But thankfully time marches on. The years slowly passed. My “release date” arrived, my “sentence” was served, and I said good-riddance to school life forever. There was, however, a down side. A chapter in my childhood was still incomplete. Whatever became of Ralph, Jack and Peterkin?

Many years later, sheltering from a sudden summer downpour, I happened to be in a Northampton bookshop casually browsing the paperbacks. As I scanned the line of titles, one in particular caught my eye, sending a shiver down my spine. There, squeezed between two Charles Dickens’ classics, Oliver Twist and The Old Curiosity Shop, was a slim and solitary volume of Coral Island!

Hastily I grabbed the book from the shelf, afraid that somebody might get to it before I could; which was practically impossible as I was the only person in the shop. I paid the bookseller, never bothered to wait for a bag or the receipt, and walked out into the rain clutching my valuable prize.

That night at home as I flicked through the pages, making sure that the boys were still on the island just as we had left them all those years ago, surrounded by pirates and wild animals; memories of the tweed-skirted teacher, the aroma of stew drifting from the school kitchen, frog-spawn Tapioca and the muted twang of rubber bands came flooding back.

Making myself cosy in an armchair, I skipped the bulk of the book and turned to the last few chapters. Now, at last, forty-five years later, I would actually discover how the story of Coral Island finally ended.

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Other autobiographical stories in the collection include: 

• A Double-Decker Mystery That Lasted Nearly 40 Years
• And The Tears Trickled Down The Little Boy’s Face
• One Meat Pie and Two Forks
• And The White Cotton Sheets Were Freezing
• Less of a School – More of a Prison
• Santa Claus Is Hiding Behind The Curtain
• Reaching For The Stars
• The Bread Roll Lady

Further church, history and railway-related articles by Charles Moorhen

Overcome ‘Writer’s Block’ With Just One Word

Henry Bessemer’s Extravagant Attempt to Cure His Seasickness

Paper Recycling in the 1950’s

Caravan and Motorhome Dealers Directory 2011

Fall and Rise of the Great Selborne Yew Tree

Lost Medieval Church Paintings of England

Exploring The English Church

Origins of Traditional Wedding Customs

The Winding Country Lanes of England

12 Practical Tips For Safer Winter Driving

Did Charles Dickens Really Invent ‘Miss Havisham’

A Unique, Unusual and Fascinating Farm Gate

Bricked Up Heart and a Ghost in Woodford Church

The English Church: The Baptismal Font

The English Church: Exploring the English Churchyard

English Churches: Selborne Church in Hampshire

English Churches: Cheriton Church in Hampshire

English Churches: Brixworth Church in Northamptonshire

English Churches: Clifton Hampden Church in Oxfordshire

English Churches: Charwelton Church in Northamptonshire

She Became the Fastest Typist in Europe

Timothy Dexter: Emperor of America

Timothy Dexter: Farm Boy to Millionaire

The Popularity of the Railway Camping Coach

Origin of the ‘Humpty Dumpty’ Nursery Rhyme

The Tudor Origin of the ‘Mary Mary Quite Contrary’ Nursery Rhyme

The Intriguing Origin of the ‘Little Jack Horner’ Nursery Rhyme

The Great Little Brownie 127 Camera

Smith’s Crisps and the Little Blue Salt Bag

The Grisly Murder of ‘Sweet Fanny Adams’ (and the origin of the saying ‘sweet FA’)

Britain’s First Railway Murder

The Historical ‘Uffington White Horse’

London’s Unique Funeral Railway

15 Historical Railway Facts You Possibly Never Knew

Is This The Oldest Woolworth’s Christmas Tree In The World

Superstitions Surrounding Babies

Five Easy Steps to Improve Your Cycling Enjoyment

Great Little Wind-Up Radio

‘Pure White Crosses’: World War One Poem

‘Pure White Crosses’: (The Musical Version of the Poem)

‘They Made Me Stay Behind’: World War One Poem

‘I Believed You Honourable’: World War One Poem

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