About Friends of the chalet school
What is Friends of the Chalet School?
Friends of the Chalet School (FOCS for short) is a society for those who enjoy the books of Elinor Brent-Dyer, in particular the Chalet School titles. (Elinor wrote around 100 titles, of which nearly 40 are non Chalet. Of these, the La Rochelle series in particular is closely linked to the Chalet School.)
Friends of the Chalet School was founded in 1989 and there are now around 1,400 members worldwide, ranging in age from about 9 to over 90.
How is FOCS pronounced? Some people say Eff Oh See Ess, some people say Fox, others say Focus, and there may be other variations, too!
The society is run by Ann Mackie-Hunter and Clarissa Cridland , with help from a large number of volunteer members.
Members receive four magazines per year, produced at the beginning of May, August, November and February. Our annual subscription period starts after the February magazine (in order to avoid people paying subscriptions around Christmas), and so a subscription reminder is sent out each year with the February magazine.
Each magazine is an A5 booklet of around 72-80 pages, with a full colour cover, and illustrated inside with black and white pictures.
As well, there are four small booklets provided:
• Le Petit Chalet (around 8 pages), originally designed for younger members but much enjoyed by those who are adult.
• Illustration Booklet (around 4 pages), which gives details of the covers and illustrations for individual titles.
• Collectors' Corner (around 8 pages), which deals with enquiries and reviews for non-EBD titles.
• Sales & Wants (up to 20 pages), in which members advertise (for free) those elusive hardbacks, and also paperbacks, as well as books by other authors, which they have for sale. Members can also list those books they want to buy!
No part of the magazine is available on the website – it is by members and for members and we do not wish to discriminate against our members who do not have access to the internet.
We welcome contributions to the magazines and extra booklets from anyone who is a member. Contributions run from short comments to articles of several pages. Some members write something for every magazine, some occasionally and a lot never! It's up to you, and you will be just as welcome a member however frequently or infrequently you write. The magazine is put together by Clarissa with a great deal of help from a dedicated team of members who edit and proof read at all stages.
We run a lending library for members living in Europe . This contains copies of Elinor Brent-Dyer's books, as well as a number of books by other authors. The library is run by Hilary Boulton. New members are invited to get in touch with Hilary when they join and she will send them an up to date list of what is in the library, and details of the small charge.
As a completely separate entity, Clarissa and Ann also run Girls Gone By Publishers which publishes Chalet School and other EBD titles as well as books by other authors.
Please click here to go to the GGBP website.
Click here for information on becoming a Friend of the Chalet School.
