BBA & HBWC Administrator
Andrea Reece
30 Winton Avenue, London, N11 2AT
Tel: 0208 889 1292
Mob: 07807 893369
Email: branford.boase@gmail.com
Press Enquiries
Andrea Reece
Tel: 07807 893369 | Email: branford.boase@gmail.com
“My heart is a firecracker, my legs like twin rockets. I’m late for school and running faster than I ever have in my entire life. Fears of getting slapped with a detention (and Mum going mental) spur me on. Breathlessly, I propel myself through the school gates, surprised that nobody is on gate duty. Weird. Guess I must be later than I thought…
Sneaking in through a fire exit, I nip along corridors as silent as a ghost, glancing through the zoetrope of open doors. Every single classroom stands as empty as tomb. Where is everyone? Just as I begin to panic, I hear an eerie sound.”
“I don’t even want to go” whined Logan.
“Well you are” said Mum “And there’s nothing you can do”. There was a silence, broken by Mikey saying “I hate Star Wars!” Mum and Dad were fed up with Mikey and Logan’s moaning, so they turned the radio up.
“Hope you are having a great May the 4th Be With You 2020” said the DJ happily.
“Does anyone talk about anything other than Star Wars anymore?” questioned Logan.
Dad was so angry with Mikey and Logan that he shouted at them “Can’t you be grateful for a family day out?” He was so furious with the boys he was not watching the road.
“Henry watch out!” cried Mum. But it was too late Dad had already crashed into the car in front. Mikey and Logan bumped heads and the light of day slowly turned into darkness.
The shouting from the market woke the boys up with a start. They were squished down a little alley, lying on the floor with only a tattered blanket for warmth. It was dark and dingy down this alley; the smell of sewers was revolting. There were blacked out windows, with cracks and mould. Looking down you could see it narrowing into a dead end of darkness. “Wake up Logan,” Mikey said shaking him awake.
“What is it?” Logan asked sleepily. “Where are we? How did we get here?”
“Believe me I’m wondering the same thing”. There was a long pause before Mikey continued “What was the last thing you remember?”
“Ummm …. I remember we were going to a Star Wars Convention and were moaning we didn’t want to go. I remember Mum screaming ‘HENRY WATCH OUT’ and now we have turned up in this disgusting alley!” exclaimed Logan.
“Yeah it’s very strange” agreed Mikey. They got up and walked down the alley and found themselves in the middle of a busy market. It was much lighter in the main street than the alley so they had to squint their eyes to focus. It was very busy in the market with people rushing to work and people buying their shopping. Then out of nowhere something was coming towards them. “What’s that?” asked Logan puzzled.
“I don’t know but I think it has ‘Workhouse’ written on the front of it” exclaimed Mikey, he knew this wasn’t good. As it got closer to the brothers, a pair of hands reached out and grabbed them by the collar and pulled them into the carriage. The boys sat on the dusty floor confused and frightened.
“Where do you think they are taking us?” whispered Logan.
“I don’t know, I’m still confused about this whole thing” said Mikey. The brothers sat there, thinking for a while and looking around. “Look there’s a newspaper” Mikey said “maybe it’ll have a date on it”. He started to flick through and found a page with the date “OMG it’s May 4th 1920” Mikey said, flabbergasted.
“So, you’re saying” said Logan “that we’ve gone back in time 100 years?”
“Yes” cried Mickey. Their conversation was interrupted by the same hands plonking them in front of large gates. The gates slowly opened to reveal a large building towering over them. “Where have they taken us?” questioned Logan.
“The Workhouse, I learned about it at school. The people that picked us up work here and must have thought we were orphans. This is the place where orphans or the unfortunate children are sent” cried Mikey. “I’ve learned how they do stuff here so follow my lead Logan and don’t do anything stupid”.
They slowly entered through the gates to see a menacing building with enormous chimneys bellowing smoke into the skyline. They were sent straight to the factory where Sir gave a quick summary on how to use the shoe making machines along with the rules and punishments of the workhouse. “Did you catch any of that?” asked Logan.
“Shhhh, Sir doesn’t like it when you speak over him” whispered Mikey.
After a few hours of working the brothers heard a siren. “What’s that noise?” questioned Logan.
“That’s the siren, it means it’s time for food” said Mikey.
“Yay, I’ve starving” cried Logan.
“Don’t get your hopes up. It’ll probably be stewed broth” said Mikey, disgusted. When they sat down Mikey told his brother “Before we eat remember we have to say Grace, it’s very important”.
“Ok” said Logan, not paying attention to what his brother was saying. It was time to say Grace but as Sir walked past Logan, he noticed he wasn’t participating. “Boy!” screamed Sir at Logan “On your feet, you disrespectful runt”. Sir pulled Logan to his feet by his ear and dragged him out the food hall, with Mikey running behind, shouting at Sir “Oi, you bully let my brother go”. Sir stopped in his tracks, turned to face Mikey and grabbed his hair. He pulled both boys, who were shouting and screaming, along the corridor and marched them to the basement, violently pushing them to the floor.
There was barely any light in the basement, but the boys did see a rat or two. They only had a potato sack for comfort and a bucket! They huddled together in a dirty corner to keep each other warm. Both boys were hysterically crying. They were so exhausted from the events of the day they cried themselves to sleep…
“Logan can you hear me?” said a voice, “It’s Dad I need you to wake up”.
“Mikey honey” cried Mum “Everything will be ok”. Then there was a voice the boys didn’t recognise.
“Mikey, Logan, hello – my name’s Joe I’m the paramedic”. The boys suddenly awoke with a start. Confused, the boys jointly asked “Where are we? What day is it?”
“Its May the 4th darling,” said Mum.
“Yeah we know, but what year is it” questioned Logan.
“Logan it’s 2020” said Dad sounding worried.
“Phew” said the boys revealed.
“Why? “asked Mum.
“No reason” the boys responded happily, still cuddling the potato sack!!!