Away With The Fairies
It’s also no coincidence that
“The Flower Fairies” resemble real children, as Cicely used the pupils from Dorothy’s kindergarten as models, stitching their fairy costumes by hand, fashioning the delicate butterfly-like wings from gauze and twigs.
One of her former models, Betty Devlin, who became, amongst others, the Elder Fairy, was not previously known to Cicely.
Cicely spotted Betty as she tore around St George’s church fête in Croydon during the summer of 1940 when she was nine years old.
Talking to Kerry McQueenie of the “Sutton And Croydon Guardian” in 2005, Betty recalled how the artist, charmed by her liveliness, approached her parents and arranged to pay them a shilling a week to sketch their daughter.
She spoke of how exciting it was to visit Cicely at the
Waldrons, remembering her as “a very tall, slim, delicate looking lady” who was “a very, very sweet person. Very gentle and softly spoken.”