins stay at the family beach-house by the coast. On the shore they find an unconscious man and bring him back to the house, where Marty starts first aid. The man recovers consciousness momentarily, long enough to mutter “blue goose east” . . .
1965 – Kevin McGarry – The Monkey Puzzle – World Distributors. Marty Dean is at school when she receives a cryptic telegram from her father, who works on security assignments for Allied Governments, indicating he would visit the school on Tuesday – and had a job for her . . .
1965 – Ive F.E. Middleton – A Challenge For The Poppies – Victory Press. The Poppies are fundraising to sponsor their own Guide Dog puppy, and with one moneyspinner closed off to them, need fresh ideas and inspiration. Then a new recruit offers the prospect of solving both problems . . .
1966 – Freda Collins – The Pack Mascot – Brockhampton Press. Twins Nicky and Jill are founder members of the new 1st Nobden Pack, and as the only girls who have been Brownies, the Sixers. Their old Brown Owl brings a mascot for the new Pack – Barny the puppy – and the Sixers are tasked with looking after him.
1966 – Ivy FE Middleton – The Poppies And Mandy – Victory Press. Having raised the money to train a Guide Dog puppy, the Poppy Patrol are looking for their next Patrol Good Turn, and opt to take a girl with cerebral palsy, Mandy, on outings during the interim before she goes to a special boarding school . . .
1967 – Doreen Savery – Sorrel’s Secret – Victory Press. Guide Sorrel Field’s parents have gone to live in Canada, and in the months before joining them there, she is living with her Uncle, Aunt, and three Cousins. She finds living in a crowd difficult, and finally persuades her Aunt to let her have the use of a disused attic as a space of her own. There she finds a secret room, and investigates it . . .
1968 – Freda Collins – The Patchwork Pack – Brockhampton Press. Melanie Barker and Alison Fenton are sailing from New Zealand to the UK, a voyage lasting several weeks. They discover there is a Brown Owl and other Brownies on board ship, and decide to form a temporary pack – and inspired by the patchwork which Brown Owl sews during her leisure time on board, and their mix of nationalities, opt to call themselves the Patchwork Pack.
1968 – Robert Moss – The Challenge Book Of Brownie Stories – Purnell. A selection of stories which previously appeared in the Brownie Annual: The Pack Holiday Mystery, The Brownie Who Couldn’t Skip, The Good-Turn Treasure, The Strawberry Mystery, The Lost Brownie, The Brownie Who Told Fibs, How Brown Owl Became A Bride, Mistletoe For Miss Miggs, Green For Danger, Signpost To Danger, The Brownies’ Bridge, Sarah The Slowcoach, Brenda And The Brownies, One Good Turn And No Hitches, No Pack For Peggy, The Brownie And The Tramp, Brownie On A Broomstick, The Witch Of Wardle Wood, Challenge For Cheryl, The Pack Without A Home, The Tree Rescue, and, The Brownie Who Didn’t Like Dogs.
1968 – Pamela Sykes – Air Day For The Brownies – Knight Books. The Brown Owl of the Barnwell Brownie Pack has organised a visit to an air day – and a stolen earring and a discarded match add to the excitement . . .
1969 – Verily Anderson – The Brownies And Their Animal Friends – Hodder & Stoughton. Amanda and her Brownie friends decide to have an animal quest – their love of and experience of animals proves useful when they are asked to provide a special item of entertainment at a festival . . .
1969 – Pamela Sykes – The Brownies At The Zoo – Brockhampton Press Ltd. The Barnwell Brownies have agreed to entertain at the Senior Citizens’ party, but need ideas of what they could do. A group of them discover an escaped parrot in the woods and help to capture it. In return they are invited to the zoo – and that gives them an idea for entertaining the Senior Citizens . . .
1970 – Jean Blathwayt – Lucy’s Brownie Road – Brockhampton Press. Lucy is working on her Hostess badge, but where the other candidates are hosting an open evening for mothers at the Brownie hall, Lucy wants to be more original . . .
1972 – Jean Blathwayt – Lucy’s Last Brownie Challenge – Brockhampton Press. Lucy has finished her Brownie Highway – and her tenth birthday was four months ago. But when Brown Owl suggests it will soon be time for her to join Guides Lucy is upset – she loves Brownies, and she does not want to leave . . .
1972 – Pamela Sykes – The Brownies On Television – Brockhampton Press. Twins Marion and Mandy King move into Barnwell, from London, with their TV-Producer father. The Vicar tells some of the Brownies about the May Fair which used to be held in Barnwell, and the Brownies decide to revive it, to raise money for a Guide Dog. Then Mr King thinks of making a TV programme about the old fair and it’s revival . . .
1973 – Brenda May – The Lenderhand Brownies – Brown, Son & Ferguson. In the village of Lenderhand, word soon spreads that Laburnum House has been sold to a Miss Jones. Soon after moving in she starts a Brownie Pack, and the nine members have various adventures . . .
1974 – Barbara Beacham – Tracy Of The Pixie Six – Brown, Son & Ferguson. Tracy Williams has just moved house to Ambleton, reluctantly – her widowed mother had remarried and her stepfather is starting a new job. She was a Brownie in her old town, but was reluctant to join here – it was just as she came home from a Brownie meeting that her mum suddenly broke the news about her marriage plans – she didn’t want to be out of the house again if upsetting things like that were going to happen – but her mother had other ideas . . .
1974 – Pamela Sykes – The Brownies In Hospital – Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. Three days before Pack Holiday Tracey breaks her leg in a road accident and has to swap a week in the country with her friends for a fortnight in hospital. At first she is miserable – until one of the nurses reminds her about the Brownie Law . . .
1976 – Pamela Sykes – The Brownies Throw A Party – Hodder & Stoughton. When Susan, Tracey and Jane discover two little Asian boys lost in the park, they find themselves tackling a new Brownie Venture – but will it be ruined by the gang of boys from Bellview Mansions?
1977 – Verily Anderson – The Brownies and the Christening – Hodder & Stoughton. Emma doesn’t care for babies. She wants a dog – like all her friends. So the news that not only is Tawny Owl going to have a baby, but so is her own mother, isn’t welcome . . .
1977 – Jean Blathwayt – Brownie Discoverers – Knight Books. Zoe is single-minded, caring passionately about nature and wildlife. Kate, newly come to live in the country, likes Zoe for her knowledge of nature lore. But being Zoe’s friend is sometimes difficult, as Kate discovers when she joins the Brownies . . .
1979 – Dorothy Richardson – The Secret Brownies – Hodder and Stoughton. Brown Owl announces that she is going to Australia for a long visit, which will leave the pack without a Guider. Despite efforts in the interim, no-one is found, and on her last night, Brown Owl leaves them a present of a handmade carved wooden owl. She tells the Brownies that the carver said there was a secret about the owl – but wouldn’t tell her what. They decide to continue as secret Brownies – and try to discover the owl’s secret . . .
1981 – Robert Moss – Second Challenge Book of Brownie Stories – Starfish Books. A selection of stories which had previously appeared in “The Brownie Annual” – Samantha’s Good Turn, The Pack Venture Surprise, A Puma For A Pet, The Kite Challenge, Strange Happenings at Mermaid Cove, Pauline’s Prize Pet, The Stone Gnome, Raiders In The Greenwood, Biddy and the Beasts, The Terror of the Pack, The Dangerous Short Cut, The Doll with One Eye, The Clumsiest Girl in the Pack, and Danger Tide
1983 – Dorothy Richardson – The Brownie Explorers – Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. When Maureen and Valerie spot a Brownie record book floating in the stream, and discover it’s owner, Elizabeth, it leads them to explore . . .
1984 – Dorothy Richardson – The Brownie Rescuers – Hodder and Stoughton. During their hallowe’en party at their hall, the Brownies see a face at the window, then find a picture of a witch with a letter ‘A’ on it – what can it mean?
1984 – Pamela Sykes – Juliet Joins the Guides – Beaver Books. When her dad’s building firm moves to the country, Juliet finds moving from the city difficult – and the firm’s plan of building on a greenfield site doesn’t help relations with the villagers. Then Kate and Judy approach her at school, and she encounters old Mrs Mitchell and her dog Tramp . . .
1985 – Dorothy Richardson – The Brownie Entertainers – Hodder and Stoughton. The Brownies are heading off on a Brownie Holiday, and choose an enchanted castle theme. Taking a wrong turning on the way to their holiday they find themselves outside Barnfield Castle, so stop to go in and explore – just the first of their adventures . . .
1986 – Dorothy Richardson – The Brownie Elephant Hunters – Hodder and Stoughton. For Thinking Day, the Brownies want to raise money to send to the Guides and Brownies in Trinidad, who lost their headquarters in a cyclone. The challenge is on to find goods for a ‘white elephant’ sale . . .
1987 – Dorothy Richardson – The Brownie Campaigners – Knight Books. Ferndale was growing from village into town, and had a growing litter problem too. The Pixie Six decide to start working on their Conservation badge, especially when they hear of plans for more housing on greenspace land . . .
1987 – Dorothy Richardson – The Brownie Foxwatchers – Hodder and Stoughton. The Pixies have been challenged to catch up with the number of badges the other Sixes have, and opt to each work for either Pathinder or Rambler, three doing each. When they suggest to Brown Owl that they could go to the new open-air museum’s preview day as part of their badge-work, she agrees to go with them. While tackling the nature trail, they see a fox in the undergrowth, and long to get a better look . . .
1990 – Lynda Neilands – Tracy and the Warriors – Kingsway Publications. Brownie Tracy is sent to stay with her Aunt and Cousin, and discovers that her teenage Cousin and his friends, ‘the warriors’ are causing trouble. How can she handle it?
1991 – Gill Pawley – I’m a Rainbow Guide – Little Owl. Katie and Naomi are Rainbows – the book follows their adventures in the unit
1992 – Lynda Neilands – Emily’s Challenge – Knight Books. A set of short stories previously in Brownie Magazine: Emily’s Challenge, Sophie Strikes Again, The Garden Shed Mystery, Emily And The Thinking Day Fund, Emily And The Swimming Gala, Emily And The Missing Gnomes, A Pen Pal For Emily, Emily Finds Out About Ballet, The Pony Plan, Emily Lets Her Hair Down, Emily Knows What To Do, Emily And The Easter Chick, Emily Gets Into Trouble, A Thief At Blinkthorn Manor, Emily And The River Den, A Slip-Up At The Sale, Emily Sends For The Doctor, and, Emily And The Blue Bucket.
1992 – Lynda Neilands – Jessica Joins The Brownies – Kingsway Publications. Following the death of her parents in a car crash, Jessica Knott and her elder brother Robin live with Granny Knott in a mobile home. Granny Knott has a vegetable stall, but money is short – and she is becoming more forgetful – so Jessica often wears scruffy clothes, and is lonely at school. Then the local Brown Owl invites her to join Brownies . . .
2005 – Katharine Bruce – Peace Comes To The Chalet School – Girls Gone By. Summer term 1945, and the Brownies, Guides, Rangers and Cadets of the Chalet School are busy with badge work. The Patrols take it in turns to help the locals in the nearby village with odd jobs – and have some misadventures!
2005 – Charlotte Kitching & Grant Slatter – Brownie Oddie – Oddies Ltd. A Brownie’s socks go into the washing machine, and one of them is transported to Oddieland, having been summoned by the Sock Fairy. Can Brownie Oddie find the missing Good Oddie Flag?
2005 – Daisy Meadows – Polly the Party Fun Fairy – Orchard Books. Polly the Party Fun Fairy can’t help with pass the parcel without her magic party bag of fun and games. Can Brownies Rachel and Kirsty rescue it in time for the Brownies’ party?
2009 – Jane Berry – The Guides Of The Chalet School – Girls Gone By. Madge Bettany, Headmistress of the Chalet School in Austria, determines to start Guiding there, so after attending a training in the holidays, both a Brownie Pack and a Guide Company are started. But the girls are, if anything, just a little too keen to get on with their badge work . . .
2009 – Caroline Plaisted – Friends Forever – Stripes. The 1st Badenbridge Brownies have a visitor – Katie and Grace’s cousin Sienna, from Australia, who is able to tell them all about being a Guide in Australia, and join in their adventures too . . .
2009 – Caroline Plaisted – Helping Hands – Stripes. The Brownies of 1st Badenbridge are challenged to celebrate Thinking Day with an event in the High Street . . .
2009 – Caroline Plaisted – Perfect Promise – Stripes. Five girls are joining 1st Badenbridge Brownies – twins Katie and Grace, Jamila, Ellie and Charlie. Though they are worried at being split up in different Sixes, they start working together to learn their Brownie Promise and enjoy the pack activities . . .
2009 – Caroline Plaisted – Sleepover Surprise – Stripes. The Brownies’ annual talent show and sleepover is due soon, and each Six is planning their performance. But Ellie is nervous, as she is prone to stage fright – and on the night things don’t quite go to plan . . .
2010 – Caroline Plaisted – Christmas Cheer – Stripes. Christmas is coming, and 1st Badenbridge are looking forward to their pantomime outing – especially as Caitlin and Grace are dancing in the chorus . . .
2010 – Caroline Plaisted – Dance Dash – Stripes. Brownies are 100 years old, and the 1st Badenbridge Brownies are going to work on their ‘Adventure 100’ badge . . .
2011 – Caroline Plaisted – Book Bonanza – Stripes. The Brownies mention at their meeting that they are soon to celebrate World Book Day at school, so decide to also mark it at Brownies, by inviting an author to their meeting.
2017 – P. C. Crussell – Tales From the Enchanted Forest: Brownie Pack Holiday – Amazon. Becca and Emma are off to the annual Brownie Pack Holiday. What is casting shadows on the wall of their tent?
2017 – Amy Fletcher – Sisters at the Chalet School – Girls Gone By. Two sets of sisters join the Chalet School in the closing months of World War 2 – the Maynard triplets, and the four Herbert Sisters. The latter join Guides, and learn about the difficulty of keeping the Guide Law about being a sister to all Guides – when that involves being a sister to German-speaking girls in wartime.
2020 – Katherine Bruce – The Chalet School in Guernsey – Girls Gone By. It is Spring Term 1940, and the Chalet School, relocated to the Channel Islands after the annexation of Austria, now has to face the approaching threat of war in it’s new home. Meantime, several Guides have awards to receive, and a new girl with a grudge against the school to handle . . .
2021 – Amy Fletcher – A Guernsey Girl at the Chalet School – Girls Gone By. Spring term 1945, and prefect Jacqueline Le Pelley is one of the school’s Land Rangers. They face challenges when doing good turns in the nearby village, as well as her personal concerns over her family being split between those still at the family farm on the island who aren’t contactable, and those like her who were evacuated to the UK mainland . . .
Leslie's Guiding History 