Excitements at the Chalet School Quiz

Answer: They fill beanbags with emery powder.

Blossom Willoughby, the Games Prefect, is in a foul mood because of a lesson with Inter V, one of the school's more difficult forms. Miss Burnett asks her to take a games class for her as she is busy taking another form, so Blossom, Vi Lucy and Hilda Jukes organise a programme consisting of bean bags, country dancing and frog racing.

The bean bags are heavier than usual, and it turns out Emerence and Margot replaced the bean filling with emery powder (a mineral abrasive). They did it because they thought Va would be using the bean bags - there is a conflict between the two forms as Virginia Adams, an older girl in Va, went into their classroom and told them off, despite not being a prefect.

Heather Clayton makes a snarky remark that she didn't realise Virginia was a sub-prefect.

Answer: Her sister

Joey Maynard invites a group of staff over to Freudesheim to discuss the school's coming-of-age, and wonders why Matron isn't there. Miss Annersley explains that Lilian Harper, Matron's sister, is on the brink of death. Later, when Lilian dies, Jack Maynard goes to the school to collect Matron and bring her to Freudesheim to recuperate, as she is seriously run down. Jack and Joey decide to make a point of calling Matron by her real name, Gwynneth, after she comments that no-one is around to call her Gwynneth anymore.

Answer: "Perhaps she's ugly, though?"

Yseult speculates that Robin must have become a nun because she was ugly, which makes Con furious, as Robin is quite the opposite. The Maynards, who are Catholic, try to explain to Yseult about Robin hearing the 'call' from G-d, but Yseult can't understand it. Joan Baker eventually manages to get her to shut up and change the subject.

Answer: 'The Land of Heart's Desire' by WB Yeats

Yseult suggests the form perform a play, as she has acting experience and could produce it. Betty Landon and Francie Wilford say that Con should write a play, but Yseult brushes her off as a 'mere child', and suggests they should do 'The Land of Heart's Desire'.

She wants to play Mary Bruin, the hero. Francie makes a snarky comment about Yseult's mother's books being banned from the school library, and Yseult smugly replies that her mother writes novels, rather than children's books like Joey (which really annoys Jo Scott, Joey's goddaughter). Miss Ferrars, Inter V's form mistress, nixes Yseult's idea as the play is far too difficult for teenage girls to pull off, because of its creepy atmosphere being hard to get right.

However, she is willing to produce whatever Con comes up with.

Answer: Charmian Spence

For once, Emerence isn't involved! Charmian hates sewing, so she disrupts the lesson by turning off the lights via the main switch while pretending to wash her hands. Gaudenz, the school handyman, leaves the key in the lock of the fuse box, so Charmian is able to get at it and pockets the key.

In the chaos, Len Maynard steps on Yseult's hands and falls on Heather, and Jo Scott accidentally stabs herself in the finger. Mlle de Lachenais restores order and confirms Charmian is the culprit by checking her hands, which are dirty.

As punishment, she has to tidy away everyone's sewing, and then get the inevitable telling-off from Miss Annersley.

Answer: She gets covered in black powder.

Miss O'Ryan goes down to the kitchen to get milk for Miss Ferrars, who is making a cup of tea, and takes so long to come back that Miss Ferrars is worried. It turns out that when Miss O'Ryan was reaching for the milk tins, she knocked over a tin of black powder which Karen, the school cook, had bought for polishing the stoves.

As the tin lid is off, Biddy gets covered in powder and Karen accosts her, mistaking her for a burglar. Miss Annersley is not pleased, as she has told Karen only to use tried-and-tested polishes instead of experimenting with new ones.

Answer: Aladdin

Julie Lucy plays the titular character, Sally Winslow plays his mother (and sings a song called 'When My Old Man Was Alive'), and Barbara Walton is the evil sorcerer. As Mr Denny is ill and cannot conduct the orchestra, Nina Rutherford steps in and conducts in his place.

When the fire breaks out at the end of the panto, she saves the day by ordering the orchestra to keep on playing, and Joey joins in with the singing of 'Come to the Fair'. It is later discovered that Eitel, a teenage boy who helps out at the Sanatorium, volunteered with scene shifting and was smoking a cigarette in a cubby hole under the stage, despite being forbidden to do so.

He had dropped the cigarette, not put it out properly and set some dusters on fire. Jack Maynard gets the truth out of him and tells him he will not be allowed to assist with plays in future.

Answer: Miss Bubb

If you've read 'Gay from China/Gay Lambert at the Chalet School' (title depending on publisher), you'll remember Miss Bubb, the terrifying temporary headmistress who took charge of the school when Miss Annersley, Miss Wilson, Miss Edwards and Mlle de Lachenais were all injured in a bus crash.

She's back! Sybil, who was a junior at the time, sees her while she is on the way to Freudesheim to deliver a message to Joey. Joey, as it turns out, has also seen her, as has Miss Wilson (who is first with the news, much to Joey's annoyance). Miss Bubb later comes to the school and asks them for work, as she has fallen out with her business partner and is ill (she has come out to Switzerland for health reasons) and short of money.

Although the staff who remember her are not happy about her coming back, Miss Annersley feels sorry for her and takes her on part-time.

Answer: Marvellous

As an English teacher, Miss Annersley is very strict about grammar and vocabulary. Using 'can' instead of 'may' is one of her berserk buttons. When Len goes to see her about the coming-of-age celebrations, she keeps using the word 'marvellous', until Miss Annersley gets annoyed and tells her to find some other adjectives, as she is starting to sound monotonous. Len and her friends subsequently make a point of using words like 'enchanting' and 'miraculous'.

Answer: Building a pair of chapels for the school

The riding classes idea comes from Norah Fitzgerald, an Irish girl who loves ponies, but the staff nix it for being too expensive. However, the other ideas are accepted. The Maynards, Betty Landon, Rosamund Lilley, Emerence, Jo and Alicia Leonard propose the idea of building a pair of chapels and starting a subscription fund to pay for them (Len had the original idea and the others helped refine it). Various teachers agree to pay their share, and notices are put up encouraging the girls to contribute. Matron wants to contribute a window in memory of her sister, and Miss Annersley wants to contribute one in memory of Old Girls and mistresses who have died.

Answer: Len Maynard

If you've read 'A Chalet Girl from Kenya', 'The Chalet School Does It Again' or 'The New Mistress at the Chalet School', you'll get the references. In order:

In 'A Chalet Girl from Kenya', Jo Scott, the girl in question, saves Emerence Hope from falling off a precipice to her death while gathering moss.

In 'The Chalet School Does It Again', Prunella Davidson dives into Lake Lucerne to save Margot after Margot falls in while playing tag with Emerence.

In 'The New Mistress at the Chalet School', Mary-Lou Trelawney saves Miss Ferrars, the new mistress, from falling off the edge of a glacier.

Answer: Solothurn

Inter V go to Solothurn, where they go to see the cathedral, the Arsenal and the market place, go shopping, and buy a big box of Leckerli (which are a cross between a biscuit and a cake) for everyone to enjoy at Kaffee und Kuchen. While in the Arsenal, Len and her friends discover a jester's headpiece which squirts water when the visor is lifted, as Len finds out the hard way.

They decide to play a trick on the other girls and let them find out for themselves about the water. Yseult gets squirted and is not happy, though Miss Wilmot and Caroline Sanders - who also get a dose of water - see the funny side of it.

Answer: The stained glass windows

Yseult is impressed by the beauty of the pictures in the cathedral, and says they should be in a gallery so more people can see them and they would be in a better light. Len, who is far more religious, is offended and says that the pictures belong to G-d and that taking them out of a church would be 'stealing'. Mary-Lou, one of the prefects supervising the trip, sides with Len, but also tells her that Yseult doesn't want to 'steal' the art.

Answer: Yseult Pertwee

Yseult sees a group of kids and picks up a baby billy goat, wanting to pet him, but his mother gets angry and charges. The nanny goat is tethered to a stake, but pulls it out of the ground and chases Yseult. A group of girls manage to stop the nanny goat, while Yseult falls into a thorn bush. Frau Huber, the goat's owner, manages to capture her and lead her away. To the teachers' relief, Yseult sees the funny side of it.

Answer: Pranking the teachers

Miss Ferrars explains Spot Supper to her form, and that it was a custom from her old school. Girls would have to pay a fine whenever they splashed a tablecloth, and the money was used to pay for the Spot Supper. The girls would march around the table singing the Spot Supper song, eat sausages and mash followed by sweets, and the Head, new teachers and new girls all had to make speeches. The Spot Supper would end in a sing-song.

At the Chalet School version, the girls pull crackers containing paper hats, and Miss Wilson, Miss Ferrars, Joey, and various girls all make speeches. Miss Ferrars' speech is a parody of Longfellow's 'Hiawatha'. They sing folk songs and hymns at the end, with Joey joining in.