Oh Golly – what a row (From Thisisdorset)

Race row over Corfe Castle golliwogs

10:00am Saturday 1st November 2008 in Latest By Echo Reporter

RACE ROW: Viv Endecott with a collection of golliwogs on sale at her Ginger Pop shop at Corfe Castle

A RACE row has erupted in a Purbeck village after an Enid Blyton shop started selling golliwogs.

The owner of the Ginger Pop shop – a shrine to the children’s author who lived nearby – has received complaints branding her a racist and urging her to stop selling the rag dolls.

Viv Endecott insists the golliwogs are harmless soft toys synonymous with Enid Blyton who regularly featured them in her famous books, including Noddy.

In recent years the golliwogs have been removed from the novels as many people began to see them as a crude racial stereotype.

But Miss Endecott claims there is demand for the toys in Corfe Castle, which inspired some of the Famous Five books.

She said she has sold more than 500 in the last six months to customers of varying ages and ethnic backgrounds.

Miss Endecott, 47, said: “The note had been pushed under the door one night. I felt annoyed, mainly because whoever wrote it didn't put their name to it.

“I thought the best way to gauge people’s reaction to it was to place the note in the window alongside some golliwogs and the general reaction has been ‘Is that for real?’ “Around here it is accepted that a golliwog is a soft toy associated with Enid Blyton. I genuinely think most people don't associate them with black people.”

Miss Endecott, who is of Indian origin and suffered racism as a child, added: “There is plenty of real racism to get worked up about rather than arguing over the merits of a soft toy.

“I suffered real racism at school so I don’t need any lessons on it.”

The golliwog was popularised in Britain when jam manufacturer Robertsons adopted it in 1910.

By the 1980s it was increasingly seen as offensive and Robertsons dropped it in 2001.

Councillor Gary Suttle, leader of Purbeck District Council, said: “I can understand why she is selling them because they are part of the heritage of Enid Blyton.”

Adnan Chaudry, chief officer of the Dorset Race Equality Council, said: “Golliwogs have become widely recognised as an offensive object by all sections of the modern world.

“The issue was dealt with in the 1990s when the work of this famous children’s author was made accessible to a new audience of children, with the removal of phrases and words that could be deemed offensive.

“As a society we have matured and recognise the right of all individuals.”