This book was written and illustrated
by Cicely Mary Barker
who lived in Croydon.
Her sister Dorothy ran a nursery.
All the fairies
are portraits of real children
who went to the nursery.
The Wild Thyme Fairy
was Sheila Evans.
She was the daughter of the vicar
at St Andrews Church.

Sheila talks about
being a flower fairy model:

"Everything had to be deadly accurate
with Cicely
and she had this big chest
full of dressing up things
- wings and drapes and all.
She was so nice
and she never expected you
to stand still for too long.

We weren't all pretty,
she didn't really go for that,
she went for the nice children,
and for features."

"Gladys and her family
lived not very far away
- they were very poor
and Gladys had the most lovely
little face.
And she chose Gladys
for 6 of her little fairies.
And when Gladys was to be
a little flower fairy model
she was allowed in
through the front door,
but when she was being the tweenie,
which she did
for a shilling on a Saturday,
scrubbing floors and polishing steps,
then she had to go down the back stairs,
the kitchen stairs."

"I think it was the fact
that she used real people
that made her pictures so popular.
Cicely's fairies were very down to earth."

Cicely was one of the best known
children's book illustrators of her day.
She taught herself to draw
as she was unable to attend school.

Cicely was influenced by
the huge popular interest in fairies.
Queen Mary enjoyed sending the postcards
showing fairies to her friends.
Her books were published
after the horror of the First World War.
The public were charmed
by Cicely's vision of hope
and innocence,
suggesting a less aggressively
modern world.

To find out more about Cicley Mary Barker
read Shelia Glyn-Jones' book
Cicely Mary Barker: a Croydon artist.

Available on loan from
Croydon Libraries
and to buy in most
good book shops.