Brentwood Preparatory School Magazine

Brentwood School Preparatory 55 Stomp Year Four were inspired by the group ‘Stomp’ who create music using household objects (as well as many other everyday items) to create their own instruments using things found around the home. Biscuit tins were turned into drums, shoe boxes adorned with elastic bands became makeshift guitars, cheese graters turned into guiros and plastic bottles filled with rice became maracas. The children then composed and performed their own, very successful, music using the new ‘instruments’ which were capable of producing a wide variety of musical timbres. Trapped “Trapped. I remember it like it was yesterday.” Grandpa Alan was a keen story-teller. His 3 grandchildren adored him and his tales. “Listen,” he would say, “to the birds in the night sky.” This dull Wednesday had turned into the most magical day of the week. All the children, Sally, Thomas and Tim, closed their eyes and imagined. “We were soaring through the midnight blues, when suddenly, the Nazis arrived. It was a misty night of 1915. I knew the war would have to end. It had been a peaceful morning, but the feeling was gone. The Nazis were here.” “Grandpa!” exclaimed Tim, “What did you do?” “I did what any man would have done. I surrendered.” “YOU WHAT?” screamed all the children, simultaneously. “I had no choice. So there we were in the Nazi cells, trapped. They fed us minute portions of food, and we were starving. The cell walls were bare, and we were dying. My best mate Sergeant Turing was blind because of lack of food. One day, 2 of our finest men were caught trying to escape, and the Nazis tied them to a tree, left them there, then shot them. The worst part was it was in front of us all.” Tears were welling in Grandpa’s eyes. He held them back. “But there were funny parts as well,” he carried on, “the funniest of which was when a good friend of mine was trying to create all sorts of mischief. His name was Marshal Berners-Lee. One night, he got sent to the Chief’s office with me. He swore on his brother’s heart he didn’t do anything so they let him go. On the way back, I told him that I was sorry he swore on his brother’s heart. He simply said to me that it was all right because he didn’t have a brother! We hooted all night.” “But how did you get out of the mess?” asked Sally, still chuckling. “Yes, how did you?” agreed Thomas. “Well, a German Cadet took pity on us and showed us the exit, but he didn’t let us out. He daren’t. The fiery temper of the Chief would kill him. So we had no chance.” Grandpa blushed ever so slightly. “Our escape wasn’t that heroic… It was all due to a tiny bird. See, his beak was razor-sharp so he could easily put it through the lock and bang! We would get out quickly. The last of our breakfast was a few pellets of uncooked corn. So we held it out to lure the bird in. But he was smart. He knew we wanted him to be a key so straight away he opened the door and we threw the pellets on the floor. The bird followed us all the way back to Britain. We called him Saviour, which was quite suiting.” Sally, Thomas and Tim applauded the majestic man with the magical tale. “Saviour died way back at the end of the war, in 1918, but my memories are still with him and only him.” The tears which had been held back were now fighting to come out in streams. The children put a supportive arm around Grandpa Alan and hugged him. The next Wednesday would come gradually but it was worth the wait. People like Grandpa only came rarely. THE END by Devanshi Sinha A Fly on the Wall - Year Four