Falk's Story
(This version is abridged. The complete Falk story appears in Otir Chalet 1932-1992 produced by OUR CHALET, 1992.)

To write the history of OUR CHALET is to tell a fairy story. The beginning of this fairy tale begins in 1929 when the World Committee met in Holland. There a definite desire was expressed to have a world meeting centre. The desire was hardly pronounced when Mrs Storrow said, "I would like to give that house!"

Mrs Storrow added a few conditions to her offer, the most important being that the centre should be in Switzerland. Rumours of this marvellous possibility spread fast, but the first I heard of it was on Thinking Day, 1930 when the Swiss Chief Scout invited me to meet Dame Katharine Furse, then Director of the World Bureau. I was so enthusiastic about the project that I promised to help find a site. I could hardly wait to start out on my new job and very soon contracted something like a Chalet-complex.

Mrs Storrow had promised her visit for June, 1930 and by that time I had a respectable list. I awaited Mrs Storrow's arrival with indescribable excitement mingled with some apprehension, for how was I to meet a Fairy Godmother, and treat such a fair lady, having never met one before?

All my fears melted at first sight. Mrs Storrow's kind smile, her charm and enthusiastic welcome were most encouraging and I felt privileged to have been chosen to work for her and with her.