Katharine L. Oldmeadow (1878–1963)

Whimsical but nice story of a rather dreamy girl who loves "old things", and dares to make contact with a fierce old aunt who is an expert on old needlework. In doing so, Elizabeth heals a family feud. There is also a school story of course, with the very natural portrayals of girls that Katharine Oldmeadow does so well. The city is clearly based on Chester, and there are references here and there to schools which feature in "The Pimpernel Patrol", which I read recently but did not keep, as it is a very uneven mishmash of themes that don't really gel together. I am only collecting her best work, and there's plenty of that (avoid "The Fortunes of Jacky", a late book which is quite disappointing). This copy was presented to "the 1st Girl in Standard V, Christmas 1929".… (altro)

Short but engaging story aimed at slightly younger readers, of a family who have a long seaside break in a hut or cabin. Along the way they show great resourcefulness and make friends with animals and the grumpy "Mr Growler". It's interesting to see how often Miss Oldmeadow made use of the Great War as the recent past in her 1920s stories. Here, Mr Dowler is irritable because of a war wound, the children's father has died in the war leaving their mother with 5 children, and the hut on the sands itself was "the kind that the soldiers used in the big camps during the war".
This copy was given to a little girl for attendance at the Wesleyan Band of Hope in 1926.… (altro)

Short but charming story of a happy go lucky family in the New Forest who take in a girl who's been raised in India during the Raj, like Mary Lennox in "The Secret Garden". Like Mary, she too is spoilt and mardy (as we say round here), but fresh air and good companionship eventually have the desired effect, and by the end she is playing cricket in the garden, rosy-cheeked and no longer cheating. Miss Oldmeadow was befriended by Romanies and took trouble to learn their ways, hence the sympathetic portrait of the "true" gipsy family. One of those reading synchronicities: I had just finished "The Stopping Places" by Dominic Le Bas, all about Romanies and other travellers.
This copy has a pretty bookplate at the front stating that it was a prize for reciting at a Methodist Sunday School Anniversary in 1957.… (altro)