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.