Milly Mason is an expert marbles player, taught by her great-grandmother. They often find themselves using Milly’s marbles playing to combat unsavoury attitudes, such as snobbery and chauvinism.
Other Appearances:
Summer Specials:
A girl named Squirrel lives in a tree at Greenoak Park. She wants to learn to play table tennis properly and sets out to earn a scholarship to Highgrove Private School because it has a first class table tennis team.
Twin sisters Cathy and Lara Farley have been adopted by an exclusive club of international athletes. But sports and staff start causing divisions between the twins.
Development for a new motorway threatens the home of Jenny Coney and her grandfather, along with others. Their only hope of saving their home is a book that has been in the family for generations. But the book is in Latin, so Jenny is compelled to go to the local school to learn Latin as quickly as possible so as to translate the book. Meanwhile, the PE teacher Miss Callister realises Jenny has a natural talent for hurdling and begins training her up for events.
Cindy Rivers, in whose father owns a boatyard in Brightsea, wins many of the sailing races she enters in her dinghy,”Sail-Away.” Hilda Bellamy, whose father also owns a boatyard, is Cindy’s greatest rival. In the local regatta, Cindy and Hilda tie in an important race.
Sue Budge – known as Budgie – is a rising star in professional tennis who ends up going on international tournaments.
At the age of ten, Laura Leyburn suffered an attack of polio and, although she recovered physically, she was afraid to try to walk with-out the aid of a stick. However, Miss Driver, Laura’s headmistress, not only persuaded her to walk unaided, but to take up athletics as well! Now, at 16, Laura is an up-and-coming hurdler and being coached by Mr Sampson, secretary of the Stirton Athletic Club. For winter training they have the use of a hangar at a Royal Air Force base.
Valda was a long running and popular character from Mandy. She is a mysterious girl, who gained long lasting life, youth and powers from the fire of life. She has to bathe in the flames regularly to replenish her youth and strength, whenever she exhausts her powers. The powers and skills that Valda primarily is shown to have are; a youthful appearance, strength, ability to leap great distances, mental influence, a knowledge of herbs and a rapport with animals. As a baby over 200 years ago, she was found by an old gypsy woman Dorcas. Dorcas raised her and taught her about herbs and potions and shared with the water of life. After Dorcas died, Valda continued her quest to find the fire of life. While the flames will restore Valda when she is weak, she also has temporary restoration methods, gained from a crystal pendant she wears.
Due to her long life, she appeared many times over the years. She had adventures with hidden tribes and lost worlds, she fought evil forces and sometimes she competed against athletes to prove her skills. In her first appearance she challenges the world champion ice skater, and other stories saw her compete in sports such as tennis and diving. When the Valda serial appeared in Mandy it would usually come under different names such as; “The Amazing Valda” “The Ten Tests of Valda” and “The Return of Valda”. In 1974 her origin was told in the “The Girlhood of Valda“.
She was an interesting character, and her original inspiration may have been from a boys comic strip from the 1940s “The Truth about Wilson” in The Wizard, which had some similarities. Obviously she was quite popular character, and is well remembered. She appeared in a lot of the annuals and in the 2002 annual she was updated with a more cartoony and superhero look.
Full list of appearances are below.
Other Appearances: