Part 88

The Sherwood Forester's! 

Excitement was still coursing through my veins next morning. I was really going 
to the bike show in Germany! How cool is that? Today though we were all going on 
a day trip to Norfolk so I better get my arse in gear! The weather has turned a 
bit cooler, no clear blue sky this morning, no, today we have a bit of a breeze 
and a fair bit of cloud. 
"Come on Drew, we'll be late!" Jules hollered up the stairs. 
"I'm coming!" 
"About time too" 
The four of us set off for school, collecting Mad and Sab on the way. At least 
we weren't last today, that honour went to Anna and her exchangee, Stacey. 
"Everyone here?" Mr Wood enquired 
"I think so Mr Wood" Miss Bell supplied. 
"Right then people, I think it best if we stick to Tuesdays arrangement with the 
buses if that's okay with you Jessica?" 
"Suits me" she replied 
"Fine. Everybody on board then, we'll be stopping briefly at Sutton Bridge, okay 
Reg?" 
"We'll see you there Mr Wood" Reg told him. 
So at nine oh five we set off. 
"Guess what?" Brit asked the rest of the super gang. 
"What?" Darla asked without much interest 
"Can I Drew?" she checked 
"Why not, if you don't I will!" 
"What?" Bernie asked 
"Me and Drew, were going to Germany with his Gran!" Brit enthused 
"Oh Wow!" Sabrina stated 
"How come?" Amy queried 
"You best tell 'em Drew" 
"Well I was supposed to go with Dad but he couldn't go so my Gran sorted it so 
me and Brit and her go" 
"Slow down Drew, go where?" Ally requested 
"It's some sort of bike show" Brit supplied 
I caught a look from Maddy, it was not pleasant! 
"How come you get to go Brit?" the question came from the usually quiet Dan. 
"Gran didn't think it was fair for me to disappear and leave her on her own, so 
she gets to come" I shrugged and sent a pleading look towards Mad, who looked 
less annoyed but still cheesed. 
Up in front Jessica Bell smiled to herself. When Mr Bond had got hold of her 
yesterday she wasn't sure what to do, as acting guardian for her charges if she 
said no it wouldn't happen. However after a long discussion she agreed, heck she 
wouldn't mind going herself! She might teach geography but this trip to England 
was her first trip outside of North America, a month in Mexico when she was in 
college and a long weekend to Montreal summed up her previous foreign travel. 
Behind her, the conversation had moved on to what was happening this weekend. 
The two buses headed across country towards Boston and the Fens, soon enough the 
café cum coach stop at Sutton Bridge appeared and they pulled in. 
"Half an hour please!" Jessica advised her charges 
Everyone piled inside, first stop the conveniences then into the café proper. 
The adults all shared a table and a pot of tea; the students mostly made a 
racket and drank an assortment of soft drinks. Seeing Miss Bell head outside, 
Britney followed her for her mystery chat. 
"...should be fine" Miss Bell finished 
"Great! I'll tell them later!" Britney replied 
"Tell who, what later?" Amy asked joining them along with the rest of the gang 
"Come on, you can talk on the bus" Miss Bell told us, with a shove in the right 
direction! 
Once back on the road, Amy continued the chase 
"Britney Walter's, what are you plotting?" 
"I'm not plotting anything" 
"Just spill Walter's" Dan prompted 
"Alright! Sab gave me the idea yesterday. I was going to suggest that Mad and 
the girls join in our cheer demo at the end of the trip" 
"That'd be pretty neat" Amy agreed 
"I never thought I'd see the day!" Rhod mentioned, which got him a clip from 
Ally. There's definitely something going on there! 
"You mean the short skirt and stuff?" Bernie asked 
"It's not compulsory" Brit supplied 
"Am I glad I'm a boy" I told no one in particular. 
"I'm in!" Mad stated 
"Yeah why not" Ally allowed 
"Bernie?" Darla queried 
"I guess, but I'm not really into all that jumping about stuff" 
"No sweat!" a delighted Britney replied. 
We were not far from our first stop now, Castle Rising. We turned into the 
village and up the lane to the car park. Dad would like this place! The main 
hall peeked over the huge bank and ditch arrangement; from top to bottom must be 
30 metres! We followed Mr Wood and Mr Fredericks to the shop cum office then 
waited whilst our admission was secured. 
"Okay everyone, there's a mobile guide here for everyone, Charlie, can you pass 
them out please." 
"Yes Sir" 
"Follow the instructions and it will take you around the site and explain what 
you are seeing. If you can meet back here at one, you can go in the shop then. 
We'll have lunch before we go on to our next stop." 
"And kids, no horseplay!" Miss Bell added 
"Right then, off you go!" 
Dad's influence must be rubbing off; this place looks pretty cool! I chuckled a 
bit as I imagined what the former residents would have made of all these people 
wandering around holding these strange lumps of plastic up to their ears! Over 
the moat and through the gate into the inner ward. Wow! That is one neat keep 
place! It was a temptation to shortcut direct to the hall but thought I'd best 
do it right. Most of our group were by now just wandering about, the guides 
forgotten, these ruins need exploring! 
"Funny place to put a church huh?" 
"Oh hi Miss Bell, yeah I guess so" 
"You like this sort of stuff?" 
"My Dad's into castles and stuff so we get dragged round quite a few, I 'spose 
it's okay" 
"This trip is a real treat for me, I've read about all these places and I 
finally get to see some of them" 


       

      The Keep seemed to be the centre of attraction from the shouting we could 
      hear!We started walking over to the keep. The sound of exuberant teenagers 
      could be heard inside as we started up the stairway. 
      "I suppose they'll learn something" Miss Bell mentioned 
      The two of us made our way around the roofless building, I tried to 
      imagine how it would have appeared five hundred years ago but the lack of 
      floors made it difficult. I spotted the girls outside. 
      "Hey there's Drew" 
      "Come on Drew, Mad's taking our picture!" 
      We'd finished inside anyway so Miss Bell joined me outside. 
      "Oh Miss Bell, could you take one of all of us?" 

"Sure Britney" 
We arranged ourselves on the steps and Miss Bell ended up taking six pictures on 
different cameras. The last one was taken by another visitor for us; Miss Bell 
squeezed in the middle! 
After hitting the gift shop and rescuing our lunch from the buses we settled 
down to eat. Rhod, Dan and I settled back against a tree and watched the world 
go by before doing a bit of eye resting. 
"GO GO AUGUSTA GO!" 
"What's that row?" I asked the world in general 
"Hey Drew, wake up" 
"It's the girls Drew" Dan mentioned 
I sat up to see what was going on. A few metres away the girls were stood 
watching Britney. 
"See it's easy" she told them 
"I feel daft" Bernie mumbled 
We watched as Brit and her mates started again, my girlfriends tried to imitate 
the moves and to be truthful it was quite comical! 
"Today Norfolk, tomorrow the Super Bowl" Rhod opined 
"If you're so clever, you have a go" Ally suggested 
"I don't know what you're laughing at either Drew Bond?" Mad added 
"Me? Nothing!" 
Britney got the look again 
"I reckon the guys should do it too" she suggested 
"Ot oh!" Dan stated 
"Oh come on guys, humour me?" 
"Scaredy cats!" Amy mentioned 
"Alright, but just this once" I allowed, pride, as they say, cometh before the 
fall! 
So that's how us three lads ended up trying to follow what Brit called 'a simple 
routine'. Simple my foot! We cavorted around for about ten minutes before I 
realised that we had an audience. 
Miss Bell applauded our efforts. 
"Well done boys, I can't wait to see you in uniform!" she joked 
"I think they'll look cute," Darla added 
"Well, we have to get going now, don't forget anything" 
"Right behind you" Britney told her teacher 


"That was fun Drew" Mad mentioned taking my arm 
"Maybe for you, I'll stick to riding a bike thanks" 
"Aww, come on Drew you know you enjoyed it" 
"I did not!" Mad went quiet, "what?" 
"Oh nothing" 
We clambered back into the bus and soon we were headed towards Thetford and the 
Brecklands, the big sandy heath and forest that make up the western edge of 
Norfolk. 
"You guys should start a cheer squad" Brit suggested 
"There's only three of us" Ally mentioned 
"I bet we could soon recruit a few more" Mad pointed out, "after all aren't 
cheerleaders supposed to be boy magnets?" 
"Kinda" Darla allowed 
"What'd be the point, there's nothing to cheer, we don't have American Football 
and the school doesn't compete at basketball" 
"Swim team? Soccer? And there's always Drew" Brit replied 
"Never thought of that" Mad agreed 
"You need a name" Sab stated 
"Meden Morons!" Rhod suggested, Ally was too quick for him this time catching 
him good and proper around the lughole. 
"Warsop Wally's" was my contribution; I was quick enough to avoid Mad's swipe 
though. 
"I know, how about something with Robin Hood" Ally put forward 
"Maid Marion's something?" Bernie offered 
"Sounds a bit X-rated" Mad pointed out 
"Sherwood Forest wave and jumpers" I joked 
"Hey you might have something there Drew" 
"I was only kidding!" 
"What about Sherwood Forester's?" Mad enquired 
"That's pretty good" Brit agreed, "Sherwood Foresters, yeah I like it!" 
"We've got a name but we can't cheer and there's only three of us!" Bern pointed 
out. 
"Well seven for the next few weeks, we can teach you some routines and stuff, I 
know Sab's already been showing Mad some stuff." Brit announced 
The bus lurched to one side, bringing our attention back to our current 
surroundings. The roadway we were following took us towards a large hut in the 
middle of a large swathe of heathland. There didn't appear to be anything here, 
a few lumps beyond the hut and what looked like a sort of conservatory fifty 
metres away. 
"What are we doing here Miss Bell?" Amy asked 
"Well I'm not sure what we are supposed to see but its called Grimes Graves" 
"A cemetery?" Sab asked 
"No it's a lot of flint mines" 
"Oh! That's a pity" Bernie mentioned 
"Come on kids, off the bus" Mr Wood called over. 
Well Dad would have been right at home here! Inside the hut was a small 
exhibition with models and stuff showing what the 'Graves' really are like below 
ground. Then there were some cabinets showing how the bits of flint were made 
into tools like arrowheads and knives and scrapers. According to one of the 
boards, the name is supposed to be from some local giant called Grim and this 
was supposed to be where he buried his victims! 
"Right then everyone" Mr Wood started, "if you can go outside and walk over to 
the little glass shed, yes Juliette you can come back to the shop afterwards." 
He must be a mind reader! 
We trotted out and reassembled at the glass shed. 
"Come on in" the young woman inside encouraged 
Once inside, we could see that there were hard hats hung on the only solid wall 
but the main feature was a ladder descending through a hole in the floor. 
"Who's first?" she asked 
"Come on Mad!" I dragged her forward 
"Okay young lady," she plonked a hat on my head, I didn't realise they were so 
heavy! "There's forty rungs, just step onto the top and take your time, don't 
look down" fortunately I don't think anyone else heard. 
Now it came to it I was nervous but I tried to cover it with a "going down!" 
comment. It was a bit scary, after the first few steps I was into the dark; 
there was a faint glow from below but not enough to really see by. Ten, another 
thirty to go! Then as my eyes adjusted the walls opened out and I risked a quick 
glance down into some sort of cave. I could hear and feel through the ladder 
what I guessed was Mad starting down above me. I finished the descent with a 
sigh of relief and stood to wait for the others. 
It took about ten minutes, but everyone who was coming assembled in the space. I 
say everyone who was coming, Amy and one of the older girls wimped and stayed on 
the surface! The curator girl joined us and for twenty minutes she told us all 
about how it was dug out and showed us some of the antlers used for digging and 
what we all thought was an obscene little naked statue of the Donii or Earth 
Mother, gross! 
The climb back up was much easier; you can see the circle of light at the top, 
which is kind of reassuring. 
"That was pretty cool" Brit mentioned as she followed me outside 
"Yeah, Dad should have come" 
"Come on you two, shopping!" Ally mentioned 
What is it with girls? I mean the shop here has a few books and postcards! I'll 
never understand them. 
Back onto the buses and we headed for our last stop of the day in Thetford. 
"That curator back in the mine, she thought you were a girl" Brit whispered in 
my ear. 
Bum! 
"Did she?" 
"You know she did, I heard her call you 'miss'!" 
Double bum! 
"She did? I didn't notice" 
"That's always happening" Mad turned round and put her two pen'ath in. 
"Maa-ad!" 
"Well it does" 
"What does?" Sabrina asked. This was getting out of hand. 
"Mad was just saying that Drew is always being 'mistaken' for a girl" 
Where's that hole? I'm not sure but it seems like Mad was deliberately trying to 
embarrass me, I thought we'd got a 'no Gaby' agreement. I just let the 
conversation go on round me; things have been going so okay and 'Gaby' free. 
Only our arrival at the 'Brecklands Museum' ended the discussion about mistaken 
identity, which fortunately had moved onto Britney being mistaken for Debbie. 
This last stop was a typical small museum and we all shuffled around the 
exhibits of local life. You'd be hard pressed to spend more than half an hour in 
there so the visit for us was pretty quick. Mr Wood managed to get us all 
together on the pavement. 
"It's four o'clock now, we need to leave here at five so we are going to trust 
you to behave and set you loose on Thetford. We shall only have a quick toilet 
stop on the way back so you might want to get a snack for later. Back at the 
buses for five." 
"Cool!" Darla stated 
"Come on, the town centre's this way" Ally started off up the street. 
So we spent best part of an hour doing the grockle bit around Thetford's flint 
faced streets and shops (again!) I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a nice enough 
place but the highlight for me was a couple of minutes checking out the kit in 
the window of 'Breckland Bikes'. We descended on a small supermarket that 
supplied some pop, crisps and sandwiches. 
Back on the bus, we started the journey home and the conversation returned to 
the formation of the 'Sherwood Foresters'. Dan and Rhod joined me in several 
hands of pontoon to pass the time and avoid the conversation. We soon joined the 
A14 and then it was a fast road nearly all the way home. As promised, we had a 
toilet stop at Colsterworth on the A1 before continuing up to Newark and the 
last bit of cross-country back home. 


Dad was waiting with Mrs Rose when we pulled back into the school just before 
seven thirty. 
"Good day?" 
"Excellent Mr B" Deb told him 
"You would have enjoyed it Dad" I mentioned 
"Do Mad and her friend need a lift?" Dad asked 
"You two want a lift" I called over 
"You haven't got room have you?" Mad queried 
"I'm sure you can all squeeze in for a couple of minutes" Dad advised 
It's a good job it's a fairly big car! Jules got to sit up front with Dad, Deb 
sat on one side, Sab sat in the middle with Britney wedged on the floor and I 
got the seat behind Dad with Mad on my sat on my knees. Sheesh she's heavy! We 
dropped them off at Peter's Acres but instead of heading home, Dad drove back 
into town to the Indian. 
"I don't know about you lot, but I didn't fancy cooking at this time." 
Maddy Bell 14.03.04  © 2004
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