CHRONICLES
OF HALDEN

by

Robin Gordon

Copyright Robin Gordon, 2010
Index


 I. Alarms and Excursions
   
Miss Hardacre's announcemant that she has discovered an attempt at rape at the school throws the cat among the pigeons as the town talks of little else and the local journalist looks for a good story to sell to the national dailies - but is the truth really what it seems?


II. The Banner

    The story of the wars between the youthful street gangs of Halden and the neighbouring town of Swarrell, in which our heroes lose, not their lives but their trousers, and suffer not death but debagging.  The Banner was written first as four plays, then rewritten as a mock-heroic epic.  

1.  Sid
    While attempting to escape danger the despised Sid accidentally catures Nails, the leader of the Halden gang.  Nails is debagged and his jeans become the banner of Swarrell.
2.  Nails
    Nails stays away from the gang and falls for Janice who thinks that by capturing his soul for the Lord she can impress the Curate Mouse.
3.  Effie
    Effie, inspired by a sermon on the Beatitudes given by Mouse agrees to help Tommo capture the Banner and take it back to Halden.
4.  The Battle
    The loss of both prisoners and Banner leave King's gang in embarrassment, but the gathering of the gangs gives them an army to take on Halden, who invade under Tommo's leadership.  King declares that this is to be a real battle with no childish pranks like debagging.  Norah has other ideas.

III. Brian's Saga
   
This story is both the keystone in the structure of the chronicles of Halden and one which breaks out of the narrow bounds of Halden life into mythological realms.
    Brian, a schoolboy, is obsessed with religion and guilt over masturbation.  He attempts to impose "cleanliness" on his classmates, but they are menaced by bully Johnny Cowan's protection racket.
    He reads the story of St Sweyne, a Viking who became patron saint of Swardale, and this leads to an obsession with the "pagan beliefs" associated with the Worm-Master of Ormsgarth.  Brian's attemps to thwart the Worm-Master alsmost lead the earth into an eternal winter.
  
IV. A Collection of shorter Halden stories
1. A Tale of three sisters
    Dr Stephenson's alcoholism after the death of his wife loses him his fashionable London practice and the family are exiled to Swardale.  The three sisters, traumatised by the changes in their fortune, fail their school exams and depend on their younger brother, Andrew to rescue them.  He, however, is obliged to marry a local girl, Nancy, who dominated the household.  Irene hopes to marry one of her two suitors and persuade him to take her back to London, but ...
2. The little friends
    Sheila, the real leader of the group known as Duncan's gang, leads them on a quest for revenge on Daniel Radcliffe for his humiliation of her brother, Robin.
3. Anniversary Party
    Sandra tells the story of her brother's refusal to stay at home for their parents wedding anniversary, and what befell him at the Halden United football match

V. Les Épatants
    George Walker decides to retire to Halden when he sees the former home of his sixth-form friend, Sebastian, up for sale.  That year in the lower sixth, when they formed a group called Les Épatants to revolt against bourgeois morality, Victorian values and their parent's generation, altered the course of their lives.

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