Bectan Sands

An Evacuee's Story

Once in war time Britain a 4 year old girl named Milly and a 9 year old boy named Charlie walked to Paddington station with their mother Mrs Walker. Charlie whinged and said “Mum I’m scared”. Their mother softly said “Do not worry it will be all right”.
After 5 minutes they arrived Paddington station. It was full to the brim so they could not see their dad anywhere because the other soldiers were dressed the same as him. Finally they saw him and Milly shouted to him. He boarded the train. Mrs Walker and Milly started crying and Charlie calmed them down.

Later when the children were in bed the air raid siren went off the family rushed down the stairs and into the shelter. Milly had her comfort teddy and Charlie had a car with him. They could hear doodlebugs and bombs drop in the nearby street. Finally the all clear siren went off so they went back in.
The next day Mrs Walker was making name tags while Milly and Charlie packed their suitcases. They walked to Waterloo station where Milly and Charlie had got on a train. Charlie stuck his head out the window to kiss mum goodbye. Mrs Walker started crying as the train left.
After hours they arrived at Forest Town and sat in a room while people picked children out of the crowd. A woman named Mrs Duff picked them and took them to her house in Bectan Sands.

Two years later Milly and Charlie were in the middle of a field gazing dreamily at the sky and suddenly two planes were having a dog fight then one of the planes crash landed in the next field. Milly and Charlie went to have a look. Milly shrieked “It’s German”.
Charlie rushed to the Police station and said that a German plane crashed. Immediately the police rang the army. Soon the German was arrested and taken to the police station.

After the war Milly, Charlie, Mrs Walker and Mr Walker were sitting by the fire in their new house when police knocked at the door and Milly opened it. The police said “Here you go”.
They gave Milly lots of chocolate all shapes and sizes which Milly said “Thank you” and took it all in to the family. “Wow” they said and they then celebrated.

Molly, Porchester Junior School

Landslide

One day four children from Bectan Sands - Mark who’s nine, Jack who’s ten, Courtney who’s eight and Marlon who’s thirteen - were so bored that they went to Smugglers Cliff. Mark walked to the edge of rocky cliffs to see the sands below him but his leg jammed in-between two rocks.

Jack got his phone and called the coastguard. He looked away whilst on the phone.
Suddenly he felt the ground shaking and then heard a loud rumble. He spun around. Mark had disappeared. There had been a land-slide. Mark must have fell.
Jack screamed “Coastguard get your boat.”
Courtney was screaming "Phone his parents, they have a boat."
Marks friend’s were screaming to him "Find a rock and climb on."
Mark found a rock, but it was slippery. He had no grip, so when he got on he fell off the other side.

Twenty minutes later a boat arrived, but it was to wide to fit though the rocks so the man threw a life-buoy and pulled Mark to the boat. He got back to shore with only a broken leg.

"He’s lucky he’s alive and that his friends have phones” said the coastguard, "Plus we know what to do”.

The children would never go to the edge of anything again.

Tom, Douglas Primary

The Smugglers Cave, continued

One day, Marlon and Jemma were sent out to get some firewood from Shepherds Woods for their mother. Marlon and Jemma skipped along merrily until Marlon found the same cave with the previous treasure was found.
Marlon went over to the trap door to see if anything has changed. He couldn’t believe it! It’s absolutely impossible because he found more treasure. Last time he knew that the police took all the treasure away to the archaeologist. How could more get inside? Marlon had no other choice but to show the police once again. Marlon went to find a phone box while Jemma stayed guard.
The police came in less than two minutes. They climbed into the cave and carefully put the treasure inside a plastic bag. They shoved it all into the car boot. “Would you like to come with us and see how the archaeologist is doing with the first treasure you found. We haven’t heard about what he is doing or what he has discovered.” said the police officer. Marlon and Jemma accepted.

“Wait!” shouted Marlon.
“Can we just go and tell our mum where we are going first? She might be wondering where we are.”
“Sure.” said the police. Marlon had finished talking to his mum and hopped back inside the vehicle. When they all got there, a huge, tall, gigantic building stood before them. It was a huge site. They climbed up the tiring stairs until they reached the top. Inside there were millions of doors. Well, not doors but rooms. Right at the far end was a tiny little room with a light flickering and a radio on high volume.
The police, Jemma and Marlon all waked inside the cramping room where a small, bearded old man was sitting in a leather chair with a magnifying glass in one and a cloth in the other.
“Oh hello, I didn’t see you there.” He said whilst turning down the volume on his radio.
“I suppose you’ve come here for your test results from the treasure you found. Well if you are, here it is.” He handed over a brightly covered folder with the file inside. The officer flicked through the pages and stopped at one.
“It says that the treasure have got splashes of sea water in various parts of treasure. My guess is that this was first placed on a boat than taken out and put inside the cave. Why is this? This is because a boat has been sailing in the sea. We are going to have to keep a close eye on this person or persons because this is getting really mysterious.

Sabrina, Douglas Primary

The Smugglers Cave

One day a thirteen year old boy called Marlon McCree, along with his eight year old sister Jemma, were playing in the woods. Marlon discovered a handle, so he went over to it and found several planks of wood stuck together forming a trap door. He opened the door putting all his strength into it. Inside he saw a puddle of water that he thought might have been a part of a well.

Instead of walking away, Marlon climbed inside and realised that the well was really a cave. He looked around and saw treasure. Treasure worth millions! He decided not to keep it but to show it to the police. He sent Jemma running off to the police station while he stayed behind keeping guard of the cave.

He decided to explore to find more treasure. He could see that the cave led to somewhere. He walked a few footsteps more, then more, then more. He decided not to go anyfurther. He thought it was too risky.

Marlon walked back to where he was before. He sat down on the wet, soft sand. He noticed something shimmering beneath a rock. He heaved the rock with all his might.
There was a pearl. And other. In fact, there were lots of them! There were black pearls, pink pearls and of course white pearls. He wanted to keep them, but he knew he couldn’t.

After a while, Jemma came back with the police. The police dropped into the cave with an anxious face on them. They put on their gloves and opened up their plastic bag. They scooped up the jewellery like you would with dog’s waste. The police told Marlon that they were going to take it to an archaeologist that works at the local museum at Forest Town. Until then no one would know who the treasure belonged to. They just had to wait and see.

Sabrina, Douglas Primary

James and the Wood

James Shepherd had always been interested in wild life, and he was determined that the charred area of the wood should be restocked. With this in mind, he decided that he needed to know what was in the wood already. And so one winter's day, he revisited the wood and marvelled at all the fabulous wildlife.

As he entered the area he saw lots and lots of trees, that looked familiar. He thought they were a mixture of Oak and Horse Chestnut. He walked over to what looked like a Horse Chestnut to have a closer look. He had read a book about the wood and all the trees that lived there. Horse Chestnuts, if he could remember correctly, in Winter have sticky buds which open up in the Spring. In Autumn, when the conkers are ripe, the local children went to the wood to have conker fights.

He moved on to the next tree which was an oak tree. Squirrels like acorns. Further in the forest, he saw a fox. It was an old fox with grey hairs and a beautiful winter coat all shiny and thick. The fox was hunting. This particular fox had his eye on a squirrel, which had been raiding his store of buried acorns. Just as the fox was about to pounce, the squirrel ran away. Squirrels can not defend themselves very easily, that's why they run away. If they are on the ground and they see danger, such as a fox they climb a nearby tree.

Night was drawing in, and screeching noises could be heard. Maybe it was the sound of bats or owls. Moving closer, he could definitely tell it was the sound of bats. Bats hibernate in winter, because their food supply is scarce in cold weather. He heard more screeching, so he figured that owls were around too.

James had always taken an interest in the owls of Shepherd's Wood, and had a good understanding of their behaviour. He knew that a female owl makes her nests in a hollow opening in a tree and in mid-March lays between two and four white eggs. He knew that the eggs are incubated for four long weeks while the male gathers food. Darkness does not bother an owl, who can make out even the faintest gleam. It can see clearly by starlight. Unlike other birds, whose eyes are on the sides of their heads, it's eyes face forward. This gives it better three dimensional vision, and so it can judge the distance it is away from an obstacle of it's prey. James knew all this and more.

He stood in the gloom watching in amazement, as a tawny owl flew by. Not long after, the rustling of leaves tore James away. He ran over, and spotted a weasel with a white snowy coat, hunting for prey. Weasels are slender animals with muscular, snake-like bodies and short legs. Their heads are small and triangular with narrowed snouts. A weasel eats mice, rats, birds and rabbits.

Closer to the middle of the forest, he saw a badger's sett. It's not often you get to see a badger's sett. He had to walk very quietly as he wanted them to stay. Badgers use straws, green plants and leaves for their bedding, and only venture out at night. Outside each sett entrance James could see a mound of excavated soil, and old bedding. Moving further into the forest, he saw some fungi growing in-between some old badger sett sticks.

Further into the forest he sat down, still all wrapped up in hat, scarf and gloves. Darkness was falling and the ground underneath him, felt cold and hard. He stood up. What could it be? It looked like an old coin. He picked it up. He wondered when and why the coin has been dropped or buried? The sound of rustling leaves startled James. He stood up quietly and looked into the middle of the forest, there was nothing he could see, so he turned back. Suddenly, he felt a sharp tap on his shoulder, he turned round and saw a man, a tall, dark stranger carrying some kind of weapon. He asked what James was doing so deep into the wood. James quickly dropped the coin into his pocket, and opened his mouth to reply, but Elliot wouldn't give him a chance to speak. Elliot, for that was the man's name, told James that the burned areas were already growing again,animals were returning on their and and didn't need any help from James!

Darkness had fallen, and James decided it was time to go home. Several questions were spinning around in his head. Who was Elliot? Where did he live? Why was he so sure that James could't help? How long had he been watching James and Did he see the coin as James inspected it?

Butterwick Primary School created this story