Plot:
When Jenny Randall’s father marries Ruth King’s mother, the marriage goes smoothly until baby Ian arrives. Ruth is sometimes jealous of the baby, and when Jenny tries to cover up, she makes trouble for herself.
Ann Robson was furious when her widowed mum started dating along and wanted to get rid of any man she got close with.
Vicky Rodgers (Belinda Rodgers in reprint) lives in Swanton with her stepmother. Her father is abroad. Her stepsister, Noreen, is a jealous and spiteful girl. Vicky cherishes an ambition to be a champion skater and when Miss Deanna Roberts, invalid niece of Lady Barlow, sees Vicky skating, she offers to make her into a champion and train her on the frozen pond in the grounds of the manor. Vicky is mystified by Miss Roberts’ knowledge of skating, but is delighted when the invalid presents her with a special pair of figure skates as a reword for a service she has done. [This was reprinted as Belinda Born to Skate with new art in Emma]
Vicky returns in Vicky in Switzerland where she has been entered for a Swiss competition—The Marshall Trophy—by her coach, Miss Roberts. When Vicky and Miss Roberts reach St Segeberg, the scene of the contest, they meet a rich American girl, Lorna Starr, who talks as if the trophy were already hers. While Miss Roberts is in hospital, Vicky and Lorna are invited to give an exhibition in the small town of Reeso. Lorna deceives Vicky into catching the wrong train and Vicky is stranded miles from Reeso. However, Vicky gets a “lift” in a sleigh and reaches the rink in the nick of time.
In Vicky’s Ice Show, Vicky and Miss Roberts, decide to stage an ice show at Cheamsford Ice Rink in an effort to save the rink, which will be closed down unless it shows a profit. George Haywood, a local businessman, has secretly paid Kyra Kenton, a skating star, and Goddard, the rink porter, to make sure that the rink closes, as he wants the land on which the rink stands to build offices. On orders from Haywood, Goddard is busy putting a cunning plot into action.
Vicky on Skates
Belinda Born to Skate – Art: Carlos Freixas
Other Appearances:
Plot:
Anya Bergman, a young girl from a travelling fair, is a pupil at the exclusive Marovani School of Ballet. Gerda Nansen, a mean, spiteful girl, plays a nasty trick which leads to Anya being accused of stealing Gerda’s golden locket and chain. The chain is found in Anya’s locker—but the locket is still missing. Anya is forbidden to take part in any of the school activities until the Governors meet to discuss the matter of the missing locket and decide whether or not Anya is to be expelled.
Anya returns in Big Top Ballet Anya’s ballet class moves in with the circus owned by Marta Bruk, Anya’s guardian, when their ballet school is partly damaged by fire. When Marta Bruk dies in an accident, Anya finds herself heir to the circus. But there is a snag—the circus attendance figures, marked on a graph, must remain above a certain number each week or Anya will lose the circus to someone whose identity is not disclosed to her. This person is really her Uncle Fedor, who is determined to get the circus at any price. By a trick, Fedor makes the High Fliers, the star act of the circus, walk out, and many of the audience stay away.
Other Appearances:
Angela Wilson is in her first term at the Morton-Powell Drama School, her best friend Marcia is the star pupil but another pupil Greta has taken a dislike to Angela.
Joanna West had been chosen to star in a shampoo advert. She didn’t know that her older sister, Lindsay, who wanted the job herself was very jealous.
Hetty Hinton offered to work on a farm in return for a home for her tiny Shetland pony, Beauty. But Connie Marsh, the farmer’s daughter, was jealous of Hetty.
Carol Parker’s ambition is to be a gymnast, her talent doesn’t please her sister Elaine who is also training to be a gymnast. Carol’s mother an ex-ballerina is also upset as she wants Carol to follow in her footsteps.
Edna Jones has been institutions most of her life and is regarded as a rebel and a bad seed. Secretly though she longs for affection and a family of her own. When Mr and Mrs Barry give her a home, she thinks she can be happy, but their daughter Carol is jealous and plans to get Edna sent back.
Shelley Dixon’s mother was killed in an accident but Shelley had promised her that she would work to win a scholarship to a ballet school. When Shelley’s father remarried, she found that Karen and Dave, her new stepsister and stepbrother, were jealous because she had inherited money from her mother to pay for her ballet training.
