Wonderful Britain

It is 1936 and Gwen Purdy leaves her comfortable home, family and fiance, to take up a short-term contract as a schoolteacher, in a poor area of Birmingham, against everyone's wishes.
Her first few days are a shocking eye-opener; as she faces a large class of some of the poorest children, from Birmingham's slum areas.
The head master clearly believes in corporal punishment, which he uses to full effect, at every opportunity; sometimes too willingly for Gwen's liking!!
One of the more senior teachers becomes an inspiration to Gwen, as she struggles to understand the appalling hardships endured by her class.
Slowly she is drawn into their lives, particularly Joey Phillips, whose Father has left him, his siblings and their dying Mother, to fend for themselves. He hides all this from Gwen, but when his Mother dies and his siblings are taken off to Barnardos, he runs away.
Meanwhile Gwen has been introduced to Daniel, one of her pupils older brother. He is a union activist from a Welsh mining background and against all odds, Gwen finds herself falling in love with him.
She realises that marriage to the local minister back home, is no longer what she wants, but in ending the relationship, she estranges herself from her family and has to come to terms with the fact that there is no going back.
Daniel finds Joey, whilst he is away from the area on union work and reunites him with Gwen, who together with her landlady and by now friend Ariadne, decide to take him in and care for him.
Gwen decides to stay on at the school, where she nows feels at home, but  Daniel is always on her mind, even when she finds out that he has a shocking secret!
As the International Brigade is mobilized to fight in the Spanish Civil War, Daniel prepares to leave. Gwen has to face the fact that they may never be together, despite her love for him, but realises that she can face things on her own and make her own decisions.
Like her childhood heroine Amy Johnson, she is learning how to fly!!

Read about the author at www.anniemurray.co.uk

In 1920,s Birmingham three girls from very different backgrounds set out with one dream, to dance.
Nell escapes from a home in the slums and from a violent and abusive Father, who believes that any wage that his daughter earns belongs to him.
Kitty has everything material, wealth and a fantastic home, but an uncaring family; no known Father and a Mother who is greatly involved in the suffrage movement and spends little or no time at home.
Gwyneth has both Mother and Father, but her Father is a bigoted preacher, who allows Gwyneth no freedom and her Mother is a defeated woman, too tired to fight for her daughter.
Through a series of coincidences, the three girls meet and an unlikely friendship is formed, fuelled by their common goal: to dance at the Folies-Bergere.
They begin dancing classes and are soon caught up in moment, and although Kitty is not as commited as Gwyneth and Nell, all three realise their dream to dance in Paris.
Gwyneth and Nell are soon caught up in Kitty's society life and their lives begin to change. Gwyneth is attracted to Tomothy, one of Kitty's society friends, but realises that marriage to him is a mistake, because of the difference in their backgrounds and also that she wishes to continue dancing in Paris.
Kitty, from boredom, decides to give up dancing and after a string of wealthy and often married suitors, marries a rich Italian Prince, who is much older than she, then puts a brave face on the mistake she realises she has made.
Nell has always been in love with one of Kitty's acquaintances, Paul a Doctor , and he with her. Nell, however, believes herself not to be good enough and unsuitable as his wife. Instead she is pusued by Tom, someone more from her own class, a social climber, who has come good and risen up the ladder in the union movement. After a series of unfortunate events, when Tom is revealed in his true colours, convinced that he his doing Nell a great honour by wanting to marry her, Paul eventually shows his hand and proposes to Nell.

This book was first published in 1988, but I have only just come across it, buried deep in the shelves of my bookcase. I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it immensely. Marina Oliver writes with a great sensitivity about the nature of the times. The fickle nature of many of the wealthy classes, who flit from thing to thing and person to person, generally through boredom, but seemingly without a care to anyone elses feelings. Then the other end of the spectrum, where people live in slums and squalor, often with several children, many of whom did not survive. Violence and abuse is  an accepted scenario and to break free and try to better yourself, almost an impossibility, without taking drastic action, from which there is no going back.

Marina Oliver has written several books and can be found at: www.marina-oliver.net

I caught the end of a debate on the radio, a couple of days ago. The main focus seemed to be, that modern parents could see little, if any, relevance of Nursery rhymes in today's society. The basis of their argument seems to be that children today are much more advanced and knowledgeable, and much prefer to be read to from a story book, which the parents thought had much more meaning and content. It was astounding to hear that nearly all of the adults interviewed didn't even know the complete first verse of Jack and Jill. I seem to remember that reciting Nursery Rhymes was a social classroom event, where everyone participated, which made it a fun thing to do.

I do agree that we need to keep children reading, it's just a shame that they all seem to abandon the idea in teenage years, and keeping abreast of current affairs and events is very hit and miss. I was always a bookaholic as a child and still am today. I always had a bookcase full of books, although you only ever got to have a new one when it was your birthday or Xmas. My bookcase was made by my father, as a welcome home present, when I had to go into hospital to have my tonsils removed, aged about 6 or 7. I can remember being quite willing to go to bed early, so that I could read until the designated "lights out" time. Annuals were some of my favourites; Girl's Crystal, Princess Tina and Judy are a few that I can remember. Books included, just about every Enid Blyton book I could get my hands on; The Famous Five; The Secret Seven; Malory Towers etc. There was also Black Beauty by Anna Sewell; The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley and Kenneth Grahame's The Wind In The Willows.

Saturday afternoon was always my favourite time of the week, as we all went as a family to the town library. I can remember there was a central lobby, with 3 separate doors leading from it; to the reference library, adults library and children's library. It was great the first time I was allowed into the children's library on my own, whilst my parents went into the adults library. That was in the days before library cards, when each book had it's own ticket, which was removed and filed ready to be replaced when you returned the book, then the book was stamped with the return date. Seeing the date being stamped inside the cover was always great fun and right up until I left school, I always harboured a secret yearning to become a Librarian. Although I think I would have spent too long reading the books, to actually let people borrow them and woe betide anyone who would dare to damage or deface the books !!