Whilst many of our fellow bookworms will belong to one or more author appreciation societies and may have met up at events held by these, there is still a significant number of people who haven’t had the opportunity to do so and who may not know anyone else who shares our appreciation for children’s fiction. This can make the idea of joining a 100-strong group of people rather daunting, no matter how often one is assured that within half-an-hour one will have forgotten about ever having been new; there is still the build-up to the weekend, the journey and finally, the walking into a new place and having to introduce oneself. How do I know? I was that person, more than twenty years ago, who missed out on dinner at a book society weekend because I couldn’t see a seat at the table and, confronting a sea of unknown faces, lost my nerve, turned tail and exited the dining room – probably before anyone else had even noticed that I was there, let alone had the chance to offer me a seat! I scolded myself mightily and assumed that I was alone in being ‘chicken’.

However, a year or three later, whilst organising a residential weekend for a different author society, I heard of a member who really wanted to go, but didn’t know anyone else and was too nervous simply turn up. This was my wake-up call and I decided to adapt the idea of ‘sheepdogs’ for new girls devised by Elinor Brent-Dyer for her Chalet School books. On the conference booking form there is a box to tick if you would like your own sheepdog; it is as simple as that.