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This is a purely fictional work incorporating Nappies, restraint and other discipline and punishment related themes and foul language.

The characters are fictional and therefore any resemblance to any person living or dead, whether by name or by description, is purely coincidental and unintentional.

If you are under 18 years of age, easily offended or disturbed or if such literature is illegal in your country, then please read no further.

Copyright © 2025. Only me again1971 aka E. Baker.

 

 

Chapter 1 Daniels Story.

 

My name is Daniel Fielding and this is my story.

 

My story starts on a beautiful hot summer morning at the end of July in the

not-too-distant past.

 

My 22^nd birthday was 2 weeks away and I was what’s known as between jobs.

 

Having packed my Mini with just about every possession I owned, which was not much more than a suitcase full of clothes, I was speeding along a tight winding country lane in Yorkshire. 

I had just moved out of my rented flat earlier that morning on the notion of why pay for something I wasn’t going to use for a while, and I knew that I could.

always find something else when I got back home to London if need be.

I had money saved and could afford to pay the rent while I was going to be away but why waste my small savings pot.

 

I was heading to what I knew was going to be an interesting and possibly.

Rewarding, albeit short term 6-week summer job working with kids.

 

What I didn’t know at the time though was how the following weeks would

affect the rest of my life in a way I wasn’t really expecting.

 

My mind was drifting back to the interview for the job I had just a week ago as I was driving toward my destination.

 

“This is a very special time for the children” explained Mrs Thompson,

we provide a full curriculum for those who need to catch up and for those who don’t we provide additional educational activities to help them become better citizens.

 

Every boy and girl who attends our summer school is treated in exactly the same way regardless of their age and ability, and everyone who attends have the same basic need for one thing, for which you will find out about very quickly.

 

But overall, the time is spent giving the children what they think they want from life but are unable to attain by themselves.

 

“Our summer school has been running for over 25 years now” she said.

“And has provided the same basic service to parents throughout that time.

Some had sent their entire family over the years for the experience and service we offer”.

 

She went on to explain my duties as a Deputy houseparent / carer, which seemed pretty straight forward,

 

“You will be asked to assist with some additional duties, but all will be.

explained when we meet again when you start, but your main concern is the welfare and happiness of the children in your care”.

 

It was those additional duties that at the time I thought, shall I ask about?

but thought, as you sometimes do in an interview, ah well what the hell it can’t be that problematical so why bother asking, I was just happy to get the job.

 

By this time, I wasn’t paying that much attention to my driving, when I noticed out of the corner of my eye a large sign positioned on the side of the road just in front of a set of large and impressive iron gates.

 

I took a double take on the sign as it read NAPPY SUMMERS, I screeched to a halt just before passing the gates and turned into the large and impressive walled entrance drive and read the sign again.

 

It actually read, Happy Summers Holiday Camp, but some graffiti artist had changed the H for an N.

I pulled away and continued up the very long drive.

 

After about a quarter of a mile or so, I saw in the distance a huge and very

impressive old stately home style building, surrounded by trees and hills in the distance.

As I got closer, I noticed a large lake nestled in the trees with jetties a boat house and some small sailing boats tied up alongside.

 

I pulled up outside the front of the building and stopped the engine,

I spotted an old guy walking quite quickly toward me in a bit of a hurry (well when I mean old, I mean 50 something, old to me because I was only 21 myself)

 

“Please Park around the back” he said.

 

“We don’t allow parking in front of the house.

Just follow the road to the left and you’ll find a car park for staff at the rear.

between the trees on the left.

I assume you here as a member of staff?”

 

“Yes” I said.

 

“My name’s Daniel, Daniel Fielding”

 

“Nice to meet you Daniel, my names Thomas, but just about everyone around here calls me Mr Tom.

Pull around the back and I’ll meet you there”.

 

I started the car and did as he asked, and just around the corner found a car park nestled in a clearing in the tree line and parked in an empty space.

 

Thomas or should I call him Mr Tom, came walking up behind me as I got out.

 

“Please make sure you wind up your windows and lock all the doors, we have had a few problems recently with the local kids nicking stuff out of cars left here, which is one of the reasons we have all the security cameras”.

I noticed the car park had two moving cameras positioned at each end of the parking area. Each had large infra-red night vision lamps attached so they could watch the car park day or night. 

 

I opened the boot and took out my case, locked the car and turned back to Mr Tom.

 

“There’s a village just down the road” he continued, “some of the kids are a right pain in the backside I can tell you; you must have noticed the sign at the front gate”.

 

“Yes, I said”

 

“Something else for me to fix before the campers arrive, I would like to get hold of the buggers and then they wouldn’t be so keen on trespassing here then”.

 

As we walked toward the rear of the house I took a better look at the lake.

 

Between the house and the lake there was a large lawned area with an

assortment of climbing frames, swings roundabouts, a netball court and tennis courts as well as what looked like an enclosed caged area which I assumed was some sort of 5-a-side football pitch.

I also noticed dotted around there were small, what looked to be summerhouses.

Oh and of course lots more cameras like the ones I had seen in the car park.

 

As we neared the house, I saw a familiar face appear.

 

“Hello Daniel,” said Mrs Thompson.

” Nice to see you found your way”.

 

“That’s the beauty of The Scout movement for you” I said with a huge smile,

 

She gave me a puzzled look.

 

“I was in the Scouts, and they taught me how to map read”.

 

“Oh, I see a very handy skill I’m sure, I trust that Thomas has sorted you out with your car?” 

 

“Yes thanks” I said.

 

“It’s ok Thomas, I’ll take Daniel on from here. Oh! Did you explain about his car?”

“Yes,” said Mr Tom. “But I haven’t asked him for his keys yet”.

 

“That’s ok Thomas, I’ll get him to hand them in at reception when I book him in”.

 

Keys. Reception? Mrs Thompson saw the puzzled look on my face.

 

“It’s an additional security measure we take to stop cars being taken whilst you’re here”.

 

“What, to do with the local kids”.

 

“Yes, and for other reasons that will become clear later” she said.

“Besides, you won’t need your car until you leave, all transport is provided if you do leave the grounds for any reason”.

And with that we turned and headed toward the house.

 

As we approached a door at the side of the building, Mrs Thompson produced a key fob from her pocket.

We stopped at the door, and she tapped a series of numbers out on the fob and the door clicked open.

 

“We’ll issue you with your own one of these later” she said, “You’ll need it to move around the property.

We have decided that this type of security protects the children and staff alike, and it’s much easier than having huge bunches of keys like they had in the early days of the camp”.

 

As we walked through the door, a strange but pleasant smell came to me, a

mixture of Bleach, disinfectant and something else that I couldn’t quite work out but remembered from my past.

Mrs Thompson pressed another button on the key fob and the door closed quickly behind us with another click.

 

The room we were now standing in was clean bright and huge.

Around 3 of the 4 walls were wooden benches, each had a series of metal.

baskets underneath.

Above the benches at about 4 feet off the ground ran a series of coat

hangers, each of which had two blue or pink cotton sacks hanging from it.

The sacks were about the same size as the kit bags I remember having in my first few years at school. It had held my old PE kit in it.

 

Above each of the hangers was a place to stick a name card but as yet none were in place.

 

As we walked across the room toward another door, I quickly counted the

Hangers, there were about 50 or so.

 

I also spotted a large sink in the corner with scrubbing brushes and towels hanging from hooks above.

 

“This is what we call the boot room. It’s where the children change from their wet and muddy outdoor boots and shoes and hang up their coats if they’ve been out in wet weather before they re-enter the house,” said Mrs Thompson.

 

“We can’t have dirty footwear and wet clothing being tramped around the house, so all the dirty items are left here”.

 

We passed through another locked door and on into a long wide corridor.

Along the corridor there were a series of doors on both sides.

I counted 5 on each, and each had a large half frosted window next to it.

 

As we walked along the corridor, I peeked into each room through the window over the frosted glass part.

 

Every room was a classroom of some sort or another.

I noticed a science room, what looked like a maths class and an English study room.

 

Each of the rooms was decorated with everything that you would expect a school classroom to have, from learning posters on the walls right down to the old-style double school desks that had lift up lids and a seat attached.

 

There was also a fully kitted out music room with much more in it than I had ever seen in any other school before.

A piano along with a myriad of other instruments.

 

A computer room with projection screen and 20 networked screens with

keyboards and tablets.

Wow this is better kit than I have back at home, I thought.

 

“I see you have noticed that the classrooms have all the latest equipment”.

Said Mrs Thompson.

“We pride ourselves here on helping the children with the best money can buy, their parents pay so we provide as they say”.

She said the last bit with a slight note of sarcasm in her voice.

 

We passed two more rooms; these again had glazed doors and windows but this time the glass was fully obscured to prevent anyone looking in.

One door had a sign that said Boys and the other said Girls.

Toilets I assumed and thought nothing more of it.

 

As we approached the door at the end of corridor Mrs Thompson once more pressed the numbers on her key fob and the door clicked open and we passed through.

 

On the other side of the door was a really grand hall, the sort of hall that usually comes with a Stately Home or grand house.

A large central wooden staircase, which split both left and right at the first

landing, then turned again and each staircase then came out at different points on the first floor.

 

At the bottom of the staircase were a series of large sofas positioned at random places on the white marble floor, some facing each other with low tables

between them and some pushed against the walls of the hall with small tables at each side.

A few of the side tables had modern lamps on them. There were bookcases

positioned around the walls filled with books of all shapes, sizes and ages.

 

At the furthest wall of the hall were two large wooden front doors, the other side of which I had seen when pulling up to the front of the house.

Tucked in one corner and stretching a little way along one wall was a small but formal reception desk with shelves and a number of numbered wooden boxes on the wall behind.

 

Seated behind the desk was a very formal looking lady of about 50, dressed in an also very formal blue Matrons uniform, the sort you see sometimes in the old hospital films of the 60’s and 70’s.

 

As we approached the desk, the lady rose from her chair and greeted us.

 

“Daniel Fielding, I presume?

“That’s me” I responded with a smile.

 

“Miss Barrett here is our receptionist and doubles up as school Matron,” said Mrs Thompson.

 

“Everyone has to be processed here before there allowed to enter the building and start camp.

This room is the first thing the children see when they enter camp, so we try to make it comfy and cheerful with just a little bit of daunting thrown in.

 

“Daniel has his keys to hand in Miss Barrett, and anything else for safe keeping. Oh and of course his mobile phone,” said Mrs Thompson.

 

“Mobile phone?” I said,

 

“Yes, mobile phone.

As in an office job we want you to be able to concentrate on the job in hand and not be distracted by incoming calls, so we don’t allow staff to have a mobile switched on in camp whilst on duty.

I’m sure you understand”.

 

“Can’t I just keep it in my room with my other possessions? I protested”

“No Sorry the rules are the rules, no mobiles.

 

Miss Barrett placed a small plastic tray on the desk and motioned for me to place my keys and phone inside.

“If you desperately need to use your phone when your off duty just ask Miss Barrett or myself and we will hand it over, then lock it back up when you’re

finished”.

 

I reluctantly turned off the phone and placed it in the tray along with my car keys. “I suggest that you put your wallet in there as well” said Mrs Thompson, “you won’t need any money on camp, but if you do go out anywhere you can always collect it before you go”.

 

I tossed in the wallet and some small change I had in my trouser pocket.

Miss Barrett picked up the tray and turned around on her chair to one of the many little boxes fixed to the wall, she placed the tray in box number 101 and locked it.

 

“There that’ll be safe and secure for the duration,” said Mrs Barrett. 

She handed me a blue coloured name badge on a chain, “You must wear this at all times when you’re on duty” she said.

 

“Will do” I replied.

 

“Now follow me and I’ll show you your home from home for the next 6 weeks,” said Mrs Thompson.  

We turned and headed up the stairs, we took the right staircase when we reached the first landing, then continued up to the first floor and stopped at the landing at the top.

 

As we climbed the stairs the smell I had noticed earlier became more noticeable, but still I couldn’t place it, and it was bugging me.

 

“This floor is where the children’s dormitories, changing rooms and bathrooms are,” said Mrs Thompson,

“There are 4 dormitories two on each wing and each has a name.

 

Their mixed and each dormitory is for a specific age range”.

 

“Mixed?” I said.

 

“Yes, we have found over the years that it is easier to administer to the children if their all in the same age range, rather than splitting them up into boys and girls dormitories, you’ll catch on later, we’ll go into it In more detail when I give you and the other new members of staff the grand tour”

 

She handed me a key fob like the one she had been using, except that this one had a small key attached to it.

 

“You’ll need this to get too and into your room” she said.

“The key is for your room, and you just punch in the code 8907on the keypad to open all the other doors.

 

Your room is up this staircase, through the door and turn right, you’re in room 101”.

 

I hadn’t realised that there was another floor to the building, but then I

remembered seeing a series of small windows in the roof, as I approached the house in my car.

 

“You’ll find the rooms quite comfortable,” said Mrs Thompson.

“Everything you need for your stay has been provided.

You’ll find a uniform laid out on your bed, ready to go, just unpack, get changed and settle yourself in.

There are tea and coffee making facilities and a small, stocked fridge in the room, make yourself a drink and relax for a while.

I’ll come up in about an hour, and we can start the tour”.

 

“Thanks! I’ll do that, is there a loo on the way?”

“There’s one in your room. All the staff have en-suite,” She explained.

“Anyway, you go and relax, and I’ll come get you later, don’t forget 8907, through the door, turn right room 101”.

 

With that she turned and walked off back down the staircase.

It had been a long drive from my home, and I hadn’t stopped on the way, so I was now in desperate need of a pee.

 

I rushed up the two long flights of stairs and came to a solid looking white fire door with a small window.

I urgently pressed the numbers on the keypad, nothing happened.

 

“Shit what number did she say?”

 

I tried again, and again nothing.

I stood there for a moment trying to remember what Mrs Thompson had said?

 

Punch the code 8097, go through the door, turn right room 101.

I tried again, nothing, no click, then without warning, an alarm sounded, and above the door a red light started flashing.

I stood there fixed to the spot, not knowing whether to run or try to hide

somewhere.

 

A few panicked seconds passed when I noticed a face appear at the little

window in the door with a puzzled look, then the door clicked open.

 

“Forgotten your code” said the young girl with a broad smile on her face.

 

“Yes sorry, first time, must have got the number wrong”.

 

“So, it seems Daniel,” said a voice from behind me, I turned to see Mrs

Thompson standing at the bottom of the flight of stairs with her key fob in hand, and she had a look of frustration on her face.

 

“A touch of STML is it?”

 

“Sorry! STML?” “Short term memory loss” replied Mrs Thompson,

 

“Oh yes, sorry, not the best memory in the world” I replied.

 

“Well, you’ll need to work on that young fella me lad, and quickly.

 

There’s a lot you need to take in this afternoon”.

 

She pressed some keys on the keypad and the alarm stopped, just then we heard thumping on the stairs and a red-faced middle-aged man appeared on the landing breathing heavily.

“Panic over, “said Mrs Thompson.

 

“False alarm!”

 

The puffed-out man glared up at me from the landing.

 

“Daniel, I would like you to meet my husband Mr Thompson.

Mr Thompson this is one of our new members of staff this summer Daniel Fielding”.

 

I waved a sort of embarrassed greeting to him and felt my face turn a rather hot colour of crimson.

 

He tutted, turned and headed off back downstairs muttering under his breath something along the lines of “worse than the bloody kids”.

 

Mrs Thompson smiled and turned her attention back to me.

 

“Please try to remember the number Daniel, we change it every day so you will need to get used to remembering it”.

 

“I’ll help him settle in for you Mrs Thomson “Came a reply before I could say anything.

 

“Thank you, Jane.

Now Daniel go and freshen up, change and relax for an hour it looks as if you need to finish your pee as well”.

She smiled, turned and headed off back down the stairs herself.

 

What did she mean? I looked down at my trousers, without realizing it I had

developed a tiny wet spot of about 3cm, I turned round forgetting Jane was there and quickly moved my suitcase to cover the problem, but too late.

 

“I see what she means,” said Jane, I turned an even darker shade of red and

stuttered out some sort of embarrassed apology.

 

“Don’t panic!” smiled Jane.

“I’ve seen much worse while working here”.

She laughed and held the door open for me to walk through.

 

Was it left, or right? My mind was in a total state of flux by this time, and I had forgotten Mrs Thompson’s directions.

 

“Which room are you in” asked Jane? Seeing my unsure expression.

 

“101 I urgently replied”.

 

 “Ah! Across from me” she said.

“Quickly follow me”.

 

And with that we ran down the narrow corridor, me following close behind her, watching her nice tight bum bouncing in front of me.

 

Jane looked a little older than me, and wasn’t the most beautiful to look at, but from behind she took the form of a blond goddess.

 

“Here we are” she said.

We stopped outside my room.

I thrust the key into the lock, opened the door and rushed in.

 

“Thanks, I’ll be back in a minute, can you wait?” I asked.

 

“Sure” replied Jane.

 

“Come in” I said, as I headed towards which was what I hoped was my

bathroom door.

 

“Sorry I can’t” Replied Jane.

 

“Why’s that”? I asked from the bathroom whilst trying to be as quiet as I could in the pan.

 

“Were not actually allowed in each other’s rooms, it’s a strict school rule”.

 

“Silly rule if you ask me” I replied.

“Give me a second then”.

 

I finished off, flushed, and headed back to Jane, still very conscious of my still very wet, wet spot.

 

“Thanks for your help back there”.

 

“No problem, always happy to help newbie’s” She smiled and winked.

 

“When you’re changed and ready to go, come and knock, and I’ll take you to the staff common room to introduce you to some of the team”.

“Ok see you soon then”.

 

I watched as Jane walked up to her door and let herself in.

She turned and waved.

 

“You’d better change those trousers” she said with a smile, as she looked back. I went red yet again, backed into the room and closed the door.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 2

 

 

THE GRAND TOUR

 

I took a better look at the room now, bearing in mind I was in a hurry before and didn’t get a good look around.

 

The room was about 6 meters square, with a dormer window at the end and

the roof sloped down toward the window.

 

Along one wall was a modern style built-in wardrobe and chest of draws, along the opposite wall was the bathroom door and to one side of it a single bed with a bedside cabinet that had an alarm clock sitting on top.

 

There was a set of clothes laid out on the bed, a T-shirt in dark blue and a kaki pair of long shorts, and on the floor next to the bed a new pair of White Nike trainers in what look to be my size.

 

Next to the main door was a sideboard with a small remote control TV on top, on the other side of the door was a small sideboard with a fridge underneath, I checked the fridge and found it was crammed with coke, 7-up and spring water.

There was also a small carton of semi-skimmed milk.

On top of the sideboard there was a tray that had a kettle, a mug, tea and

coffee.

 

I took a look out of the window, which overlooked the lake and hills, and I could just about see the climbing frames and other equipment on the main lawn below.

 

 All in all, the room was like something you might get at the local Holiday Inn, type of hotel.

I threw my suitcase on the bed and quickly emptied its contents into the various draws and wardrobe.

 

I found a waterproof jacket and spare trousers hanging in the wardrobe, all in my size, so I hung my ever so slightly shabby clothes next to the new ones I had

discovered, I pulled open the top draw and guess what, spare t-shirts,

sweatshirts and shorts all in the same school colours as the clothes on the bed.

 

In the bottom drawer were new socks and a choice of either boxers or y-fronts all in new bright white.

These people have just about got everything covered I thought to myself.

 

I left my not so new underwear in the case closed it and pushed it on to the top of the wardrobe.

 

I decided to have a quick shower after my little accident, so I stripped off, grabbed my wash bag and dived into the bathroom.

 

I chucked the bag on a shelf I found in the bathroom and walked into the shower, where I discovered shampoo and soap, there were nice clean warm

towels ready for me hanging on a heated towel rail for when I had finished.

 

After a short shower I wrapped a couple those beautifully warm towels around me and walked back into the room and fell on the bed all snug and warm.

 

I laid there for a while drying off, thinking about Jane and her cute little bouncy bum and a smile appeared on my face.

Enough of that I thought, time to get ready.

 

I dried off and grabbed some of the new boxers and socks from the drawer, and pulled on the uniform t-shirt, it had 2 poppers on each shoulder and one on each side at around hip height.

I couldn’t find anything in the room that looked as if they were meant to be

attached to them so I gave up looking and pulled on the knee length shorts, pushed my feet into the new Nikes and turned to open the door.

 

Oops nearly forgot my key, I turned to pick it up off the table where I had left it.

I opened the door just as Jane was about to knock on it, she jumped back as if in shock.

“Thought I’d see if you were ready yet and I see you are, let’s go”.

 

I went to close the door.

 

“Don’t forget your name badge Daniel, and have you got your key fob? you don’t want Mrs Thompson catching you without them on or you’ll be for the high jump”.

 

I raised my eyes to the ceiling and huffed as if I was 10 again and being told off by my mother, I turned round and grabbed the badge and chain from the pile of dirty clothes I had left on the floor, promising myself that I will pick those up when I get back.

 

I ran back to the door and went to close it again.

 

” Key?” Asked Jane “

 

“Already got it”.

 

“Just a word of warning. I wouldn’t leave those clothes there if I were you, Mrs Thompson is a bit strict on tidiness and cleanliness even in your own room”.

 

“I’ll sort it out when I come back”.

 

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you then” said Jane, and with that I closed the door.

 

“Come with me and I’ll introduce you to a few of the other staff members who have arrived”.

 

We walked down the long corridor which seemed to go on for miles.

 

“These rooms were used by the servants when this was a family home, about 75 years ago, there are a total of 40 separate rooms up here and all the staff live up here when on the grounds”.

 

We came to the end of the corridor and Jane opened an unimposing door.

 

“This is one of the few rooms that you don’t need a key or code for Daniel”.

 

We walked in, with Jane leading the way.

The room was about forty feet square and had three sloping ceilings, as it was the end of the building it had windows on each or the sloping ceilings.

 

Sitting on the various chairs and sofas dotted around the room were a number of men and women of all ages, either chatting away to each other or trying to read what looked like folder files over the noise in the room.

 

At one end of the room was a kitchen area with a long counter, and there were lots of notice boards with green baize in a timber frame, hanging on the walls on the door side of the room.

It reminded me very much of the staff room the teachers had at my old

secondary school.

 

“Everyone, this is Daniel” Announced Jane. “It’s his first year so be gentle with him”.

 

There were a few smiles, a couple of waves and a few hellos,

and I thought I heard a couple of small giggles from the back of the room.

 

“Fancy a coffee?” Asked a guy standing at the kitchen counter.

 

“Wouldn’t mind if you’re making one”.

 

“What about you Jane you want one as well?”

 

We both walked toward the kitchen.

 

“Daniel this is Tony Higgins he’s your House Master, you’ll be working closely together for the next 6 weeks said Jane.

 

“Thought it was you, your photo in your file doesn’t do you justice though”.

 

We shook hands and he handed over a coffee.

 

“Hope you like it strong, sugars over there” Pointing to a pot on the counter.

 

“I’m sweet enough thanks”.

 

“So says your file” Joked Tony. “I think we’ll get along fine you and I”.

 

I had just taken my first sip of coffee when the door opened, and Mrs Thompson came into the room; everyone looked up and noticed her entry and

acknowledged her arrival.

 

She walked around the room, speaking to everyone she came too, either for a few seconds or a couple of minutes.

I watched as she worked the room, everyone straightened their back a little as she approached and relaxed again as she moved on.

 

I stood there thinking that she reminded me of the Queen doing the rounds at one of her garden parties, (one of which I had the honour to attend two years ago, but that’s another story)

 

Tony brought me out of my thoughts.

 

“I see from reading your file that you’re between jobs at the moment Daniel”.

 

“Yep, it’s one of the reasons I took this job, and I gotta say the money here is good”.

 

“You’ll earn it though, trust me, you’ll earn it while you’re here”.

 

I turned to face Tony and Jane, “that sounds ominous”.

 

“Well at your interview you were given a brief outline of your responsibilities weren’t you”.

 

“Well yes, but Mrs Thompson did say that there are other duties I would be asked to do but I didn’t bother asking what they were, should I have done?”

 

“All will become clear when you take your tour, which if I am not mistaken is just about to start”.

 

At which point Mrs Thompson clapped loudly and immediately everyone stopped talking.

 

“Could I ask the new members of staff to join me downstairs at reception for their tour please, as for the rest of you I’m sure that you all have something to do.

We only have four hours until the children arrive and I want everything ready

before they get here please”

 

With that, everyone who was sitting got up passed their finished cups along to the nearest person who then passed it on to the person nearest the kitchen sink, which just happened to be me, then made their way out of the room.

 

“See you downstairs when you get to the Dormitory Daniel”.

Said Tony as he moved towards the door.

 

Jane followed closely behind and said the same.

 

“You didn’t say you were in the same dormitory as me Jane”.

 

“I’m not, but I’m across from you in Arundel.

I’ll see you on your way round” she waved as she walked.

 

I tidied the dirty cups on the draining board and followed on behind everyone else.

 

At the bottom of the stairs at the first-floor landing, most people went either left or right, but some headed off down the main staircase.

I saw Tony and Jane walking and chatting as they went.

 

I continued on down and noticed that a small group of four people had gathered around the reception desk.

 

“Nice of you to join us Daniel”.

Quipped Mrs Thompson, as I approached the group.

 

Just about everyone turned and looked at me with a small knowing, glad it was you and not me mate smile on their face.

 

“Sorry “

 

“Right then let’s get on shall we, follow me everyone”.

 

We moved off without any introductions and headed toward the ground floor right wing and stopped at the first door which was open.

 

“Normally all of these doors would be locked shut,” said Mrs Thompson.

 

“But to save time we have left them open whilst you’re on your tour, but as a strict rule they should always be locked”.

 

We all stepped into the large high ceiling room, there were a series of chairs,

tables, bean bags and sofas placed around the room on a highly polished wooden floor.

On the walls there were bookcases filled with books comics, games, puzzles, and just about everything you would expect to find in a kid’s room.

 

At one end there was a large TV on a wheeled stand so it could be moved around the room, and next to it on another trolley a brand-new PlayStation games console with its own TV and a few boxes of games.

 

I didn’t even have one of those at home and Sony had only introduced the PlayStation a few weeks before.

 

“This is the children’s common room,” explained Mrs Thompson, “If the

children are well behaved they are allowed to come in here and for a few hours a day encouraged to socialize, interact and watch television if they so wish”.

 

“How many children do we expect to be coming?” said the guy standing next to me.

 

“We have 42 campers arriving this evening, Peter.

Every one of them needs to be greeted, fed, processed and in bed by 8.30, no matter their age”. 

 

“What is the age range of the children that are coming”.

I perked up with a question, not wanting to be left out.

 

” This year the youngest is eight and the eldest is fifteen and a half.

Everyone is treated the same here no matter their age and bedtimes are very

important, as you will see later in the tour.

We actually have two, fifteen-and-a-half-year-olds coming this summer and even they will be in bed by 8.30, with no arguments”.

 

“Shall we continue to the next room”.

Everyone followed Mrs Thompson out back into the hallway and along the

corridor to the next room.

 

As we walked in, I took a step backwards as did a couple of the other people in the group.

 

“This is the baby’s room,” announced Mrs Thompson.

“This is where any child is sent if they misbehave in anyway”.

 

The room was set out as a nursery room, with soft playmats on the floor.

There were baby aged toys in boxes along the walls, a small plastic Little Tykes slide in one corner of the room and two of what I could only describe as four foot high barred cages with locking tops and a small locking gate at the front, which were positioned along one wall.

There would just have been enough room for me to sit on my heals with the top locked down.

 

“You will notice the two playpens in here,” said Mrs Thompson, “These are only used if we have a child with a violent reaction to being punished, and they spend a period of time in here until they calm down”.

 

Everyone to a man, (oh and woman sorry), looked at each other in disbelief.

 

“You can’t cage kids no matter what they have done,” piped up one girl on the tour.

 

“I can assure you we can, and we will if necessary.

We have total parental consent to treat their children as we see fit, some of the parents have paid a lot of money to send their children here, and because of the waiting list they are grateful to have got them in”.

 

“But a baby’s room and playpens” Replied the girl.

 

“Every parent who signs up their child to attend camp, has read and signed the consent form, the brochure they receive gives very specific details of how we care for, and promise to help their children while there here, Right down to the daily routines and if necessary any punishment we administer”

 

“I suppose the cane, paddle or spanking is used here then, for really severe cases” Asked another of my newfound colleagues.

 

“No, never!!” Mrs Thompson replied with a slightly stressed level in her voice.

 

“We never hit the children, ever, and neither will you, no matter what

provocation you receive, that is a very firm and strict rule of camp, no physical striking of any sort.

If any child hits you, then they spend time cooling off in here, and if necessary locked in the playpens.

 

That way we can be sure that they don’t harm themselves and that no harm will come to anyone else, believe me when I say, we have learnt over many years, this is the best way to control the aggressive and violent children who attend Happy Summers”

 

“So, the children we will be caring for will be special needs then?” came a

question from the rear of the group.

 

“No! All the children are normal everyday kids, they all attend, or should attend normal everyday schools, but some just have a problem interacting with their peers, or their parents have just decided that the care and summer education we provide here would be beneficial to their children, to either catch up with their school work or to satisfy a need or desire their child has.

Many will come from troubled backgrounds and need to have some form of

re-direction in their lives”

 

“Don’t you think we should have been told all about this at the interview Mrs Thompson?” asked the same person from behind, and there were a few

mumblings from the others in the group.

 

“Again No!” she replied.

“We have found, again from vast past experience, that we get the best people to work here by keeping them in the dark until the tour.

You were all asked to attend interviews because you applied for a position that you have extensive past experience and expertise in the child care field of one sort or another, we do not offer jobs to just anyone here, we try to pick the best, and the people who we feel will fit in with our methods”

 

Everyone now had a look of, wow, they think I’m the best, I must be good.

Tensions visibly cooled.

 

“Let’s continue the tour, ask as many questions as you like, but please leave judgement till the tour is over.

We will sit down either as a group or individually and go into our methods in greater detail.

 

I myself wasn’t too concerned as to what I had seen so far, my major concern was raised with the spanking question, but as the practice wasn’t in use, I was prepared to continue on with an open mind.

 

We all again followed Mrs Thompson back into the corridor and along to the next room, this room was locked though, and she knocked on the door.

 

The door opened and Mr Thompson appeared in the doorway, please come in, let me show you the heart of our little operation” he said.

 

We all filed in through the narrow door and into a darkened room with no

windows.

 

“In here we watch over the whole school on these monitors”.

 

Along one complete wall of the room there were fifty or so TV monitors, everyone covering a different part of the school.

I noticed my car was still in the car park and so far, un-damaged (relief).

 

There were monitors covering hallways, classrooms and doors, two in what looked like the dining room, there were cameras covering the lawn and Lake and some were switched off.

 

In front of the screens was a large desk with lots of buttons and levers and a guy sitting moving the levers and pressing buttons, and to one side I noticed what looked like recording equipment.

 

I hadn’t actually noticed any cameras other than the ones in the car park, so I was keen to get back outside and look for one.

I popped my head around the door and tried to spot the camera in the hallway but couldn’t.

I waved my hand and watched the monitor to make sure I was looking in the right direction, but I still couldn’t see the camera.

 

“Well hidden aren’t they” said Mr Thompson, as he noticed me waving on the monitor.

 

“We prefer to conceal the cameras, the kids don’t know we monitor them and they act totally normal because of that.

 

We cover only non-private areas.

Areas such as bathrooms and changing rooms are left un-monitored.

Does anyone have any questions?”

              

“Why so many cameras inside” I asked, “I thought the problem was with

vandals outside”

 

“We cover the school both internally and externally for not only the vandal problem but also for your protection” He continued.

 

“If someone causes a problem, we want to be able to react as quickly as possible.

You should know that yourself young man”.

Pointing his finger at me.

“Seeing as you set off an alarm earlier and had me running up three flights of stairs for nothing”.

 

I went my usual shade of red and tried to ignore the titters from the others.

 

“Every door that has a lock has an alarm, if you fail to enter the correct code 3 times the alarm sounds down here, if anyone tampers with the door, again the alarm sounds here, and we come running.

Young Greg here is fitter than me, so he does most of the running”.

Everyone smiled and Greg laughed.

 

“But on the serious side, please remember the codes, we do change them every day for a good reason, and if you set the alarms ringing it disrupts the whole building and unsettles the children”.

 

“Right any more questions?

No, then let’s move on,” said Mrs Thompson.

 

And with that, we all left the room, and the door was closed tightly shut behind us.

 

We headed for the door at the end of the corridor, I was still trying to spot the camera, which should have by now been visible, but I still couldn’t spot it, but I could see and smell, as we approached the door that we were heading for was for the kitchens.

We passed another locked door on the right and Mrs Thompson said that it led down to the school laundry.

 

We walked past a final door on the right and stopped for a brief second just long enough for Mrs Thompson to tell us that this was her office and that as with all good employers her door was always open.

 

Strange, I joked to myself, seeing as all the other doors must always be shut and locked it was strange that hers was always open so to speak.

 

We entered through the open door at the end of the corridor and were greeted by a rather large lady in a cook’s apron and hat.

 

“This is where Mrs Flagstaff and our lovely ladies prepare and cook all the meals for both the children and staff”.

 

Mrs Flagstaff slightly nodded her head to everyone and continued.

 

“We have 6 ladies and myself working here in the kitchen, we only cook freshly grown produce and local meat from a high-quality butcher.

 

We have balanced nutritional meals three times a day and a rotating two-week menu, so you shouldn’t get bored with the selection”.

 

The kitchen was just as I remember the kitchen at my old school, even down to the large floor standing mixers the cooker range in the middle of the room and the large walk-in larder full of cook’s ingredients.

 

“Do we eat with the children?” someone asked.

 

“Yes the house staff that are on duty and any other on duty staff member would normally eat with the children in the main dining room, but for those who are off duty and prefer not to, there is a separate dining room at the back of the kitchen over there”.

And she pointed to a door that had a large, attached picture window at the back of the kitchen.

 

“Do we eat the same meals as the children?” came another question.

 

“In a fashion yes, the ingredients are the same but presented differently”.

 

“Do we get chocolate cake?” was my favourite question from the back of the group.

 

“Yes, we do have that too sometimes”.

 

That was greeted with a laugh and applause from the group and even Mrs Thompson smiled.

 

“Thank you, Mrs Flagstaff, we must move on, lots to do and see and so little time.

Before we go, are we getting your usual first night feast tonight?

 

“We are” she replied.

 

“Good I’m sure we are all looking forward to that because it smells far too good to eat all ready.

let’s move on, shall we?”

 

And with that we all followed Mrs Thompson out.

 

The door was then firmly closed behind us.

 

We headed back up the corridor the way we came, and this time went into a door on the opposite side from the ones we’d been in.

We entered a dining room, to the right there were 10 tables set out in two lines along half the length of the room with benches tucked in under.

 

There was also a single long table set out at the top of the room.

They all had brightly coloured tablecloths and were set with plates, knives forks and spoons.

 

To the left of the room there were closed room divider panels which had they been open would have made the room twice the size it appeared to be.

There was a huge fireplace against the wall, and the grate was loaded with logs already to be fired up at the strike of a match, and two doors at the far end of the wall, which I assumed led back to the kitchens.

 

The floor was highly polished floorboards and along two of the walls there were two pairs of large wooden framed mullion windows, giving the room a lovely mid-afternoon warm glow ambiance.

 

“The room at the moment has been laid out for tonight’s feast meal, we would normally spread the tables out, so each dormitory has two tables each and two houseparent’s at each table to keep order.

 

We open up the room divider to enlarge the space and give ample room for the spread-out tables.

 

“Why a feast meal on the first day, wouldn’t you normally have one at the end of camp rather than the beginning?” came a question.

 

“We have one at the start and one at the finish of camp.

The one tonight is to allow the children one last night of total fun and allows them to make pigs of themselves before we get them to knuckle down for the reason there here, we call it the new beginning feast”.

 

The feast we have on the last night is to normally thank them for all their hard work and effort over the six weeks there here, and as a goodbye meal and we call that the thanks feast.

Any questions?”

 

“Just one from me, can we pig out as well?”

 

Yes Daniel, it’s just as much of a beginning feast for the staff as it is for the children, your work starts after the meal so go mad if you wish but remember you’re here to work as well”.

 

With that Mrs Thompson exited the room and we followed on behind.

We walked along to then next door along the corridor and into the next room.

 

“This is our sick ward,” announced Mrs Thompson as we walked through the door.

 

“And this is Nurse Collins; she and Matron take care of the scraped knees and bumps on the head that happen most days”.

 

A slim looking young girl turned from what she was doing and greeted us as we walked in, with a hello everyone.

 

The room was set out exactly as you would expect to see in any modern hospital ward and examination room.

 

It was a small room in comparison to the larger rooms we had already been in.

The ceiling was a lot lower than the other rooms, and it had two padded couches in the centre of the room.

There were various cabinets with medical items piled up inside positioned against the walls, and a sink in the corner.

At the far end of the room there was a wall with a pair of half glazed double doors.

The glass on each of the doors was frosted to obscure what was beyond, but

one of the doors was being held open with a door hold and I could see that the room beyond had six large hospital cots.

The cots were the high barred type that you sometimes still see in children’s wards in a regular hospital but somewhat bigger.

 

“We can cater for up to six sick children at a time here”.

Explained Nurse Collins.

“But we have never had more than three at any one time in the past”.

She added.

 

“We have all the necessary equipment to handle the normal day to day events you see at a camp.

But if something more serious does occur, we can call in the local Doctor who’s just down in the village.

But touch wood we haven’t ever had a hospital case to date, but now I’ve said that, were bound to have one”.

She smiled at everyone with the nicest smile I had seen for ages.

 

“Well let’s hope not shall we” retorted Mrs Thompson.

With a, I wish you hadn’t said that look on her face.

 

“Why the cots in the next room” asked Peter.

 

“We want to avoid any poorly child that is receiving treatment hurting

themselves by falling out of bed don’t we everyone?” Said Nurse Collins

 

We all nodded in agreement.

 

“Right, has everyone seen what they need too here?

Yes, well shall we move on”? And with that we turned and left Miss Collins to return to what she was doing before we disturbed her.

 

We followed Mrs Thompson a little way along the corridor and came to another larger and more elegant wooden door than all of the others, this one though,

I recognised.

 

“This is our lift” Announced Mrs Thompson.

” We only use it to move laundry between floors and if necessary incapacitated or sick children, down to the sick ward and back if necessary.

 

Absolutely no children are allowed to use the lift unattended, and we do prefer staff not to use it unless absolutely necessary”.

We all took turns to peek through the small slot window in the door of the lift, the light inside showed it was large enough to accommodate a bed much like a hospital lift.

 

We continued on to the main reception area then started up the stairs.

I peered over the banister as we walked up the stairs and Miss Barrett, or should we call her Matron, was busily sorting out pieces of card and writing what

appeared to be names on them with a thick black marker.

 

At the landing we took the left staircase and headed up to the first floor.

We paused at the landing and waited for everyone to catch up.

 

“As I said earlier, on this floor we have the children’s dormitories, playroom, changing and bathrooms.

 

Each wing contains two dormitories on either side, to our left is Arundel and Pembroke, and to the right are Andover and Windsor, and yes there named after English castles.

 

Each dormitory has its own set of facilities, and those facilities are only to be used by the relevant named dormitory.

 

The youngest campers are the 8 up to 9 and a half-year olds and are in Arundel.

 

The 9 and a half to 12 ‘s are in Pembroke.

 

In Andover we have the 13- to 14-and-a-half-year-olds and in Windsor we have the 14 and a half upwards.

 

Each dormitory is mixed and has 12 children in it, normally up to 6 boys and 6 girls.

 

We have six full time members of staff on call all the time in each dormitory, with a minimum of four staff members on duty at any one time, during the

mornings, lunchtimes and evenings the two additional staff are rostered in to help from the teaching and domestic staff.

The only exception is of course at night where one member of staff from each dormitory is rostered to do a night duty.

Any questions?”

 

We again followed behind as Mrs Thompson led us along a corridor and through the first of 2 open doors on the left-hand side of the wide corridor.

“This is Arundel’s playroom” she announced.

 

Inside there were small tables and chairs with yet more cupboards filled with books and games similar to the common room downstairs. And along one wall a large puffy sofa.

 

“We bring the children in here before bedtime, to calm them down from the

activities of the day and before preparing them for bed”.

 

She led us through a connecting door to a large high-ceilinged room.

Size wise it was something like 30 to 40 feet in length by about 25feet wide.

 

This room had 6 small padded tables with patterned plastic covers, a bit like the examination tables in the sick ward downstairs, but they were a lot smaller.

Next to each table was a tall square table around 18inches square and around 30inches high with a drawer and below a large white bucket placed underneath.

 

A small washbasin was positioned behind each of the tables within reach of the table.

 

At the end of the room was a large wicker laundry basket on wheels.

The room was decorated with painted cartoon characters on the walls very much the same as the baby’s room we had seen downstairs and Mickey Mouse looked as if he had been painted by old Walt himself.

 

“This is what we call changing room one. The children are undressed in here before they are then taken through for baths in the room next door.

 

Every child, in every dormitory, bathes every night before bedtime.

We find it helps relax them and makes for a much sounder sleep”.

 

“You mentioned that the dormitories are mixed” Came a question from the

group.

 

“That’s correct” Replied Mrs Thompson.

 

“Do both the boys and girls undress together then?”

 

“No, not straight away, that could cause some initial embarrassment, inhibitions and resentment, so the boys and girls are bathed separately at first”.

 

“At first?” I said. 

 

“You will find that in a few days; the children will become used to their new

environment, they won’t be bothered about seeing each other naked so we can bathe them together if necessary.

 

We moved on toward another open adjoining doorway that led through to a fully white tiled bathroom area.

This room was a lot smaller, around 20feet long by 25feet wide and with a lower ceiling.

 

There were 6 steel baths smaller than the usual sized baths, each of which had a hand shower attached to the mixer taps at the end of the bath.

 

There were 3 baths on each side of the room, and each had a small wooden stool and a slightly larger table with towels, shampoos, and soaps placed on top.

 

A cupboard at the end of the room was stacked high with the white towels just like the ones I had used earlier after my shower.

 

I also spotted a hospital style polished steel trolley with two trays pushed against the end wall of the room.

 

In the far corner of the room was a cubicle with no door and as we walked

toward it I saw that it contained a single toilet.

 

“Not much to see in here,” said Mrs Thompson. “So, let’s move on shall we”.

 

We carried on through a doorway that had a double sealed door, and frame, which I assumed was some sort of fire door.

 

As we entered the next room everyone stopped and stared at its décor and

layout.

 

“This is changing room two” Announced Mrs Thompson.

 

The room was around the same size as the first room and contained six

examination type tables, very similar to those we had seen in the previous changing room, but in here there were larger tables set out next to them and on tables were stacked disposable Nappies, along with an assortment of powders and creams that you would expect to find in a babies nursery.

 

These tables also had a small drawer underneath and a shelf below which was stacked with white towels.

Against the wall behind each examination table there were two largish

wardrobes, one in blue and one pink, and on each wardrobe was a space to hang a name card, exactly as there had been in the boot room downstairs.

 

As we all looked around in utter amazement I spotted Jane slotting name cards into their allotted brass holders on the wardrobe doors.

 

“How are we doing Jane? everything ready?”

 

“Nearly” She replied.” We still have the bedding to do next door but that’s about the last thing to do up here”.

 

Jenny, one of the girls on the tour stuttered out a question.

 

“Earlier Mrs Thompson, you told us that the youngest child that would be

attending camp was eight years old am I right?

 

“Yes, that’s correct” Replied Mrs Thompson.

 

“Then can you please tell us. Why have you got stacks of nappies in here, surely, they cannot be for the campers?”

 

“Well actually they are” She again replied.

 

“That’s ridiculous” Exclaimed Jenny, you can’t expect an eight-year-old child to wear nappies let alone allow themselves to be put in one”.

 

“On the contrary, the nappies are used on every camper at the school right up to the eldest 15-year-olds”.

 

“But why would you expect a 15-year-old to be prepared to have a nappy placed on him or her and not kick up a fuss? And surely the parents don’t know about this activity at the school they would have a fit”.

 

“You have to remember Jenny; we have been doing this the same way at this school for the past 25 years. We have the expertise and experience to cope with any objection to wearing nappies from a child of any age.

 

A small number of the children arriving tonight are actually returning campers from last year or the year before.

Both they, and their parents wanted then to return for a second time, they too will be in nappies for the duration and will offer no objection”.

 

“To be totally honest Mrs Thompson, I think you’re off your rocker”.

Said Jenny.

 

And a few, but not all of the others mumbled their objections to what they had so far seen and heard.

 

“I for one am not interested in making children, willing or un-willing to wear nappies for the fun of it and I want no part of what you’re doing here.

I think your all totally mad”.

 

“I did ask everyone earlier that you all please leave judgement till after the tour was over, and I have had a chance to answer your questions and to allay any fears you may have.

 

So, I again please ask you all to not make any rash decisions or judgements of what we are trying to achieve here until we are able to have our full and frank post tour discussion”.

 

“Sorry but I don’t wish to carry on with the tour Mrs Thompson” Retorted Jenny.

“I don’t think I could ever be persuaded that this is beneficial to children and cannot see myself changing the nappies of any child let alone one of 15, so I’m afraid I’m out”.

 

Mrs Thompson replied in a calm but slightly raised voice.

 

“I’m sorry to hear you say that, Jenny.

Your CV and particular experience told us that you would be quite suited to the position we have offered you here, but if you’re adamant then there is no point in me arguing the point.

 

Does anyone else feel the same way?”

 

No one else in our group uttered a word.

I was undecided but had made a decision to hold back my concerns for a while.

 

“Jane” Called Mrs Thompson.

 

Jane, who was listening at the other end of the room to what was going on, turned and acknowledged Mrs Thompson’s call.

 

“Could I ask you to take Jenny down to my office and I will join you there as soon as I can, thanks”.

 

Mrs Thompson turned to Jenny.

 

Can I ask Jenny, would you please follow Jane and wait for me in my office, I will join you shortly”.

 

The objector made her way back out through the bathroom and changing room toward the corridor.

 

Mrs Thompson waved back Jane and whispered some instructions in her ear.

I tried to bend my ear to hear what she was saying but just caught the words, try to talk some, and assumed that she was asking to Jane to try to talk her around.

 

Jane continued toward the door and aimed an understanding smile and shrug of the shoulders in my direction.

 

“I think we’ve seen enough in here so if everyone is ready shall the rest of us continue on?”

 

And with that Mrs Thompson made her way towards the door at the end of the room, with the rest of us following on behind quietly whispering amongst

ourselves.

 

“This is playroom two” She announced.

 

“This room is only used after breakfast, and the children amuse themselves in here until all the morning nappies and clothes are changed, we don’t want them running amuck in the nursery waiting for everyone to be changed”.

 

She led on through the room to the next door where we entered Arundel

Dormitory proper.

 

With absolutely no surprise to me it was set out as I had been expecting, bearing in mind the other rooms we had been through, and the previous discussions we’d had, it was no surprise to find myself looking at twelve wooden cot beds complete with bars set out in 3 rows.

 

Larger obviously that a normal babies cot but none the less built to the same specification as any parent would buy for their new baby in Mothercare or

Babies-R-us.

 

The room was again around 30 feet by about 20 feet with a high ceiling.

Decorated with the now customary cartoon characters, but this room was a lot cooler than all the other rooms we had been in.

 

Two large wooden mullion windows were along each of the outside walls, on the left-hand wall and on the end wall.

Similar to the ones in the dining room, but this time long heavy partially drawn lined curtains, blue in colour hung from large ornate brass curtain rails, the floor was covered in a thick, soft light blue carpet.

 

There were four ceiling fans circling slowly high above our heads, producing a pleasant cooling downward breeze.

I noticed the ceiling lighting was a lot less harsh than the previous three rooms.

 

Two thirty something year old ladies that I remembered from the staff room were busily making up the cot’s bedding and fixing in place padded colourful bumpers to the end of each of the cots.

Both of them looked up and acknowledged our entry to the room.

They had obviously though overheard the discussion in the other room, so they were trying to look as disinterested in us as possible.

 

“I don’t think at this time I need to elaborate further on the set out of this room. We call them dormitories for the benefit of the new staff members and children, but as you can clearly see this is actually a nursery in every sense of the word.

 

The children have no idea when they arrive as to where they will be sleeping, and as this is the last room in the series of four that they pass through, it is a

pleasant surprise for some but for others, well, you’ll find that out tonight ladies and gentlemen, assuming of course you decide that this position is for you”.

 

She was right, none of us needed to be told, that this was in fact a nursery.

 

I was having trouble with the fact that parents seemed to think that this was

either what their children wanted or needed, and I was bursting with questions, but I, as did everyone else, seemed to be happy to wait to the end to have our objections answered.

 

We all stood silently in the centre of the nursery, scanning the four walls

making sure we weren’t dreaming and pinching ourselves to make sure as well.

 

It seemed that soon we would all have to make a decision as to whether we could do the job or even if we wanted to.         

 

One person had already made their choice, and I wondered how many of the

remaining group would still be around to welcome the kids when they arrived later this afternoon.

I was having my own serious doubts, but what the hell, let’s let the lady put her side of the story and give us some very good reasons to stick it out.

 

I thought of Jane.

 

I couldn’t see her being someone who would allow children to come to any harm, but then again, I had only just met the girl, I knew nothing about her, or her past, but who was I to pass judgement on the unknown.

 

Mrs Thompson gave us what seemed to be ages but was in fact only seconds to gather our thoughts, she knew from experience that this is the point where

battles had been won and lost in the past, so she added no more pressure to the situation by filling us in on any more than we need to know at this point in the tour.

 

“Are all the other dormitories, sorry! nursery’s as you call them, set out in the same fashion as this one Mrs Thompson? Asked one of our remaining group.

 

“All four are exactly the same layout.

 

All of the furniture, changing tables, cots and baths are obviously larger as the ages go up, but everything right down to the paintings on the walls are the same in every nursery.

Let’s move on to the Pembroke nursery, and I’ll show you what I mean”.

 

And with that we headed for the door on the right at the end of the nursery.

As we re-entered the corridor Mrs Thompson pointed out a door at the end of the corridor.

 

“That is one of the two-night staff rooms we have, this one is for the Arundel and Pembrooke nurseries.

As I mentioned earlier, a minimum of four staff members cover nights at least once every week, there is a similar room at the other end of the building for the House parents from Andover and Windsor nursery’s”.

 

We all peeked in and saw the rooms contents.

There were two beds, two large plush rocking chairs, a sofa, a fridge and a tray with the customary tea and coffee making facilities, for the night staff to make use of, and something that raised my eyebrows, two babies bottle warmers.

 

“The rocking chairs are there to allow children who wake during the night, who may be upset, to be rocked and cuddled, to try to calm them.

We find it helps the settling in process for some, some even play on it later for the extra attention.

 

A word of warning though! Never let a child stay in the night room all night with you, you need to encourage them to sleep in their cots.

Although we do not encourage night staff to sleep, we do know that sometimes after a very hard day’s work, some of you may need to take a doze to re-charge your batteries”.

 

We continued across the corridor and entered an adjacent doorway to the

Pembroke nursery.

 

As we entered, I spotted Tony standing next to one of the blue wardrobes, he was hanging up what looked to be an oversized blue baby sleep suit.

 

As we entered, he turned to greet us.

 

“Hello Tony, are we ready yet?” Asked Mrs Thompson.

 

“Well, we could do with Daniel being up here to lend a hand”.

He looked in my direction and smiled.

“But I’m sure we will get along until you have finished the tour”.   

 

I smiled back an unsure smile, and he cottoned on to the fact that all was not well with the group.

 

“I see from your numbers that you’re one short, anything I can assist with Mrs Thompson?”

 

“Well, you might like to tell everyone about your first day here.

How long ago was it now, 8 years, am I correct?”

 

“Yes 8 years ago today funnily enough.

 

To be totally frank with all of you, on my first day I had some serious doubts about what I had been shown, in much the same way I’m sure most of you have now.

The fact that we were going to be expected to treat grown children as

Babies, really concerned me, but I can honestly say to you all, hand on hart, that after my first week here I could see what we were trying to achieve, and the fact that the children actually began to respond in a really positive and worthwhile way, my fears were totally put to rest.

 

I was on the grand tour the same as you are now, and I wasn’t given the full story in the same way you haven’t been, and like you do now, I felt that I had been conned into something, lied to and deceived, but also like you I was luckily introduced to someone who had been here for some time, someone who was prepared to tell you how it was, in exactly the same way as I am doing now and that guy was John Levenger.

 

8 years on and John is still here, in fact this year he’s Housemaster of Windsor nursery, and I can assure you right here and right now you don’t get to be

running Windsor without patience, understanding, and experience.

 

Windsor is the tuff one, Windsor is the hardest because it’s got the older kids, it’s the hardest because it’s got the kids with the biggest problems, but we all

aspire to be another John, a guy who is always there for the kids a guy who cares and is prepared to be there for anyone.

 

Just to emphasize the respect he’s got, I must tell you this little story which is dear to me.

 

I stayed with John for a couple of days a few Christmases ago.

I arrived at his home, which isn’t that far from here, on Christmas eve.

When I first walked into his living room, I couldn’t believe the amount of Christmas cards he had on show.

 

I said to him that he must have a huge family to get all those cards, his reply was that he didn’t have any living relatives, I asked why all the cards then, and do you know what, every one of them was from someone who had been at happy summers over the last 15 odd years and there must have been well over 300 of them.

 

Some of those kids are now well over 30 years old and still they send their cards as a mark of respect for the man.

 

I’m not going to stand here and tell you it’s going to be an easy 6 weeks, and I’m not going to stand here and beg you to stay.

 

If you didn’t care about kids then you wouldn’t be standing here now, and you would be on your way home like Jenny, but what I am going to say to you all is this.

 

Have the courage to give it a try, ask your questions, express your concerns, but at the end of the day look at what we endeavour to achieve here for the children, some of whom appear at first glance to be a lost cause, their file will tell you that.

 

Other people have said they can’t be helped, no matter what!

But I’ll tell you what, in 6 weeks’ time when it’s time for the kids to go home, and when the youngest right up to the oldest comes running up to you, gives you a hug and says thanks, then you know what you have helped achieve here has been worthwhile after all”

 

We stood, all of us in this room and not a word was uttered after Tony had

finished, there was silence.

 

Such a speech, such passion.

 

Tony came across to me, and I’m sure everyone else standing listening, as the guy who would do anything to help kids, someone who enjoys the place,

someone who gives as much if not more than he gets back.

 

Someone that regardless of his own concerns would do everything in his power to protect the kids and help them in any way he could.

 

After allowing everyone a few moments of reflection, Mrs Thompson sprang back into action.

 

“Thank you for that Tony, I’m sure that many of the returning staff working here today, would have similar stories to yours, and I know everyone has your passion, because if they didn’t then they wouldn’t come back every year.

 

I’m afraid on that note that I’m going to have to cut our tour short.

But I think you have seen enough and have maybe all the information you need to make an educated decision on your own.

 

If you follow me back downstairs, I will leave you to talk amongst yourselves in the main hall while I see to Jenny.

 

I will give each of you a copy of the brochure we send to the parents along with a covering letter and the consent forms that they had to sign.

 

If any of you would like to see one, we have a comprehensive file on every child who will be attending this summer, and I would be happy to show you what information we have, and what results parents would be happy to see us achieve.

 

I have already said to you all, that every one of you has been selected from

thousands of potential applicants for these positions, because not only do you have a special ability or expertise when it comes to the care, welfare and

education of children, but because your past experience while working with children in other roles, tells us that you are the right people for the needs of the children we will have here”.

 

With that Mrs Thompson turned and made her way back out to the corridor, everyone else turned and followed her out.

I looked at Tony and gave him an approving nod of the head and a tight

approving smile.

He smiled back and I turned and hurried to catch up with the others.

 

We made our way back down the main staircase and into the reception hall.

 

“Please take a seat everyone while I get you all a brochure”.

 

She walked toward the reception desk, Matron had either anticipated her need for brochures or having been through the same situation for many years, was well rehearsed in knowing that the brochures would be needed.

Mrs Thompson handed everyone a copy.

 

“Would anybody like a drink while I’m away?” She asked.

 

A few hands went up as did mine.

 

“Would you take the order please Matron and pass it on to Mrs Flagstaff”.

 

” With pleasure” she replied, “who’s having what?” came the question.

Mrs Thompson hurried off in the direction of her office.

 

The brochure we had been handed, from the front looked like any sort of

brochure or prospectus sent out by any of the thousands of private schools across the UK.

 

There was a picture of the front of the school building, which surrounded by the trees looked very upmarket.

 

Inside on the first page there was a forward by the principal (Mrs Thompson), which was exactly what you would expect to see in this type of selling tool, but once you progressed beyond the first page, it was nothing like you would have

receive from a Rugby or Eaton or Charterhouse.

 

We aim to provide a structured safe learning and educational environment for all children between eight and a half right up to fifteen.

 

Our methods may not be conventional.

 

You can say that again I thought.

 

But we are judged by results, and our record speaks for itself.

If your child is troubled or if he or she is misunderstood by conventional

establishments then we may be able to help you help your child to develop and be integrated back into an educational mainstream that they have previously been excluded from.

 

We can virtually guarantee that within 6 weeks every child attending Happy Summers Holiday Camp will return home a totally different member of society.

 

A child that you will be proud to call son or daughter.

A child that will be a credit to you and the rest of your family.

A child that will have self-confidence and the courage he or she currently lacks.

 

If you feel that this may be the solution to your problems that you have been searching for then please read on.

 

I won’t go and describe the full contents of the brochure, go and get your own.

 

But suffice it to say that if I as a parent had requested and received this through the post, then if I had a child as described in Mrs Thompson’s forward then my kids would have been on the first bus here no matter the cost.

 

The remainder of the brochure went into fine detail about the methods used at the school.

It fully described the use of nappies, cots and baby treatment.

It had full colour pictures of every facility within the school, including

photographs of the nursery’s changing rooms, as well as pictures of the outdoor

facilities.

 

It fully set out the schools’ educational aims which was based on the individual need of each and every child.

 

It emphasised the care and respect each individual child would receive, and it concluded with a promise to every parent.

 

If we fail to achieve in 6 weeks what we set out to achieve for your child, then we will give you a full no argument refund of your fee.

 

Now there’s confidence in your programme I thought.

 

I raised an eyebrow at the camp fees listed on an insert placed inside the

brochure.

It also stated that help was available in the form of council, county and state funding grants for all campers, dependent upon their needs and circumstances.

 

It explained that the structured care and education programme, was approved by various councils, support groups and the Government.

 

And because after the programme was completed, no further monies would be required to be used in the care of any individual child.

 

Council’s and other agencies were therefore prepared to fully fund the course on a case-by-case basis.

 

A full programme of government inspections was in place as a safeguard to the children during their time at the school.

 

The brochure even had pictures of some of the past pupils that had attended the school.

Dressed in what I would later learn to be the school uniform.

No nappies on show but obvious shots of baby style clothes on boys and girls far too old to be associated with such attire at that age.

 

I looked at the faces in the pictures, and they looked as happy as any of the faces of the kids I had worked with in the past.

 

The only difference was that I knew what they were wearing under those clothes, and to them it didn’t seem to make a difference.

To me they were just kids having fun and enjoying life.

 

Lastly in the back of the book there were letters of recommendation from

grateful parents of former pupils.

 

Not just from the parents though, but from the pupils themselves.

Each letter had a similar ending, but this one caught my eye.

 

Should any of you feel the need, please ask, and Mrs Thompson will provide you with our telephone number so you can speak directly to us or if you so wish you can speak directly to our child.

 

He’s the one that has gone through the experience first-hand, and he is the one who has come through it and emerged a person reborn.

 

As a family we have finally bonded and wish for all of you to know that we once prayed for help, but none came.

 

We will forever be grateful to everyone at Happy Summers and would like to share with you your hopes and wishes for your child.

 

 

Well to be honest that did it for me,

I know that these things can be flowered up to be all sugar and spice in these brochures, but the whole thing came over to me as a solution to a problem no matter how weird it looked to the outside world.

A solution to problems that couldn’t be resolved in normal society.

surroundings.

 

From past experience I had seen kids passing through care homes, foster homes and even detention centres.

Most of the kids I had dealt with were able to be helped, but those few that weren’t ended up on the outskirts of normal society.

 

Regularly in trouble with their schools, the police, and parents that were, for whatever reason unable, to cope.

 

As a carer I had had the pleasure of leading countless young people to a more rewarding path. The kids I worked with had difficulty with a variety of issues. Many of them display negative attitudes, are apathetic, impulsive,

ungovernable, irresponsible, had poor self-esteem, and lacked accountability.

 

In most cases I found their interpersonal relationships have been based, not on mutual trust and respect, but on manipulation and exploitation.

 

I enjoy being a part of their experience watching as they learn to talk things out, rather than act them out.

 

The metamorphosis as they learn about responsibility, integrity, self-respect, self-discovery, and working as a team is a beautiful thing to see.

 

Helping those kids find their true path and bringing forward the wonderful traits all of them possess is very rewarding.

 

Most children that were beyond that level of help, would maybe benefit from

being here, and if it worked,(and I still wanted to see the results for myself), then I wouldn’t be the one to stand in anyone’s way and would rather be there to help, than see the kid end up dead or in prison for killing someone.

 

My drink arrived on a tray along with everyone else’s at the same time, biscuits were also on the saucer, so I grabbed one and took a bite.

 

I looked around and observed all the faces around me; one of the women had glazed eyes and even one of the guys had the same.

 

I asked Matron if I could see a parents’ consent form and everyone else put their hand up for one as well.

 

Mrs Thompson appeared as if by magic back in the hall, she had with her Jenny, and just behind them I spotted Jane.

 

“I have asked Jenny to reconsider her position, and after some discussion she has agreed that she would like to give it a go for the sake of the children.

 

I hope that after careful consideration you have also come to the same

conclusion”

 

I stood up.

 

“If I may Mrs Thompson, I hope that I can speak for everyone here”.

I looked around the hall, and no one raised an objection to my statement, in fact some appeared relieved that I had got up and started the ball rolling.

 

“I myself have only two concerns here, firstly as long as you can guarantee that absolutely no physical harm will come to these children in anyway then I am happy”.

 

There was a uniform, here here from everyone.

 

“Can you also guarantee that these kids are not brainwashed in any way with drugs or chemicals that will affect their current physical or mental well-being?”

 

Again, there was a general agreement to this from everyone.

 

“I can assure everyone sitting here right now that our concern is for the care,

well-being, educational enhancement and personal development of every child that has ever or will ever walk through our doors.

 

They will never be beaten, or have drugs administered to alter their current or long-term physical or mental condition.

 

Yes, we use drugs, but for one purpose, and one purpose only.

 

95% of the children we will receive today will initially object to the form of treatment we will force on them, they will not see it as something that will help them, they will see it as something to fight.

 

We have one drug that we employ for these children, and it is used sparingly and only when absolutely necessary.

 

You will tonight see it in use, and maybe even for the first few days on the tougher cases we will have arrive today, but please be assured we have 25 years hard learnt experience in dealing with these children and know what we are doing and what to expect.

 

We also use a sleeping draft drug called Lunesta.

 A dose is added to all of the milk bottles that are given to the children for the first few nights to help them drift off, we have found that normally by the 5^th or 6^th night they go to sleep naturally, so the draft isn’t required after then.

 

You will also see restraint used in the school over the next few weeks, some of it may look degrading and some un-necessary but also be assured we are

protecting all children as much as we are protecting the one.

 

No one is ever punished with any physical harm, and all punishments are

designed to remove the need to be violent from the child.

 

As I said earlier every member of staff working here is here for a reason, each of you is here because you have been recruited for your specific expertise or your past childcare experience, and as a team we can make a difference to the

children’s lives, both for them, their parents and for society as a whole.

 

I really hope this answers most if not all of your concerns and please just

remember we are here to help the child not punish.”

 

Everyone stood virtually in unison, and as if in unison everyone said OK, I’m in, I’ll give it a go, then everyone shook everyone else’s hand and congratulated each other.

 

Mission accomplished was the look on Mrs Thompson’s face, and everyone had broad smiles, I think everyone deep down still had concerns, but everybody here was here for one reason and that was because of their wish to help a child in need.

 

“If you’re all ready I would like to introduce you all to your new colleagues at the places in which you will be working.

We only have about two hours before the children arrive, so we need to press on”.

 

“All of you newbie’s, as Jane likes to call you, will be paired with and working closely with a senior member of staff in the nursery’s you have been assigned, so if you will follow me I will lead the way”.

 

There was a visible sense of relief among everybody.

Everyone started to chat to each other as we made our way up the stairs, and everyone was smiling now, something that was missing while we were on our tour.

 

And there was also a visible desire, of wanting to get on with it, now that

everyone had decided to stay.

 

 

 

Up next, we followDaniels’ss journey of discovery in The Nursery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 3

 

THE NURSERY

 

Mrs Thompson marched on now, like a woman on a mission, (which I knew she was on anyway) but now she had that extra little spring in her step.

We climbed the stairs back up to the first-floor landing, and again we headed for Arundel nursery.

 

“Lawrence, Pat, you’ll be based here with Jane and Nick”.

 

Jane took the pair through to meet Nick, and the rest of us went across the hall to Pembroke.

 

“I think you know where you’re going to be, don’t you Daniel”.

 

I replied that I did.

 

“Jenny, you’re with Daniel in Pembroke. Can I leave you to find Tony and Ann yourselves?”

 

“I think we can find our way thanks” I replied.

 

Mrs Thompson and the rest of the group headed off down the corridor towards the last two nurseries at the other end of the building.

 

Jenny and I walked through the door of the playroom, through the first

changing room, then through to the bathroom where we came across Tony

folding white bath towels.

 

“Welcome to Pembroke you two” said Tony with a broad smile.

He had a look of relief on his face.

 

“I wasn’t sure at our last passing that I would have both of you on board, but I am so please that you have given it a go for the sake of the kids”.

 

Jenny gave Tony a wry smile. “Nothing’s set in stone yet Tony”.

 

“I’m sure you’ll be fine once you get stuck in Jenny”.

 

He gave me a little grin.

 

“Ann has disappeared downstairs to collect the cot bedding, she’ll be back very soon.

Maybe you two would like to give me a hand stocking the kid’s wardrobes”.

 

“Lead on,” said Jenny.

 

We followed Tony through to the second changing room and headed for the far side of the room.

We stopped in front of a pair of wardrobes.

The two wardrobes one pink and one blue had their name label affixed.

 

One said Samantha and the other Simon.

On the changing table in front of the wardrobes were two piles of neatly folded clothes all sealed in cellophane bags.

One pile mainly Baby blue and the other pile predominantly Baby pink.

 

“Each and every child that comes tonight will have his or her own complete wardrobe of clothes, in his or her correct size,” said Tony.

 

“No clothing that they bring with them will be seen again after tonight until they leave for home”.

 

Tony picked up one of the Items off of the pink pile and ripped open the bag.

He held up a large size body suit that had poppers in the crotch and on the

shoulder and the name Samantha embroidered in white on the front in letters about an inch high.

 

“As you will see, every item here has the child’s name embroidered on the front, and the label inside is coloured blue.

 

You may recognise that it’s the same colour blue as your name badge, and that colour is always associated with this nursery.

 

All four nurseries have a different colour so that the clothes don’t become mixed up in the laundry.

 

If you two would like to put away the clothes in their relevant wardrobes, I’ll go and see if Ann needs a hand”. 

“No problem” Jenny and I replied in unison.

And with that Tony headed back the way we had just come in.

 

I picked up another item off the top of the pink pile ripped open the bag and held it up for both Jenny and I to inspect.

It was a pink cotton girls dress and as Tony had said was embroidered with the name Samantha.

Had it not been the size it was, you wouldn’t say it was any different than you would expect to see a toddler wearing.

 

Jenny went for her pile and ripped open a bag and held up another perfect copy of a baby’s body suit this time in blue.

And again, it had poppers at the crotch and shoulder, and again it had an

embroidered name, but this time it was Simon.

 

We went through each item in turn, holding them up for each other to inspect as we put them either in the wardrobe or the small drawer underneath.

There were old-fashioned sleepers with padded grippy feet, which buttoned up between the legs and back.

Not like the modern type with the poppers.

2 pairs of rompers both for boys and girls, 2 pairs of boy’s Shortall’s, with crotch buttons.

One pink and one blue girls’ denim dress.

And each sex had two matching sets of corded dungarees, again in pink and blue.

 

There were even frilly plastic lined pants for both the girls and the boys.

Lots of pairs of both short and knee length socks, Vests, T-shirts, and just about everything you would expect to see in a babies Layette, all made from true baby materials and to the exact same design.

 

Each child also had a very babyish pair of T-Bar sandals, the girls in white, and the boys in black.

 

Each also had a pair of Nike trainers in white, very much like the ones I had on my feet but with one major difference, theirs didn’t have laces but had a Velcro fastening just like you see on toddlers’ shoes.

 

There were even swim nappy sets, which we assumed were for use in the lake.

The girls had a two-piece and the boys just the bottoms.

 

The only sets of clothing that were exactly the same for both the boys’ and girls’ wardrobe were short white baby dresses, with lots of lace trim around the hem and arms.

I remember my sister’s kid had one just like it.

 

When we had finished the first two wardrobes we moved onto the next table, and so on until all the clothes had been put away.

It turned out that every child had exactly the same items in their wardrobe as the next.

The only difference being the embroidered names and sizes.

 

Just as we finished, Tony walked in with Ann in tow, pushing a laundry basket.

 

“That was quick, you two are super-fast, you must be keen.

Want to help us with the cots?”

 

“Were not just keen, were professionals,” said Jenny.

We all had a laugh and followed Tony and Ann toward the nursery.

 

Ann pushed the basket into the centre of the room, opened the lid and handed me three large paper bags and took another three herself.

She then split away with me on one set of six cots and Jenny went with Tony to the other six.

 

“So how long have you been coming to Happy Summers Ann?”

 

“This will be my third summer here”.

 

“Is it as satisfying as everyone makes out?”

 

“It really depends on what you put into it” She replied.

 

“Everyone who takes the tour and sees all this for the first time is petrified.

They worry about the welfare of the kids, and they worry about how they would be perceived by everyone on the outside if they told them about their work.

 

But after a few days everything settles down and then you start to find that you’re getting through to the kids”.

 

We moved quickly and completed making up our six cots well before Tony and Jenny.

 

When we had finished, each cot was dressed exactly the same, with a rubber

fully covered mattress, a white stretch terry cotton bottom sheet over that, a white cotton top sheet, a lightweight woollen blanket in the nursery’s blue

colour, along with a pillow and matching blue pillowcase.

 

“Were going to finish up in the changing room, when you slow coaches have finished you might like to join us there” Announced Ann.

 

Both Tony and Jenny poked their tongues out like four-year-olds and smiled at each other.

 

“C’mon” said Ann “If we get finished early, we can sneak a coffee before the children arrive”.

 

We moved back through to the changing room.

 

“The terry cloth nappies are in that cupboard over there” She pointed.

“You grab a stack of them, and I’ll grab the disposables”.

 

I thought the white towels in the Arundel changing room were just white towels. I didn’t think for a minute that they were Terry nappies.

 

“I thought Terry nappies were old hat now” I said to Ann as I returned with a tall stack taken from the cupboard”.

 

“We use them for nighttime’s only normally,” said Ann.

 

They are far better for night wetting and messing because they soak up so much more liquid.

We try to encourage the children to try and have a bowel movement just before they are due a change, but at first they have a no, never not me attitude but that soon passes after a couple of nights of maybe lying in a dirty, wet and stinky nappy.

 

It helps with the programme and eventually the children get used to having a poo before a change.

It’s not very nice to have a wet and sticky cloth next to their skin at night”.

 

“What about rashes though?” I asked.

 

“We use a really good nappy cream, it’s called Balmex.

We import it in from America in bulk quantities because there’s nothing

available in the UK that’s as good.

 

We will get nappy rashes, and you will need to be prepared for that, but they are very few and far between.

 

We use the disposable nappies for daytime use, because they can be changed and a lot easier and more regularly if necessary and they don’t need to hold as much between each change.

 

We also use them because they allow the children more freedom of movement for the activities they do after school hours.

 

We do use Terry nappies during the day as a punishment for bad behaviour though, it helps with the development programme.

 

When the child finds that he or she has to wear an uncomfortable cloth nappy when everyone else has the freedom of his or her disposables, attitudes tend to change quite quickly.

 

If a child is persistently rude, swears or is just generally unruly then they are punished with not just the usual single nappy but trebled up ones.

 

When a child is on punishment, he or she is wearing the short white dress you were putting away earlier, so everyone can see the bulkiness of the nappies, and it adds some embarrassment to the punishment.

The bulk of the Terry with the white frilly plastic pants shows up very well and everyone can see when that child is undergoing punishment”.

 

“Tell you one thing I’m not really looking forward to though”.

 

“What’s that then Daniel?”

 

“Poopy nappies”

 

“You get used to it” Anne laughed.

 

“It’s just the smell I can’t stand, my sister has a kid and It’s always stinking her house out, I had to leave one time because it was making me really sick”.

 

“Well, you’re lucky then because we have that covered here as well”.

 

“How do you mean?”

 

“Well, every meal the children eat from tomorrow onwards will have an odour suppressant mixed in with it called Nullo.

 

It interacts with the gut and removes the smell when the kids have a bowel movement.

 

It’s used extensively in old people’s homes all the time.

To be honest if we didn’t use it, the place would smell like an open sewer all the time.

Just think forty odd kids all wandering around with full nappies, can you

imagine what the stink would be like”.

 

“Here’s another thing I have been wondering about then.

How do you get a kid who’s rebelling, to fill a nappy willingly?

I can understand a child not being able to stop peeing because if your bladder is so full to bursting nobody can hold it for too long, but I have known kids to not poop for a week at a time”.

 

“Suppositories” came the reply from behind me.

 

I turned in response to the words to be greeted by an older man in his early

fifties.

 

“We use suppositories. All the children are given the opportunity to empty their bowels themselves, most don’t, is part of their rebellious nature, so we give them three days to let them go themselves and if not then we administer the

Rectal suppositories.

 

The children soon learn that whatever they do prevent a movement we will counteract.

 

Hi Daniel, I’m John Leavenger, senior housemaster here”.

I held out my and we shook. “Nice to meet you John”.

 

“And if the suppositories fail to have the desired effect we then move to more drastic measures” He added.

 

“What measures are they then, laxatives” I asked.

 

“Yes and no! Every meal the children eat once they walk through the door

contains 3 things, we add a mild laxative as well as a diuretic and a drug that eliminates the smell of a stool”.

 

“The Nullo you mean”.

 

“Correct, but if all else fails we administer a retained enema; It’s messy but has the desired effect in the end, that’s the reason each nursery has a toilet installed, it’s a lot better to allow the child to empty an enema in to a toilet pan than fill a nappy.

Can be a little messy” He smiled.

 

“I would like to borrow Daniel for a while if you don’t mind Ann, Mrs

Thompson has asked me to show him our other nurseries.

 

“Sure, I can finish off here, maybe catch you for that coffee upstairs Daniel”.

 

“Sure, assuming John hasn’t got too much planned for me”.

 

He laughed, “don’t think you will be held up too long son,

We won’t be that long”.

 

We walked out of the changing room through the bathroom into the first

changing and continued through the playroom and then out into the corridor.

 

“Can I ask John? Why is there only one door in, and one door out of the nursery complex?”

“Think of it like a conveyor belt process, the children go in through the playroom and end up in the nursery, if there are only two doors for each room, an in and an out, then there is nowhere to run too”. He looked at me and smiled.

 

“Think of it this way then, tonight when we bring the children up here for the very first time we can only bathe dress and put to bed a maximum of 3 at a time on the first night because we will only have 6 staff available for each nursery.

If the other kids get a hint or saw what happening to the others that went before them then we would have a major control issue.

 

All the interconnecting doors are always closed and only opened to move through to the next room then closed again.

 

No noise or commotion is ever heard by the children waiting their turn because the doors have double seals, so none of them get a hint of what’s in store until it’s their turn. 

 

After the first night we may be possible do 6 children at a time because they will know what is coming and although there may be some tantrums it will be easier to control.

 

Imagine this, you’re a kid, you have sneaked out of where you have been told to wait, you have a peek through a door that you’re not supposed to peek through, and you see other kids being nappied, what would your reaction be.

 

“Pure panic I suppose, what’s going on, God am I next? That would be my thought I suppose”.

 

“Correct, so we have the conveyor process and locked doors to conceal what’s coming next”.

 

As I said after the first night is slightly easier to control, and as the days.

progress you’ll find that you can actually do the boys and Girls together, in the same room if you want, it actually helps with any inhibitions and shyness!

problems they may have as well”.

 

We talked as we walked and John took me into Andover Nursery introduced me the guy’s and girls in there Peter, Caroline, Steve & Erica and after a brief chat we moved on.

 

As I had seen earlier, the décor and layout was exactly the same in Andover as it had been in Arundel and my own nursery, except of course the furniture was slightly larger to accommodate the older children and there were only 10 of

everything.

 

We continued through and crossed the corridor into Windsor nursery.

Again, everything was exactly the same and the cots by now were seven feet long, and only eight of them.

 

He again introduced me to the nursery staff, Nick, Simon & Louise.

 

I did notice one major difference when I walked into the room, because there were restraints laid out in all of the cots.

A padded chest strap, and also similar wrist and ankle straps.

All of the straps appeared to be secured to bands that ran underneath the base of the cots.

 

“John, it seems as we go up in age we go down in numbers, why is that?

And I’ve also noticed that this is the only nursery to have restraints?” I asked.

 

“We will need to restrain them in here for the first few nights to avoid a riot.

 

Some may require it for longer than that, because every child has a different

reaction to what we subject them too, as they will all have, in all of the nurseries, but they do calm down eventually, once they have seen that we are here for them, to help them and not here to hurt them.

 

All of the nurseries have some form of restraints, there just not on show.

 

The older children we care for here in Windsor nursery are the hardest to

control at first, they will fight back, they will bite and scratch and they will

attempt to rip their clothes and nappies off, and they will also attempt to escape at every opportunity, this is one of the reasons why we only have the eight

children in here, it’s a more controllable number with older kids.

The ten in Andover is for the same reason.

 

Also, there are fewer older children on the programme because most kids, once they reach about fourteen, are deemed to be beyond our reach.

 

A few though, such as the ones coming into Windsor today, it’s felt that they are still reachable and will benefit from being here.

 

With some it takes longer, they have many more problems and that’s why this is the toughest nursery to work in, but I personally find it the most rewarding.

 

Don’t worry though you’ll get some firsthand experience of working in here soon.

 

Every staff member with the exception of the Housemasters, after their first week here get to work in a different nursery for one day a week, to gain

experience and look at the different challenges each age group brings.

 

I myself have never liked working with the very young ones, mainly because they tend to be a bit too weepy for me, they tend to cry a lot to start with and it hurts me to hear it.

 

You may one day decide that you love to work with a particular age group

because you find it gives you the satisfaction you’re looking for.

But unless you try them all you will never know.

 

Anyway, young fella, the tours over, if you make your way back to Pembroke, you may find that you have missed out on anymore setting up, and get that

coffee Ann promised you”.

 

I thanked John for showing me around and made my way back along the

corridor to my nursery.

 

I walked in on Tony and Ann in the changing room just as they were putting the last few items into the draws in the small tables.

 

The plastic pants they were putting away looked huge in comparison to the ones I had seen my sister use on her daughter, but I suppose the Terry nappies would need to be well covered to avoid leaks.

 

The tops of all the little tables were now fully kitted out with the nappy pins, Johnson’s baby powder and the Balmex cream, everything that we would be

using this coming evening.

 

 “Let’s take one more walk through and make sure we haven’t missed anything shall we,” said Tony.

 

We started in the playroom, Just as Jenny walked in.

 

“Your back just in time,” said Tony.

 

Jenny had just had a tour of the nurseries as I had.

 

Everything seemed to be in place in the playroom.

As we walked through the door to the first changing room, Ann closed and locked it behind her.

 

The first changing room was ready. No baby items could be visibly seen.

 

“Oops forgot one very important thing,” said Tony.

 

He opened the little stainless steel medical cabinet on the back wall of the room and removed the steel tray inside.

 

The tray was set out with 11 syringes, which he placed on the medical trolley in the middle of the room.

 

“We will need those tonight” he said.

 

“Is that the drug Mrs Thompson was referring to downstairs?” Asked Jenny.

 

“Yes, it’s a muscle relaxant, almost all of the children arriving here tonight will have an injection to relax their muscles.

It will stop them putting up too much resistance when we progress them through the rooms.

 

By the time we have finished giving them their baths they will be totally relaxed and not be able to move unaided.

They will need to be carried from the bath through to the dressing room and then onto the nursery.

 

The reason we do this because it stops the children resisting the introduction of the nappies and sleepers.

 

We don’t want a fight to get them dressed and we don’t want them hurting themselves or us, which is what would no doubt happen if we didn’t inject them.

 

You may find that some of the kids may need this treatment for more than one night in here, but we won’t know this straight away.

 

The children are easier to control during the day because you can be constantly supervising them.

 

But at night when they are in their cots there is nothing to stop them taking off the sleepers and nappies because we can’t in reality supervise 24/7, but if they are unable to move then they are unable to undress.

 

We don’t like to use the drug every night, so if after the third night we still have resistance then we resort to cot restraints like those you would have seen in Windsor nursery.

 

 

“But what happens if the drug is used too often?” I asked.

 

“Well, there have been cases where too much has been administered, and the child has not regained full use of their motor functions for a few days.

 

This has been extremely rare and the last case I believe was 18 years ago before the school had developed the programme and safety measures we use today.

 

As was said earlier every precaution is taken to protect the children from

coming to any harm in any way”

 

Jenny asked the next probing question.

 

“What if the kid has a medical condition that we don’t know about and has a

serious reaction to the drug”

 

“We actually have that covered too.

Every boy and girl irrespective of age must undergo a thorough medical before even being short-listed for the school.

 

As far as they are concerned, they are visiting their doctor for a routine

check-up, and as the parents know what they are there for, then there is no

suspicion on the children’s part, it’s just routine.

 

The doctor is given a long list of checks to do on every child before they are even considered as a camper.

They are fully aware of the reasons for the checks, and they are made aware of any drug’s that we may administer to a child.

 

As Mrs Thompson said earlier, we only use the one main potentially harmful drug on the children, which is the muscle relaxant.

 

There are other things we use such as aspirin, the bowel odour suppressant the suppositories, laxatives etc, but everything is passed by their doctor before we even get the kids here.

 

We even include a list of the nappy cream, the baby powder and all the bath

ingredients we use, to make sure that the children don’t have a reaction to

anything”

 

We left the room and closed the door behind us.

 

In the bathroom just as in the previous room, everything was ready, so we

continued through and closed the door.

 

“Two things we haven’t covered in here,” said Tony.

 

“Firstly, for the first few days the children are here we double up, and what I mean by that is, that two of us will prepare each child for bed.

 

We do this for two reasons.

One is to show you the ropes, and two because the children will initially resist, it is safer to have two people in control rather than just one.

 

And the second thing is nappy folding”. He smiled.

 

“We use two different folds on the children. The boy and girl fold, the reasons for this are obvious”.

 

I, being a bit naive had to ask.

 

“Sorry Tony I’m a bit thick, why a different fold for each sex?”

 

“Well, boys wee at the front, and girls more at the bottom of a nappy.

I thought everyone knew that”.

 

He smiled, and I really just had a, I wish I hadn’t asked look.

 

“Look let me show you”.

 

And with that, he picked up two clean nappies from a pile and expertly folded them both so quickly that terry material was moving at lightning speed.

 

“There like that” he said.

 

I looked at Jenny, and she looked at me, and each of us with a bemused look on our faces.

 

“Too fast for you,” Laughed Tony.

“I’ll do it again and this time a bit slower for you”.

 

He expertly demonstrated the two folds again, and when he had finished, he showed us the difference.

 

The boy’s fold had a large bulky bunch of material at the front of the nappy, and the girl fold had it at the bottom.

I looked at the finished folds, then it dawned on me as to why!

 

Both Jenny and I practiced the folds with Ann and Tony instructing.

My first attempt looked like a lump of I don’t know what, Jenny’s wasn’t much better.

 

We continued and finally managed to get somewhere close to Tony’s effort.

 

“Don’t worry, it won’t take you long to be a dab hand at it,” said Tony.

 

“Anyway, folding it is one thing, putting it on is something else entirely”.

 

We folded and returned the nappies back to the pile, and moved on past the

second playroom and on to the nursery, again closing the door behind us.

 

The nursery looked really great, all the cots were made up with bedding.

Each cot had two cuddly toys in each corner at the bottom.

One teddy bear and one rabbit.

I notice something else I hadn’t seen earlier, each cot had a clipboard on the end and a sheet of paper clipped to it.

 

“What are the clipboards Tony?” I asked.

 

“Let me show you”.

 

He took one off a cot and held it out for Jenny and me to see.

 

“This is a very important document, and it needs to be kept up to date without fail.

The top of the form had the child’s name and a series of headed columns with tick boxes beneath.

“These columns require ticking every time a child is changed” Explained Tony.

 

“Things such as nappy type, soiled, wet, rash present, treatment, temperature and cuddle, are standard but temperament medication and attitude are very

important.

We use this and other reports to check on a child’s progress throughout their time here.

 

Two columns, that caught my attention were dummy and bottle.

 

“What’s with the dummy and bottle columns?” I asked.

 

“You can offer the children a dummy or a bedtime bottle, if they take one then tick the box accordingly”.

 

“Where are they kept?” Asked Jenny.

 

“Over here” Replied Ann, and she went to a plastic container near the sink and picked out two dummies and held them up for inspection.

 

There were much bigger than a standard babies dummy.

There were blue ones for the boys and the all too familiar pink ones for girls.

 

“And the milk is in here”.

She opened up a small fridge next to the sink, inside were 12 large rubber teated

bottles, again all a lot larger than that I had seen my sister using to feed my niece.

 

“What’s in them”? I asked.

 

“Standard milk, nothing else” Replied Ann.

 

“You might find a couple will take a bottle tonight and some may take a dummy, don’t insist they do though, it has to be their choice, you just offer the choice If they want it warm then just heat it in the warmer”

 

And she pointed to 6 bottle warmers on the shelf above the fridge.

 

“Well, I think we’re ready here shall, we go for that coffee,” said Tony.

 

“If you have any more questions, Ann and I can answer them while we put our feet up for a bit.

I suggest you take it easy for a while, were going to be busy little bees in about an hour’s time”.

 

We left the nursery, closed the door and headed for the staff room upstairs.

 

 

In the next chapter we will meet 12-year-old Simon, in Simon’s Story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 4

 

SIMON’S STORY

 

My name is Simon Watson. I am 12 years old, and this is my story about my stay at Happy Summers.

 

“Cumon Simon, were all waiting for you” Came a voice from downstairs.

“You’ll have to bloody wait then won’t you woman.” I shouted back.

“Don’t speak to your mother like that, Simon”.

Came another holler from downstairs, this time from Dad who sounded his usual grumpy self.

“I keep on telling you, and I won’t tell you again sunshine ”.

 

Nag nag nag it’s all they bloody do all day, I said to myself.

 

“If we don’t leave soon, you’ll miss the train.” Mum called back”.

 

The bloody Tain’ll have to bloody wait then won’t it, I thought to myself,
minding not to speak my thoughts, just in case dad heard me and went Garrity.

 

I grabbed my new mobile phone and shoved it into my back pocket.

My suitcase was still open on the bed packed with just about everything I thought I’d need for the camp. I’d hidden my knife in a sock tucked inside one shoe, and in my other shoe my backy papers, and more than enough weed for the 6-week camp.

I wasn’t going anywhere and not having a spliff for 6 weeks. Not for nobody.

 

I dug out my plastic bag from its hiding place behind the wardrobe.

Shall I, or shan’t I?

 

I couldn’t make up my mind, I couldn’t be without my weed, but could I be without the contents of the double wrapped bag for as long.

Sod it I thought. I’ll take them anyway and if I get the chance I’ll use them, if I don’t then they’ll save for when I get back.

 

I lifted up the jeans mum had packed and shoved the bag in underneath, then pressed the clothing back down on top.

There, even if she looks in the case she won’t know they are there.

I closed the case and locked it, making sure I span the combination lock to stop mum opening it.

 

I picked up the case and headed out the door, banging it on my turntable decks.

“Shit fucking idiot”, I dropped the case and checked for any damage.

 

“Fucking wonderful” I screamed.

I’d cracked the plastic cabinet.

I’d had to sell a shit load of skunk to get that system, now I’ve fucked it up.

 

Mum called again from downstairs.

“Will you fucking wait a minute”.

 

Shit! Realising this time that wasn’t said in my head.

 

Dad could move quickly for an old fart.

He was up the stairs in a flash and in my face.

“One more word from you and I’ll beat the shit out of you, you hear me”.

 

I was shit scared of dad, more than I was of mum.

She’d never hit me, but she’d come close.

 

Dad had done though; in fact, he’d done it more than once.

He wasn’t a drunk but liked to sit in front of the telly after dinner and down 6 lagers before bed.

 

Mum, well she’s me mum ain’t she?

 

“Get down those fucking stairs now”. 

“But, But”

“Now! I fucking said”.

 

I picked up my case and ducked as dad took a swing and missed.

 

I nearly fell arse over tit down the stairs but landed on my feet with a thump on the bottom step.

The front door was open, and I dived straight out and just missed knocking over Penny.

“Get out the way you silly cow, I nearly fell over you then”.

 

I loved my sister, she was 2 years younger than me, but she was very bright,
always trying to help me with my schoolwork.

She was so much brighter than me and most of my mates as well, and some of them were coming on 19.

 

“Did he get you” Asked Penny.

“Naw! too bloody quick for him these days”

 

Dad came out onto the upstairs landing.

 

“Anymore bloody crap from you my son and you’re for it, you get me?”

He shouted from the top of the stairs.

“OK, OK I get it”.

 

“Come on Jen, were waiting for you now!” Dad called.

 

Mum was the main stay of our family. She worked, and dad didn’t.

 

She was a shortish woman and had just turned 30, not fat but a chunky build.

 

I took after her more than I did dad because I wasn’t that tall for my age.

I still had plenty of puppy fat as well, which some kids took the piss out of me about, but only once mind you.

They never did it a second time trust me.

 

“Right let’s be off then”. As mum pulled the door closed behind her.

“Ain’t you gonna lock it woman?”

“What for, we ain't got nothing worth nicking, not since you sold it all”.

 

Didn’t sell my bloody decks though did ya! I thought to myself.

Wouldn’t bloody dare.

 

“Shall we walk or catch the bus”? Asked mum.

“Bus, of course the bus, you think I’m walking all the way to the tube carrying this bloody case, no way” I said.

 

We caught a 109 bus to Brixton which was about 30 minutes away from our house.

When we arrived in Brixton we got off and headed for the Victoria line

underground station.

 

We got to the platform and luckily a train was waiting for us.

As it was a Saturday the train was nearly empty, so we all managed to get a seat on the same side of the carriage.

 

It was only 10 stops to Kings Cross, and we had over an hour before the train left for camp, so we had plenty of time.

 

“You gonna miss me then sis?”

“You joking? I can’t wait till your gone, six weeks of having my friend’s round, no sharing a bedroom with you, I might have a girls sleepover party in my room.

Nope, I won’t miss you” she joked. With a smile.

 

“Well at least I’m going on holiday, so we’re you going this summer, Pen?

Up the park with your little mates” I laughed and poked my tongue out in a

Pointless, I got one up on you gesture.

 

“Well, that’s where your wrong little man,” said mum. “Penny’s off to Auntie Brendas for two weeks for her own little holiday soon”

Penny looked at me, and this time poked her own tongue out at me.

 

“Don’t call me little man woman I told you I hate it”.

 

“But you are my little man, aren’t you?” She smiled and I looked at her and frowned.

 

“Me and your dad are going on a little holiday ourselves while you’re away”.

 

“And why is it I’m only just finding out about this now, I’d prefer to come away with you, rather than go to this stupid camp”.

 

“Well, you can’t coz it’s adults only place that we’re going too, and we’re only

going because you’re going away anyway”.

 

“You go and enjoy yourselves without me then, see if I care”.

 

“Well, you said you wanted to go on this camp, and besides where else can you go for free and do the activities you’re going to be doing?”

 

“Can I go instead of him mum, he don’t want to go, so I’ll go and he can go to aunties instead” Penny poked her tongue out again.

 

“What and have that little brat of a cousin bugging me for two bloody weeks no way, I’ll take Happy summers any day, thanks”.

 

I noticed a guy sitting opposite me looking at me and smiling.

“What you fucking staring at mate, something amusing you”.

 

“No nothing much, but you’ll enjoy Happy Summers.

I was there myself a long, long time ago and if it’s the same as it was when I was there, then it sounds like you deserve it to me” He smiled at me again.

 

I went to get up, and dad who was sitting next to me pulled me back down into my seat.

 

“Sit” he said.

 

As the train started to pull into Victoria Station the guy got up off his seat to get off the train. He waited at the door then turned to face me.

 

“I hope you enjoy your holiday son, and oh! Be happy in your nappy”.

 He turned to my mum and winked, then the doors opened and he stepped off the train.

 

What the fuck! What was that wanker going on about?

 

I went to get up again, but dad was for once quicker than me, grabbed my arm and pushed me back into the seat.

 

“I said SIT”.

 

I was fuming, the blood was boiling up, and I was ready for anyone.

What the fuck was he on about, how’d he know about me?

 

The train pulled away, and he waved through the window as the train slowly passed him, he was sucking his thumb and smiling.

Shit he does know, how the fuck did he know?

 

 

 

 

The train sped up, and we entered the tunnel again, 5 stops to go.

 

I turned in my seat and was now sitting on my knees staring out the train

Window, watching as the cables passing outside in the tunnel as they looped up and down along the tunnel wall.

I was shitting myself, how the fuck did that guy know my secret, he can’t know no way!

 

Did he work in Tesco’s and see me nicking em? Naw! He would have nicked me and called the cops.

 

“You still with us Simon?” Asked mum.

 

“Yea”

 

“What’s up?”

 

“Nuffin”

 

Penny looked at me with a puzzled and concerned look.

I shook my head as if to say leave it and carried on staring out of the window.

 

When we finally pull into Kings Cross, I had calmed down and was actually now looking forward to getting away from London.

 

I still had the wanker's words ringing in my ears, but told myself, he couldn’t know, no way!

 

We made our way up the escalators from the tube, and into the main station.

The sun was really bright coming through the glass roof as we entered the huge station.

 

“We need platform 9,” said mum.

 

“Over their mum,” said Jenny. Pointing to the left.

 

“You want any sweets for the train Simon?”

 

“Go on then, wouldn’t say no”.

I never did say no to sweets.

 

Mum and me headed off into the Smiths shop and left dad and Penny outside.

 

“Can I come mum?”

 

“You wait with your dad, don’t worry, I’ll get you something”.

 

We went in and up to the sweet display. And I picked out a few bags of sweets.

 

“Two only,” said mum.

 

“Aw! Why”

 

“Because I only have enough for three and one is for your sister”.

I decided on the Chocolate Eclairs and Lemon Sherbet’s.

 

Mum picked up a pack of Dolly Mixtures for Penny and queued to pay for them.

 

“We could sneak out without paying mum, they’re not looking”.

 

“We will not” She frowned at me.

 

“Are you happy to be going away Simon?” Mum asked.

 

“Yep, why?”

 

“Well on the train you”

 

I butted in.” Naw, I’m ok, can’t wait to get away from all your nagging really”.

 I smiled at her.

She playfully punched me in the arm.

 

“What nagging, you cheeky sod”.

 

Mum handed the money over to the guy at the counter and he put the sweets in a bag and handed it to me.

We walked out of the shop and back to Dad and Penny.

Somehow, she had persuaded dad to give her a shoulder carry.

 

“What did you get me then mum?”

 

“Oh, sorry we forgot” I said.

 

“Great thanks a lot,” She Pouted.

 

“Don’t tease your sister, give her her sweets please”.

I handed over her bag. And she smiled.

 

“Cummon the train’s off in 10 minutes”

 

Mum hurried us in the direction of platform 9.

She showed the guy at the gate my ticket.

 

“Happy Summers is the carriage at the back of the train” he said.

“You can all go through”.

 

As we walked up the platform toward the train, I spotted a woman with a

clipboard in her hand standing next to the carriage that we were heading for.

 

There was a small crowd of adults and small children standing in a group,

facing the train, all chatting to each other some waving at the train

 

“And whom do we have here then?” the lady asked as we approached.

 

“This is Simon Watson” My mum replied.

 

“Pleased to meet you Simon, I’m Carroll, you ready for camp?

 

“Suppose so”

 

“You don’t sound too sure”.

 

“He’s alright, just a bit apprehensive, I think. He’s never been away before”.

 

“Never having been away on your own before, is a bit scary I suppose”.

 

“No! never been away, away at all before I mean,” said mum.

 

“Oh sorry, I thought you meant, never mind, oh well there’s always a first time for everything, isn’t there.

You’re the last then, jump on board and were all ready to go as soon as the train is”.

 

I turned to mum, and she saw I was having second thoughts.

 

“You’ll be ok, you go and have fun. Call me when you get there.

She bent down and gave me a hug”.

 

“Give it a rest mum, not in front of everyone”.

 

I tried to step back but she had a tight hold.

 

“Miss you,” she said and she gave me a kiss on the cheek.

 

Dad scuffed up my hair that, same way I remembered he used too when I was a little kid.

 

“Behave yourself and do what your told, and when your told” he said.

 

“When have you ever know me to do that” I replied.

 

“You’d better do at this place, or you’ll be in for it”.

 

He gave me a playful clip round the ear.

 

Penny gave me a little sister hug.

 

“Don’t worry I’ll look after your decks”.

 

“You keep your bloody hands off, you touch em and your dead, you hear me, dead”.

 

I jumped up on the train step, and looked back, I wasn’t scared about going, I just knew that I’d miss mum. I’d miss the nagging and the shouting, it made me feel wanted.

 

Carroll gave me a ticket. Twenty-four!

 

“You go find your seat and sit-down Simon, and I will put your case on the rack for you.

 

“Your ok luv, I can manage it”.

 

I hopped up the steps and into the train and made my way down the aisle, bumping the odd seat with my case while looking up for my seat number.

 

The train was packed with kids of all shapes and sizes, most of them on the

platform side of the train peering out of the windows, a few, mainly the older kids were just sitting on the other side of the carriage playing game boys.

 

I saw my mum walking up the platform keeping pace with me walking along the train carriage.

 

When I found my seat, there were 2 kids sitting in the section I was in.

A girl of about my age and a boy who looked a lot younger.

Both were on either side of the table next to the window.

 

“Oi! you! You’re in my seat”.

 

“No, I ain’t, “Said the little kid. “This is my seat.

 

“Fuck off kid YOUR IN MY SEAT, now get out”.

He looked at me saw I was not pissing about.

 

“Move it kid”.

 

He moved to the empty seat next to the girl.

She was waving to someone on the platform and didn’t care about the kid.

I spotted my parents and sister standing waving.

Well mum and sis waving, dad just standing their wishing the train would hurry up and go.

 

I put my case on the rack above the seats and sat down.

I tried to ignore the waving, but mum banged on the window.

I glared as if to say piss off woman.

 

“Aw! Mummy’s waving you goodbye hard man”

I turned and faced the girl.

 

“You can fuck right off, an all”.

 

She smiled and continued waving out the window.

The train started moving, I looked at my mum and sister, my mum mouthed, “I love you”.

 

I couldn’t help it; I started welling up. The girl noticed.

 

“Aw! Look hard man’s crying now”.

 

“Fuck up bitch”

 

“Why what’s hard man gonna do about it”.

I stretched over the table in an effort to slap her.

She pulled back and I missed,

 

“You try that again hard man and I’ll knock your teeth out”.

 

“You can fucking try sister”.

 

“What’s going on here?” A large bloke came over to the table.

 

“I said what’s going on!”

 

“Nuffink Sir, hard man’s just a bit upset”.

 

“Shut up bitch”

 

“That’s enough of that, now sit down and behave”.

 

I turned to take a last look at my mum, but she’d gone.

 

The train was picking up speed and had already reached the end of the platform.

I wondered if she would really miss me?

I welled up again, but this time kept staring out the window.

I won’t give that bitch the satisfaction this time I thought.

 

We were really moving now, the stations were whizzing by, we passed a slower train and loads of the kids in the carriage were sticking their fingers up and

pulling faces at the occupants on the slower train.

 

“Right kids, anyone for books or comics” Carol had a large box in her arms.

 

“Yes please,” Said the little kid on my table, the bitch asked, “What you got?”

 

“Well, there’s Beano, Dandy, Girls Own you name it”.

 

“What about Jackie”

 

“Yep, I’m sure we got one of those here somewhere”.

She pulled a large wad of comics out of the box and laid them on the table.

 

“Take your pick”.

Both the kids picked one up and started to read.

 

“You got any Playboy in their Miss?”

 

“Certainly not young man you’ll have to make do with one of these.

Playboy! well I never, how old are you 10?”

 

“I’m not bloody 10, I’m 12”.

 

“I’m 12 Miss, not bloody 12, I can see were going to have some fun with you over the next few weeks, aren’t we young man?”

 

“You got any cards in their”.

 

“Have you got any cards in there what?

 

“Have you got any cards in the box miss?”

 

“Well, that’s a little better, what I was actually looking for was, PLEASE!

Oooooh! Yes, fun, fun, fun”

 

She tossed me a pack of cards from the box.

I looked at her with the hardest look I could give.

She smiled at me and moved on to the next table.

 

I started playing patience, mum had taught me patience ages ago.

 

The girl and the kid sat and read their comics.

After a couple of minutes, I noticed the girl looking at me over the top of her Jackie.

 

“You want something bitch?”

 

“My name’s not bitch, hard man, it’s Sam, and if you keep on calling me bitch, I’ll have to knock those teeth out after all”.

 

I could see that she was serious and backed down a bit.

She was bigger than me and had a lot more bulk than me, so I could have

expected a tidy thump in the mouth if I continued.

 

“Ok then Sam, or is it big tits?” I laughed and this time I had to pull back too

avoid a punch as she swung.

 

“Yours ain’t much different than mine are they fat boy”.

She laughed in my face, this time.

 

“You know how to play poker then Sam?” I asked sarcastically.

 

“As it happens yes, hard man I do”.

 

“My names not hard man”

 

“Ok then hard man what is it?”

 

“Simon”

 

“What! Simple Simon?” She laughed.

 

I managed to get a kick at her legs under the table.

 

“Ouch you bastard, fucking come here”.

She made a grab for me again and this time connected with a clenched fist round my ear.

 

The big bloke was up at the table again in a flash.

 

“Enough! If you two don’t stop it, I’ll bang your heads together.

Now sit down and behave”.

 

I rubbed my ear, and she rubbed her leg and we stared each other out across the table.

 

“Truce, she said?”

 

“Truce” I replied.

 

“You pack a punch girl”.

 

 “And you kick like a mule hard man”.

 

We laughed, and I knew that from then on, we could be friends.

 

I dealt the first hand, and we set about trying to beat the shit out of each other at cards, instead of beating the shit out of each other physically.

 

We had been travelling for about an hour or so when the train started to slow down.

A voice came over the speaker, Peterborough, we are approaching

Peterborough.

 

We pulled into the station and stopped.

There were a small group of people standing at the end of the platform where our carriage pulled up.

 

About 10 kids and their parents.

Most of them started to hug and kiss, but a few were standing back avoiding the affection on offer.

 

Everyone was checked in by Carol and given their seat ticket.

There was this huge kid, he must have been about 15.

His mum was trying to kiss him goodbye, and he was pushing her away.

 

Please don’t be in with us, please, please, please!

 

He stepped into the carriage, and I watched as he headed up the isle in our

direction.

 

Please, please, please!

He stopped at our table and checked his ticket.

He looked up then across to the next table along and sat down with another big kid.

Phew!

 

Both Sam and I looked at each other with a relieved look.

The Little kid on our table looked like he was going to cry.

 

The train started to move off.

Loads of kids were pressing their faces up at the windows, poking out their tongues and sticking up their fingers.

 

A few of the mums burst into tears and the dads shook their fists.

Thirty seconds later we were away from the station and picking up speed again.

 

I fancied a burn. I thought shall I risk it?

I got my case down, spun the combination and opened it up, making sure Sam and the kid couldn’t see inside.

 

“What you got in there then?”

 

“Nuffin just me clothes”

 

“Why u hiding it then?”

 

“Don’t want you to see me pants do I”.

I took my stash and backy out of my shoe and shoved it in my pocket, trying hard to stop Sam seeing it.

 

“I saw that, bet you get caught” she whispered.

 

“You watch me then”.

 

I closed the case and shoved it back on the rack.

Turned round and headed for the toilet.

 

“And where are you off too Simon?”

 

“Bog miss, I need a piss”.

 

“It’s, I need the toilet Miss because I need to pee, in future please”.

 

“Sorry miss” 

I thought to myself. Yea! like I really speak like that don’t I luv.

 

“Off you go then” she said.

 

I headed off toward the back of the carriage to the toilet.

There was a red light on above the door, so I had to wait.

 

The light went out and the door opened, and a kid of about fourteen came out.

 

” Sorry mate it stinks a bit; you better hold your breath” he laughed.

 

Christ! did it stink or what!

It smelt like something had died in there.

I braved the smell, because I really needed a blaze.

I shut the door and locked it.

 

I took out my backy, put the toilet seat down and sat down on it.

I rolled myself a small spliff.

Hope I got enough to last, I thought to myself.

 

I’ll need to ration it to maybe four a day to make sure.

I lit up and took a deep drag, God that felt so good.

 

I stood up and swayed with the train, we went round a long slow curve, and it felt like I was surfing the waves.

There was a huge mist or was it the smoke from the spliff.

Just then I heard an alarm sound.

Shit were gonna crash.

 

Then there was a loud banging on the door.

 

“Right out now, no smoking on the train”

 

“Shit, shit, shit”

I grabbed the backy off the side and shoved it back in my pocket.

I chucked the spliff down the pan and flushed.

I couldn’t do anything about the smoke though.

 

“Open up now!” was followed by more banging.

I unlocked the door, and it was immediately slammed open.

 

The large bloke again, God like I really need you in my face I thought.

 

“Hand them over”

 

“Hand what over?”

 

“Hand them over now”

 

“Hand fucking what over”.

 

“I won’t ask a third time son”.

 

I put my hand in my pocket and took my backy bag out and he grabbed it.

 

“Lighter”

I took my lighter out of my other pocket and handed it over as well.

 

“Now go and sit down in your seat and don’t move until I get there”.

 

Bollocks, I’d just lost my shit, what the fuck was I gonna do now?

I got back to my seat. “Told ya! so,” said Sam.

 

“Bollocks, shit, fuck and more fuck” I couldn’t believe I’d just lost my gear.

 

The big bloke stood in the middle of the carriage and told everyone to be quiet.

 

“I have just caught a young man having a smoke in the toilets.

The reason he was caught is because there is a smoke alarm in the toilet.

There is to be no smoking on this train for two reasons.

Reason one.

By law this is a no smoking train, so no one is allowed to smoke on it.

Reason two, you’re all too young to be smoking anyway because again, by law you’re all underage.

Anyone else caught with cigarettes, or as in this case banned substances will be dealt with severely when we get to camp”.

 

He walked over towards me and as he did, he made a show of throwing my stuff in the bin liner bag in the rubbish bin between the seats next to his seat.

“Twice now Mr Watson, you have caused a commotion on this train, make it a third time and your feet won’t touch the ground, understand.

Don’t forget six weeks is a long time”.

 

I looked at him.

If I had a knife in my hand I could have cut his eyes out there and then.

I turned away and looked out of the window, and he went back to his seat.

 

“I can’t believe it, he’s taken my shit Sam, and it was all I had”.

 

“Don’t you have another stash in your case?”

 

“No, No, NO”

I sat looking out of the window for the next hour. I couldn’t believe how stupid I’d been.

 

The train started to slow again, “We are now approaching Lincoln” came the announcement.

As we stopped the small crowd on the platform looked almost the same as the one at Peterborough.

 

Kids being hugged & kissed and others not wanting to know.

My mobile phone rang.

It was Frank!

 

“Hey Frank, couldn’t get hold of you yesterday where’d you go”.

 

“I got a pull”.

 

“What the cops?”

 

“Yep”

 

 “Where?”

 

“Coming out of a house”

 

“Whose house?”

 

“Dunno, some geezers house”.

 

“Were you doin it over”.

 

“Tried, fucking alarm went off didn’t it, the fuckers were waiting for me when I got out”.

 

“Where you at now then?”

 

“Back home, they let me out, gotta go to court again tomorrow”.

Where you at?”

 

“Just come into Lincoln station”.

 

“Why, you on a train then?”

 

“Yea! I told you; I’m going to that camp thing my mum organised”.

 

“Oh, right I remember, sorry man I’m still stoned from yesterday.

Just thought I’d ring and let you know, I may not be around for a while”.

 

“Why where you goin?”

 

“Well, the brief said I’d get time this time, seein as it’s like 5 times I been caught in a month, he says I might get two years”.

 

“Shit no, what you gonna do, scarper?”

 

“Might do, just disappear, get a new start maybe go down Brighton, got a mate lives down there, he might put me up”.

 

“What u gonna do for cash man?”

 

“I gotta stash, I’ll sell it and get enough to get me there.

Anyway, man I gotta go, you be lucky right”.

 

“You too man, keep in touch”.

 

“Laters”

 

“Yea laters”

 

I clicked off the phone and folded it back up and slid it in my pocket.

 

My day was going from bad to worse, I had just lost all my gear and now I just found out my best mate was disappearing, what next, nothing could get worse could it?

 

I hadn’t realized but the train had pulled away and was again speeding up for our last leg of the journey.

 

“Who wants some lunch?”

 

“Me please miss “The kid said.

 

“I’ll have some as well please,” said a voice next to me.

 

I hadn’t realised it, but we had a new kid at the table.

I was so distracted by Franks call that I hadn’t noticed a new kid sit down on the spare seat.

He looked older than me and was a lot bigger.

Carol handed the two kids a paper bag each.

 

“You two want one?” She asked.

 

“What’s in it?” asked Sam.

 

“Have one and see”

 

She handed Sam a bag. “I won’t be back round again, it’s now or never”.

And she dangled a bag in front of me.

 

What the hell! why not I thought. I’d nearly run out of sweets already anyway.

I took the bag and looked inside.

 

There was a banana, some sort of crusty chocolate cake. A Ribena drink and what looked like a cheese sandwich, but to this day I wasn’t sure if it was or not.

 

“Who was on the phone?” asked Sam.

 

“That was my best friend Frank, he’s Eighteen”.

 

“Sounds like he was in the shit”.

 

“Yea you could say that”.

 

“Trouble is he’s my supplier”.

 

“Supplier for what”

 

“My stuff you know”.

 

The new kid was listening in.

 

“You wanna smack mate?”

 

“Not particularly thank you”.

 

“Not particularly thank you? What sort of fucking English is that?

Not particularly thank you”.

 

He spoke with a real posh voice.

Just like the kids Frank and me used to beat up from the posh school near where Frank lived.

 

“Not particularly fucking thank you. Tell you what mate, you keep quiet and look the other way and I won’t beat the crap out of you ok”.

 

“Whatever” He replied.

 

He turned and watched two kids on the table across from us playing slaps.

I turned back to Sam.

 

“He used to supply my weed. I’d sell it at school when I went, and we’d split the dosh. Fuck knows where I’m gonna get a supply now”.

 

Sam and I just chatted for the rest of the journey.

We talked about each other’s family, friends, and just about everything.

 

We were very much alike her and I, both tuff guys on the street and about as streetwise as could be, both with police records and both with disjointed

families.

I thought we might actually get it on at camp, but at the time I didn’t know how very, very wrong I was going to be.

 

The train slowed as we approached York station.

It had taken four hours to get here and just about everyone was itching to get off the train.

 

The big bloke hollered above the raised noise of excited kids.

 

“Right, everyone, make sure you have all your belongings with you when you get off the train, if you leave anything behind your likely never to see it again so make sure you have everything”.

 

Carol had already been around and collected all the books and comics, and the big bloke had bagged up the rubbish and put it in a large clear bag, I was still pissed at him because he’d got my gear.

 

But hang on, maybe he’d chucked it in the bag with all the other rubbish.

Nah! he wouldn’t be that stupid, or would he?

I looked at the bin between the seats where he’d thrown my stuff and the bag was gone, maybe I still had a chance.

 

The big bloke shouted over the increased noise again.

 

“Everyone pay attention please.

When the train has stopped, make your way to the rear of the carriage and off the train.

Wait in a group on the platform for everyone to get off, does everyone

understand?”

 

There was an excited hum in the carriage now, and everyone was up off their seats pushing and shoving trying to get their cases and bags ready.

 

“DO WE ALL UNDERSTAND? He shouted.

There was a fairly muted “Yes Sir”.

 

I thought it’s now or never.

I pushed my way to the front of the carriage where I’d seen the big guy put the bin bag. It was still there.

I took a look around. no one was paying any attention to me, so I ripped it open and peered inside.

 

There was a mixture of half-eaten bananas and sandwiches, plastic bags and what looked like someone’s puke.

 

I thought about it for a second, but decided it was worth it, puke and all.

I shoved my arm in and rummaged around for my backy bag.

I grabbed what I thought was it and pulled it out.

 

Shit, someone had puked in another bag, and I had just picked it up, grosse.

I thrust my arm in again, I had to find it, I just had to.

 

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked round to see the big bloke was standing over me waving my backy bag at me.

 

 “Looking for something son?” he had a huge grin on his face.

 

I took my arm out of the bin bag and nearly puked myself.

I had managed to cover my arm in the puke, bits of banana and something I don’t want to know what it was, from the bag.

 

“Get back to your seat and get your stuff ready”.

 

Bollocks, I’m stuffed now. I darted back to my table, keeping low to avoid any backhand.

I was surprised that none came though.

 

My dad would have beat the crap out of me had he caught me.

I rubbed my arm on the seat to try to get as much of the crap off of it that I could.

 

“That didn’t work then” Sam smiled with more than a hint of a sarcastic smile on her face.

 

“Fuck you” I replied, with a sarcastic smile of my own.

 

The train pulled into York station, and there was a rush for the door.

 

“Miss, Miss, he’s just kicked me”.

 

“Take your time, I don’t want anyone getting hurt please,” said Carroll.

 

She opened the carriage door, and everyone piled out past her, the little kid who was sitting with us, tripped and fell arse over tit and everyone laughed.

He was sitting on the platform crying his case had come open and his stuff was strewn all over the platform.

 

He couldn’t have been more than about Penny’s age.

The big bloke was the last off the train. He went over and picked the kid up off the floor, brushed him down and told him to wipe his eyes.

The both picked up his stuff and locked it back in his case.

He then brought him over to where I was standing.

 

“Right Mr Watson, because you have been such a pain in the backside

today, I want you to take responsibility for young Timmy here.

If, and I mean IF, you look after him between now and arriving at camp, I might forget about your smoking incident on the train, deal?”

 

I pushed my luck.

“Can I have my stuff back then?” I asked.

 

“No, you cannot, but if you behave between now and getting to camp, I’ll not

report you to the camp leader Mrs Thompson, and if you think I’m ferocious then you don’t want to get on the wrong side of her, some kids call her the dragon lady.

 

Did I want the hassle of looking after Timmy or did I want to face the dragon lady? Bring it on, I thought.

 

“Ok I’ll look after him”.

I bottled it.

I really didn’t fancy facing this dragon lady.

 

Timmy was a cute looking kid, blond hair blue eyed. He sort of clung to me without actually clinging on.

 

“Where you from Timmy?”

 

“I live near Doncaster”.

 

“I’m from London, you ever been there?”

 

“No”

 

“Well, we eat little kids like you for breakfast in London, so you behave, and I won’t eat you, OK?”

 

He looked up at me with a look of, my god he’s going to eat me, then he saw I was smiling and he smiled back”.

 

Carol took a head count, “35,36,37 hang on were one missing, Giff we’re one short”.

 

“I’ll check the train,” said the big bloke.

 

“Hang on don’t bother found him” Carol said.

 

“Right has everyone got their belongings?”

There was another muted “yes Miss” From everyone.

 

“Good, then everyone follow me”.

 

We walked along the platform, Carroll at the front and Giff at the back, he was pushing the slower ones to keep up.

 

I managed to drag Timmy to catch Sam up who was near the front of the crowd.

We turned through a gate just as Timmy and I caught up with her; we walked into a large car park where a coach was waiting for us.

 

Carol stopped in front of the coach.

“Leave your cases here and the driver will load them,” said Carroll.

 

Everyone chucked their cases and bags in a big pile at the side of the coach and made a dive to get on the coach first for the best seats. 

 

“Everyone stop right there,” shouted Carol.

 

“You have the same seat numbers on the coach as you had on the train so there’s no rush.

I want seat numbers 40 to 48 on first please”.

 

We were all allowed on as per our seat numbers, the coach was set up the same way as the train with tables between the seats.

Our little crew sat down as we were on the train, Sam and I next to the window, the posh kid next to me and Timmy next to Sam.

 

Once we were all aboard and seated Carroll grabbed the coach’s microphone.

 

“Right, everyone quiet down”

 

Nobody took any notice, so she tried again, but again nobody was listening.

 

“SIT DOWN AND BE QUIET”

Giff didn’t need a microphone, everyone shut up and sat down.

 

“Right were now nearly ready to start out on the last part of our journey.

We are just waiting for another train group to arrive and for the driver to load the cases then we’ll be off to Happy Summers”.

This was greeted with an enthusiastic cheer and a few whistles and catcalls.

 

“It takes about an hour or so to drive to the camp, so while we’re on the road I have a questionnaire for you to complete”.

This news was greeted with boos and hisses from just about everyone.

 

“It’s not too hard and won’t take you long, I’ll pass out the paper and pencils when we’re moving”.

 

After a few minutes another group of kids and adults clambered aboard the coach, filed past us and sat at their places in the back of the coach.

 

There was a little speech for them like the one we had had, and also the news about the questionnaire, which was again greeted with boos and hisses.

But very quickly the driver had loaded the bags on board and we were off.

 

I caught a whiff of piss in the air and turned and sniffed the posh kid.

 

“Fuck me mate you stink of piss, you wet yourself?”

 

He turned and looked at me.

“Well to be honest you don’t smell too sweet yourself mate, seeing as you have sick and God knows what else down your arm”?

His posh sarcastic voice was beginning to annoy me now.

 

“I’ll shove my sick arm down your fucking throat in a minute if you’re not

careful”

 

He stood up as if he was going to start a fight, clenched a fist then released it.

 

“What’s the matter mate no guts?”

 

He sat back down.

 

“Look, it’s obvious you don’t much care for me”.

 

“Got it spot on their mate”.

 

“And to be honest I don’t much care for you either”.

 

I looked at him, and he didn’t seem scared, he was calm.

 

“When we get to camp, you go your way and I’ll just go mine, but until we get there can’t we just be civilised and ignore each other?

 

I have been to camp here before, so I know if we want too, our paths may never have to cross again once were off this coach, is that ok with you?”

 

I tried to put on a posh voice but failed miserably.

 

“To be honest no! it’s not ok with me actually, but for the sake of your nose I’ll leave you alone”.

 

I looked at Sam and she laughed, even little Timmy laughed, and the posh kid just shut up and sank back in his seat defeated and deflated.

 

I was happy because I’d won the fight without a fist being thrown.

 

“Oh, and you still stink of piss by the way”.

The laughter continued for 10 long minutes, long after the coach had left York station.

 

Carroll came around with some pencils and paper and handed them out to every kid on the coach.

 

She grabbed hold of the mike. “Right, let’s get started shall we”.

 

I was sitting there with the paper in one hand and pencil in the other thinking how the hell I was going to get out of this one?

 

“Right First thing, name at the top of the page”

 

Everyone started scribbling away. That was the easy one I thought.

 

“Now just put each answer on the page below your name.

 

First question. What is your favourite meal?”

 

Easy Sasege and chips I thought, I started writing.

I was hunched over my paper and had my arm at the top of the sheet covering what I was writing so no one else could see.

 

“Second: What activity are you really looking forward to doing at camp?

 

OK a bit harder but I could handle that.

Sailin.

 

“Third, what is your least favourite meal?”

 

Another easy one, what was I worrying about, Cabidge!

 

I spotted posh kid trying to read what was on my paper and tried to cover it up even more.

 

“Your nose still ain’t safe mate, now piss off”

 

Sam looked over and giggled; she was covering up like me and had a slightly worried look on her face.

 

“Forth one: What and or who are you going to miss while your away and why?

 

My mum, because I love her (although I’d never tell her).

 

The posh kid leaned over and whispered in my ear.

 

“Do you want me to help you?”

 

I whispered back.

“Why the fuck would I want your help prick?”

Sam looked over.

 

He whispered back.

“I can see you’re having trouble; I can help if you want”.

 

I looked at him, he was honestly offering to help me, I could see he meant it, but I couldn’t say yes, I’d look like a prick myself.

 

“Look I’m ok, just leave it will you”.

 

Sam looked over again and mouthed, “you ok?” I nodded yes.

And she carried on with her own sheet.

 

We answered another four questions, and each time I did my best, but as Penny would say.

“You need to try harder Simon”.

 

I knew that, but school was never easy for me, and now I was going less and less it was getting harder and harder.

Mum was at her wits end when I last got excluded, dad just went mad.

 

My head teacher told my parents.

 

“If Simon can’t settle back in and knuckle down after the summer break, you will need to find him a new school.

 

I went round his house and stuck a firework through his letterbox.

 

Carroll came round and collected the sheets and pencils, she never said a word when she looked at mine and just put it on the pile with the others.

 

The time passed really quickly and in no time, we were at the camp.

 

We went up a really winding road and turned into a big set of gates.

The gates opened up, and the coach drove through.

 

It took ages to drive up the long road.

Everyone was trying to see over the seats to see where we were heading for.

 

“There it is!” Called a kid at the front.

 

Everyone stood up to look.

The place was huge, it was like Buckingham Palace in London, but even I knew the Queen didn’t live here.

 

“Look at the lake,” said Sam.

 

“And the boats!” Said an excited Timmy.

I noticed the woods, nice place to lose yourself for a smoke I thought, if I bloody well had any, that was.

 

I looked back at Giff who was sitting at the back of the coach and wondered if I could pick his pocket.

 

The coach pulled up at the huge front doors and about 20 or so people filed out through them.

A really old slim lady got on the coach and Carroll handed her the microphone.

 

“Hello children, I’m Mrs Thompson”.

 

Wow! the dragon lady, she didn’t look ferocious though.

 

“In a moment I’ll ask you to get off the coach and make your way inside.

But before I do, I would like to welcome you all to Happy Summers, Summer camp.

Many of you are here to have fun and enjoy yourselves, some of you are here to work”.

 

I looked at Sam, and she looked at me.

 

“Not bloody me!” We said in unison and laughed.

 

“Were only here for the fun bit” The whole coach burst out in laughter.

 

“Quiet down,” said Giff.

 

Mrs Thompson continued.

“Your time spent here can be very rewarding and a lot of you will develop skills you never knew you actually had, so work hard at having fun and work hard to become a better you.

 

Most people looked at each other with a puzzled look, most not quite sure what she was on about.

The posh kid smiled a knowing smug smile.

I thought to myself what does he know that we don’t?

 

“Ok speech over, time for some fun. First though we need to check you in, so file off the coach and make your way with the staff through the doors into the hall and once were finished you can go explore the grounds before we have our evening meal.

Oh, and leave your suitcases and bags, we will arrange for them to be taken off the coach”.

 

With that, there was a big cheer, and everyone made an excited rush for the door.

Some of the smaller kids were pushed out of the way by the bigger kids and one kid got pushed over.

 

“STOP!” Giff shouted.

He still didn’t need that microphone. “One at a time and no pushing”

 

I still felt responsible for Timmy, so I held back with him till the rush had died down.

 

I drew the line at holding his hand when he offered it to me though.

We stepped off the coach, past the waiting staff who all said welcome, then through the huge wooden doors and into a massive hall.

 

There were big sofas and loads of old books on shelves and bookcases, a huge great staircase bigger than anything I had ever seen before.

 

“Everyone take a seat and if you can’t find a seat then the floor will do”.

 

Within seconds all the seats were gone, and any of the little kids lucky enough or attempting to sit down were dragged off and the bigger kids sat down

instead.

 

I noticed some of the staff sorting out a few arguments and they told off some of the bigger kids, but most people doubled up on the huge comfy chairs.

 

Giff closed the huge wooden doors with a firm bang and locked them.

 

“Right then, quieten down please everyone, when you’re ready we can start”.

Said Mrs Thompson.

 

“Oi! you lot. QUIET” (Giff again)

 

Mrs Thompson stood next to a big desk by the doors.

 

“Right, I will call you up here one by one to the desk.

Matron will take your details down and give you a badge with your name on it. This badge is also your dormitory badge, as well as your name badge.

Everyone with the same colour badge will be in the same dormitory”.

 

I looked at some of the bigger kids and hoped I wouldn’t be in with them.

 

“Matron will also ask you to place your personal belongings into a small tray for safe keeping, these will be locked away and no one other than you will have

access to them.

 

Personal belongings will include all jewellery, watches, money, handheld game devices, computers and mobile telephones”.

There was a general mumbling in the hall. One kid stood up and spoke.

 

“I promised my mum I would phone her once I got here”.

 

“Yes, and you can, but unfortunately, we do not have a mobile phone mast anywhere near us here, so there is no phone signal”.

 

Everybody who had a mobile, pulled it out of his or her pockets and checked for a signal, and sure enough nothing.

I kept mine in my jeans though, I didn’t want to show that I had one.

 

“We have a telephone down the hall which is free and anyone who wishes can use this to make a call home to your parents.

 

Right! if were all ready, first up is Peter Adam”.

 

A little kid of about nine got up and ran to the desk, obviously delighted to be first.

We all watched as he handed over his things and put them in a tray.

A guy put a sticker on his t-shirt.

 

The lady behind the desk picked up his little tray and placed it into a small box on the wall-marked number 1 and locked it.

The kid was delighted he was number one, maybe for the first time in his life.

 

One by one everyone was called up to the desk, then after what seemed an age came my turn.

 

“Simon Watson” Came the call from Mrs Thompson.

 

I made my way to the desk.

 

“Hello Simon, I’m Miss Barrett, but you can call me Matron”.

 

The lady seemed a bit older than Mrs Thompson but wasn’t as skinny.

She had a sort of nurses uniform on from back in the day, like one I had seen on an old film my mum was watching once.

 

“Is there anything you want to put in the tray for safe keeping?”

I would really like to keep my cross miss; my mum gave it to me”.

 

“I know you would sweetie, but if it means so much to you, I would put it in

because I don’t want you to have it stolen or loose it would you?”

I took off my cross and chain and placed them in the tray.

I hated doing it because mum saved for ages to buy it for my last birthday.

and I never ever took it off, but had I somehow lost it, it would have killed me.

 

“Anything else sweetie?”

I took £50 in 10’s out of my pocket, profit from some sales I’d done before I left.

 

“My, My that’s a lot of cash did you rob a bank on the way” She smiled and winked.

 

“Can I take some out for later?”

 

“When you need it, you can have it sweetie, but there’s nothing to spend it on here though, everything’s free”.

 

“What everything, sweets and drinks?”

 

“You won’t need to buy anything whilst you’re here”.

 

“Wicked” I replied”

 

“Anything else? last chance”

 

“Nope that’s everything”.

 

Carroll came up behind me. “Not quite everything though is it Simon”.

 

“What you on about miss?”

 

“Well young man, on the train I spotted you on a mobile.

I assume that it was your mobile. Correct?”

 

Shit! she’d found me out,

I thought I might have been able to sneak away and phone Frank in a couple of days, he might have been able to get me some gear up here, assuming he wasn’t banged up, now that plan was fucked.

 

I dug my mobile out of my pocket, switched it off and placed it in the tray.

Matron gave Carroll a blue name sticker and she stuck it on my shirt; she then took the tray and locked it in one of the little numbered boxes.

I had box number 45.

 

I went and sat down.

 

The last few kids went up did their handover then sat down again.

 

“Right! now that everybody has been registered, listen in”.

 

This tall guy walked to the middle of the room and the humdrum in the room quietened down.

 

“My name is Tony. I am one of the houseparents here at Happy Summers

There are four dormitories and there are up to12 of you in each one.

If you have a yellow name badge, then you’re in Arundel and Jane is your

Houseparent”

 

“Over here” Jane raised her hand, and everyone looked in her direction.

 

“If your badge is Blue then it’s Pembroke, and for those of you who are, that’s my dormitory.

 

If you’re Purple, then it’s Andover and you’re with Suzie”.

 

“Over here” And she raised her hand to attract everyone’s attention.

 

“If your Grey then it’s Windsor” and that is Mr Leavenger.

“Over here” Everyone looked in his direction.

 

Each of your dormitories has 6 members of staff, so in a minute we want all of you to go outside with your houseparents and the other staff and they will show you round.

After that, you can have one hour’s free time before dinner, OK?”

 

“Yes sir” some answered, but most didn’t bother.

 

“IS THAT OK”? He shouted.

 

This time everyone shouted “YES SIR”

 

“That’s better”.

 

 

Now as I’m already speaking, my dormitory will go first.

Would all of you with blue name badges get up and follow me outside please”?

 

Twelve of us got up, and to my delight Sam was one of the twelve, then I checked and saw that there were 6 boys and 6 girls.

None of the bigger kids got up which was a relief.

The posh kid was also in our dormitory, whatever that was! I’d never heard the word before until just now,

So much for never having to ever see him at camp.

I spotted that although he had a blue name badge, his one had a green tick as well, must be coz he’s posh I thought.

 

“Right then Pembroke follow me”.

Tony led us out of a doorway at the back of the hall. Five other adults followed us out.

 

We went into a narrow corridor and past what looked like classrooms,

I thought it strange to have classrooms at a holiday camp, what were they for?

 

We entered another room, and this had lots of benches and coat hooks on the wall.

Under the benches there were wire baskets.

Each hook had what looked like a gym bag hanging from it in either blue or pink.

 

Tony took something out of his pocket and tapped out some numbers.

Then a door we were heading for, clicked open and we went outside.

It was great to be outside again.

I had just spent over six hours getting here so I was happy to be in the open.

 

Tony led us all towards a big bench on a grassed area, not far from the lake.

We were all looking around and hoping we could get on with some running around and playing on the brilliant looking equipment.

 

“Everyone take a seat,” said Tony.

 

“Right, we know that your all itching to get going and have a look round, but first there are a few rules”.

 

There were a few boos and sucks from the assembled audience.

Even the adults joined in, and everyone laughed.

I thought to myself that it might actually turn out to be all right here.

 

Looks like the adults are going to be a laugh.

Sam was sitting across from me next to the posh kid. She looked at me, held her nose and pointed to the posh kid.

I screwed up my nose and nodded, with an, ‘I know face’.

 

Tony continued. “Until tomorrow no one and I mean no one is allowed on, in or anywhere near the water, and that includes the boats and the canoes, you can walk up the jetty but do not touch anything.

The woods are also out of bounds for now, so no one is to go there, and no one is allowed back into the house until we call you all back in, in about an hour or so’s time.

Anyone caught anywhere they shouldn’t be will not be going to the welcome party tonight.

So apart from that you can just about do what you like in the lawned area here, understood?”

 

We all nodded our understanding.

 

“What sort of party is it mister? Asked one of the girls.

 

“Well, it’s a stuff yourself silly party, you’ll see” replied Tony.

 

“And the name is Tony, not mister or sir, ok!

 

And that goes for all the staff here, we will call you by your first names, so we want you to do the same for us.

Now off you go and enjoy yourselves.

We’ll ring a bell when it’s time to come back to the building”.

 

With that, everyone got up and ran off in different directions, some heading for the mini assault course, and others for the huge climbing frame.

 

I followed Sam and we headed off towards the lake.

 

As we were walking, I turned to look back at the house and spotted the posh kid. He was talking to Tony.

 

Yea! I thought! Sucking up already that’s your sort all right.

Tony called over one of the other men from our dormitory and spoke to him.

Then he and the posh kid headed off back to the house.

Wants the bog I thought.

 

All the other kids were outside by now, running around.

I turned back and Sam had run off ahead.

 

“Catch me if you can, little legs” She taunted.

 

 “Your dead” I replied and ran off towards the lake to try to catch her.

 

It was a great hour. The sun was still hot, and the air was warm.

That was until this little tough nut came up to me, he looked about 14.

 

“I saw what happened to you on the train” he said.

 

“Yea! so what?”

 

“I want the rest of your stash”.

 

“You can fuck off bro”.

 

He grabbed me round the neck and squeezed hard.

 

“I SAID, I WANT YOUR STASH" He shouted.

 

“Leave him alone”.

 

Sam grabbed him round his neck from behind and tried to pull him off.

I tried to punch him in his gut, but he was a lot bigger than me, and I just swung and missed.

 

Sam punched and kicked him and screamed for him to let me go.

He loosened his grip a bit in reaction to Sam’s kick and I managed to get loose.

 

I charged at him and felled him with a head in his gut; he rolled over and perched on all fours holding his stomach.

 

“You try that again bastard and I’ll fucking stab you”.

 

I stood over him and took a kick at him, I caught him in the ear with my toe, and he fell on his side clutching his head and stomach now.

 

Some of the other kids saw what was going on, rushed over and formed a circle around us, chanting. “FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT”

 

One of the houseparents broke through the crowd and grabbed hold of me.

 

“What’s going on here?”

 

No one answered.

 

“I asked a question”.

 

“It was him sir, he just came over and started hitting Simon for nothing”.

 

Sam was doing a good job of trying to stick up for me.

 

“Is that true Simon?”

 

“Suppose”.

 

“Robert?”

 

“Yes sir”

 

He was still holding his gut and groaning.

I must have really caught him in the right spot, and that takes years of practice I’ll tell you.

 

I used to find myself where this kid is now, rolling around on the floor crying, but not anymore, not for a long time.

 

“Right, you with me”

 

He pulled the kid up off the floor and marched him off toward the house,

with the kid still doubled over holding his guts while walking.

He took a look back at me and I could see that this wasn’t over not by a long way.

 

“You ok Si?”

 

“Yea. Thanks for your help”

 

“Don’t think you needed any really, you really stuck him one”.

 

In the distance we heard the bell ringing, everyone still standing around started to run toward the house, dinner was served and I was starving.

 

“Race you,” said Sam.

I was ready for her this time, and I was on my way before she said race.

She still won though. I’m too bloody fat to run. I never stood a chance.

 

Next up the kids have the beginning feast, but what’s in store afterwards is a real surprise.

 

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