However, the story remains a potent one and examines the very impact that bereavement can have on a child whilst not requiring to give us all the answers. Sometimes, as in life, we do not get to have the answers. Led on to the sundial, upon a strangely symmetrical journey resembling that of her dream which opens this six-part serial – and accompanied by the late David Ferguson’s magnificent score – Minty discovers its powers to be that of not just ‘apparent-time’ but also that of ‘moon-time’ and the dial spins her on course to the 19th Century where she meets a fellow time-traveller, a boy called Tom ‘short for Edward’ (Tony Sands). Moondial is a British television six-part serial made for children by the BBC and transmitted in 1988, with a repeat in 1990. It was written by Helen Cresswell, who also wrote the 1987 novel on which the series was based. [1] [2] [3] [4] The west entrance to Belton House near Grantham in Lincolnshire, the setting for Moondial. Plot [ edit ]

Moondial | Faber Moondial | Faber

Ariminta (Minty) Cane, reluctantly separated from her mother, stays with her Aunt Mary (Valerie Lush) in Belton, Lincolnshire and it isn’t long before the curiosity of the nearby Belton House and its mysterious Sundial leads her to cross the threshold of time and encounters ghostly presences who appear to be caught in the trappings of life as much as she is. Minty is staying with her Aunt Mary in a little cottage on the edge of an Crumpton Manor which is now always open to visitors. Minty has a mystic streak and realises there are unhappy ghosts who are trapped. With some aid from old Mr World she is drawn towards the moondial and decides to solve the mystery but she has to overcome many obstacles. A timeslip novel much akin to The Children of Green Knowe and An Enemy at Green Knowe, Moondial sees a young girl attempt to comes to grips with a sense of a place and those who inhabited it before. Her relationship with Tom and Sarah, children from other times, were engaging enough although I suspect a more fruitful exploration would have come across in the T.V. version (for which the idea was also conceived.) Helen Cresswell, a BAFTA award winning children’s author, was passionate about developing the imagination and creativity of youngsters. She travelled all over the UK visiting schools to share her belief in the power of reading. In 1984 she approached the Educational Advisor for the National Trust to suggest that imaginative stories set in their properties could raise children’s interest in them. In her autobiography, Helen wrote ‘I played with words as other children play with Lego’. Her play with words began with poetry at age 6, later producing around 100 children’s stories including Moondial. After becoming a teacher, she returned to writing in 1963. Helen wrote early in the morning, with a pot of tea beside her. She would sit on the floor and write in a large plain book, with ‘real pens and real ink’. When writing Moondial, as with other timeless fantasies, she used a white pen with sepia ink. After writing between 500 and 3,000 words, she would then type up her work, while it was fresh in her mind. Helen never edited the content once it was written.More advanced moondials can include charts showing the exact calculations to get the correct time, as well as dials designed with latitude and longitude in mind.

Moondial (1988) – Horrified Ghosts In Time: revisiting Moondial (1988) – Horrified

Moondials are very closely associated with lunar gardening (night-blooming plants) and some comprehensive gardening books may mention them.But Sarah is an innocent, beautiful child who has been led to believe she is evil has seemingly never been loved or accepted by anyone. At one point, Minty and Tom witness her daring venture into the daylight and trying to wash the devil’s mark from her face by the fountain in a heart-breaking scene that shows the true extent of the mental torment she has been subjected to. And all the while, as she walks the grounds of Belton House in darkness, singing her solitary song, ‘I’m weeping for a play-mate on a bright summers day’ she is completely unaware she has two mates awaiting to save her from her loneliness. Moondialaired between Wednesday, 10th February 1988 and Wednesday, 16th March 1988 [4], on BBC One, closing the last part of Children’s BBC programming. It would be repeated, two years later, in the same slot with its last broadcast taking place on Wednesday, 13th June 1990 at 5:05 pm [5]. It also featured on the children’s television review and comments programme Take Two on Wednesday, 20th April 1988 at 4.30 pm [6], hosted by Philip Schofield and joined by executive producer, Paul Stone. Moondial’ by Helen Cresswell was first published January 1st 1987 by Puffin Books, and originally broadcast on BBC1, 10 February – 16 March 1988. A lovely little mystery with some beautiful symbolism and lovely morals about love being the most important thing. As another reviewer remarked Cresswell sometimes spends more time on the things you aren't interested in then skips over other moments you felt could have had more tension in such as the finale. Cresswell writes good characters and this was a good book which was deservedly made in to a TV series. It seems a shame that her name has fallen in to obscurity. Regarded as a nostalgic favourite by followers of 1980s BBC children's drama, Moondial employs extensive location filming (in the grounds of Belton House in Lincolnshire) and fantastical, dreamlike imagery.

Moondial by Helen Cresswell book review | Yakbooks Moondial by Helen Cresswell book review | Yakbooks

When Minty is taken by her mother, Kate, to stay with her aunt in Belton, she has no reservations. Living with a mum who is so busy with work that her daughter is almost independent, Minty sees this trip as an adventure of sorts and hopes that something exciting will happen when she explores the grounds of Belton House: a stately home which he aunt lives across home. Perhaps she'll see ghosts! And if P J Lynch had illustrated the tower with the golden pennants which never moved in the breeze, I'd have been most grateful - I never understood how this was meant: like stiff flags, vertically from the tower or corners? Or hanging horizontally and downwards from rampants? Or strung along like a bunting? For some reason I never got a good mental image of this, nor understood why Minty wondered if they ever moved. The closing moments of the show feature a poignant scene where Tom is reunited with his sister Dorrie and, along with Sarah, walk off into the distance before fading from Minty’s view entirely. Lux et Umbra vicissim, sed semper Amor, Light and shadow by turns, but always Love. Minty is played by Siri Neil. Although Minty is supposed to be just thirteen years old, Neil is evidently a touch older than this. She’s hauntingly attractive and exactly the right sort of actress for this part, doing a terrific job in what was her first professional acting role. Neal has a confidence here that isn’t always seen in child actors, and is completely believable. Following Moondial, she went on to appear in a number minor roles in other television series and could have been a much bigger star than she ultimately became as her potential clearly stands out here. Unfortunately for viewers, she later retired from acting and moved on to a new stage of her life. Virtually the entire story rests on Neil’s shoulders – a big task for such a young actress – but she copes admirably. Tony Sands takes the supporting role of Tom, and is another really good performer who seems to have disappeared from the acting scene. The character of Old World is played by Arthur Hewlett, an actor who seemed to make a career out of playing elderly men. World is a wise old chap who seems to be partially psychic and is able to guide Minty in her investigations, imparting vital clues along the way. He believes that he sees and hears glimpses of the children from the past, and represents a link to the older time. ‘Moondial’ (1988) Photo: BBC/Second Sight Films Children growing up in the 1980s had a superb roster of drama presented to them. The BBC, in particular, seemed to be experts at crafting engaging, thought-provoking stories that kept viewers entertained for up to six weeks at a time. The corporation was able to call on all of the talents and resources that any of the adult dramas were allocated, from composers to visual effects, from set designers to costume designers, to produce some truly memorable programmes.

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This article is about the timepiece. For the TV series, see Moondial (television). Moondial at Queens' College, Cambridge, showing the table of corrections for the phase of the moon Moondial’ (1988) is available on DVD from Second Sight Films, originally released 4 May 2015. BBFC classification PG. Running time 158 mins. Catalogue no. 2NDVD3274.

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The children’s department had a pool of incredible talent to draw upon on, with names like Christine Secombe, Paul Stone and Colin Cant cropping up regularly throughout the decade. The latter two of these were involved in the creation of Moondial, a 1988 serial that concerned the tale of Minty, a young girl who finds herself drawn into a mysterious time-travelling adventure. In this period there seemed to be a proper drive not to talk down to children and to provide them with very high quality, thoughtful programming. David Ferguson’s theme tune and score is wonderfully ethereal, and he would go on to become a regular collaborator of director Colin Cant, the pair later working together on The Country Boy, Dark Season and Century Falls. Ferguson, unusually for BBC children’s productions of the time, wasn’t part of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and operated on a freelance basis but his work has a very similar feel to the best of the Workshop. His music sounds timeless, not suffering at all from sounding like it comes from the 1980s, and not sounding as if it was crafted on the usual synthesisers. It is one of the finest aspects of this production and deserves a wider audience. Sadly, Ferguson passed away in just his mid-50s, so listeners were denied hearing any more of his excellent, talented work. I was baffled by it! I used to go in to see Paul (Stone, Executive Producer) and say, ‘What about this, who’s done that and why has this happened?’ and he eventually got fed up with me, and he said, ‘Look, why don’t you go up to Nottingham and talk to Helen (Cresswell) yourself’. So, I went up with a few sheets of A4 with all my questions on, had a nice lunch, and she obviously knew I was coming to ask her a few things and she launched into a chat about it and I came away thinking, ‘Oh I get it now!’ Almost by osmosis, I got the feel for what it was all about and I never got to ask her one of my questions!’ [1] Built between 1685 and 1688 by John Brownlow (1659-97), along with the ponds and gardens, Belton House sits in the parish of Belton and Manthorpe not far from Grantham, Lincolnshire. Situated on the axial pathway is a figure of Time made from Portland stone, seated on a globe and supporting a baluster column with the assistance of a cherub. Atop this statue is a brass sundial inscribed by Thomas Wright and dating to 1725. [3] If you want to know how they achieve it, you will have to read the book for yourself, but I can tell you it isn't as straightforward a solution as you might think. I'm not even sure if you will think it's a happy ending, but the children seem pleased enough.When I was younger, that is to say, younger than I am now (11), this was one of my favourite books of all time. Now, I have 3: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Pride and Prejudice. I have always been a keen reader, so, when I was...7 or 8?...I read Moondial for the first time. This story follows the saga of Araminta (or Minty for short), who has discovered she has a strange talent for seeing ghosts. After her mother is involved in a car accident, Minty is sent to stay in the country with an elderly Aunt who lives on the grounds of an old stately home now open to the public. Whilst staying with her Aunt, Minty befriends a local groundskeeper called World who informs her that she must help the past residents of the home find peace as they are lost souls. Minty meets these residents through some form of ghostly vortex which is triggered by the garden sundial that only seems to work in moonlight. These residents include a young stable hand by the name of Tom and a former resident with an unfortunate birthmark who spends her days hiding and her nights being taunted by neighbourhood children. The introduction of a sinister local ghost hunter with multiple personalities through time adds drama and a twist ending to this book. I spoke to one school child who went on the ‘Below stairs’ tour and experienced life as a kitchen boy. He dressed up as a servant polishing the silver in the kitchen which was used as part of the filming of the television series. He learnt that all the kitchen boys were called Tom. Tom in Moondial is the kitchen boy from the 1860s. Connecting the house to the kitchen is a tunnel with a rail for moving food to the dining room. When the kitchen boys were in the tunnel, they had to whistle or hum to stop them eating anything on the way. Century Belton House sees a ghostly, shrouded, and hooded figure walk its gardens. This is Sarah (Helena Avellano), the third child in this story, who is hidden in the depths of Belton House by the oppressive and abusive Miss Vole (Jacqueline Pearce) – whose mirror image is, inexplicably, that of Miss Raven, a ghost hunter, who torments Minty in the present day with unspoken threats of finding the children. Sarah hides in shame and internal loathing and only dares venture out into the late night.