Amber Sands by Madeline Dando

Author:Madeline Dando
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: eBook Partnership
Published: 2014-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty One

The next day letters went home with the children and the meeting took place the following Monday evening at seven o’clock in the main hall. It was often difficult to get parents to come into the school and Amser made sure there was enough information in the letter to encourage families to attend. It was the mention of a free holiday that did the trick and by the time the meeting started the hall was packed.

The headmaster took to his feet and welcomed everyone. For once there wasn’t any negativity or sarcasm in his voice and there was a buzz around the hall as the kids talked amongst themselves. A holiday was something some of the children only dreamt of.

Then Mr Stead-Simpson took time to talk about Amser before introducing her to the invited parents and guardians. Amser had been waiting for this moment since the day she started the project. She was excited and leapt to her feet in an instant. The teacher explained to the audience how the project would work and stressed it was open to all children in year nine.

However when she’d finished her presentation and invited questions it soon became clear there was a lot of suspicion.

‘What’s the catch?’ asked one lady.

‘Who are these donors?’ enquired another.

‘There must be something to pay, we can’t afford anything,’ said another.

‘It will be same as usual if you’ve got money its fine but if you haven’t, well hard luck,’ shouted a voice from the back of the hall.

Amser stood there as one person after another voiced their opinion. She was a little shell-shocked.

When the hall fell silent she said, ‘OK I’ve listened to you and I understand your concerns. I make this commitment now: the holiday is going to be free. I’m not interested in who’s got money and who hasn’t; this is a challenge for all of the children in year nine. They have to earn their holiday, that’s all. There are up to thirty places and it’s up to the children to make a difference in our wonderful community and impress the judges. It will be a very special holiday I can assure you.’

The parents had been sent a copy of the questionnaire; they were told when the competition was to begin and when it would end.

Amser said, ‘You’ll have noticed there’s a number at the top of the form that is repeated at the bottom on a tear-off slip. Also there’s a place for the child’s name on the slip.’

She added, ‘When the questionnaires are returned I’ll go and see what the children have done. I’ll speak to the people involved to make sure the forms have been completed accurately. Then I’ll keep the slips at the bottom and hand the questionnaires to the judges. They will therefore make their decisions without knowing who the children are or their backgrounds.’

There was still a lot of mistrust in the audience. Many of the parents thought it was a bit of a cheek asking children to help in the community.

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