An Extra Dimension a story about the children of Hallbankgate - by Vivien Jones ‘It’s just about time to get on the coach. Anyone seen George ?’ Everyone looked around but George was nowhere to be seen. ‘Let’s split up and meet back here in 10 minutes. Willow, Seb and Thomas - you run upstairs and look. Freddy, Connor and Lewis - you check the Education Room. Sam, Rory and Alex - you see if he’s in the toilets. Hannah, Emilia and Leah - could you check the cafe - he loves cake. And the rest of you, could you look around outside in case he wanted another look at the great engine out there. We have to leave in 5 minutes. ’ Miss Arnold looked a bit anxious but all the children set off to look for George willingly. But where was George ? A little earlier he was with Lockie and Adam looking at a great vat full of explosives - the other two moved onto the next case but George wanted a closer look and stayed behind. He became aware of a young woman standing beside him. She wore rather odd clothes, like a cotton tracksuit and a hat. She smiled at him. ‘That’s where I work,’ she said, pointing to the explosives vat. ‘At the museum ? Are you a guide here ? ’ George asked. ‘No, not exactly. I work in the factory. Shall I show you ?’ She replied. Without a word she took his hand and led him to a door that he hadn’t noticed on the way round. ‘I should probably tell the others if I’m going somewhere.’ George said. ‘Do you think they’d be interested too ? I’ll show them if you gather them.’ Just then George spotted Elliott, obviously looking for him. He beckoned him over. ‘Quick, Elliott, go and get the others.’ George sounded so excited Elliott did exactly what he said to do. Very quickly he had all the children standing in a circle around George. Evangeline parked her chair neatly in beside them. The girl stepped forward. ‘My name is Margaret and I’m going to take you on a little extra tour of the museum. It’s not often available - only to those who show a strong interest in what we have here. But you must all come.’ Jemina, Jesse and Jasmine looked at one another, then at Margaret. ‘But what about Miss Arnold ? She’s waiting for us at the entrance.’ said Jemima. ‘She sent us to look for George.’ said Jesse. ‘We’d better not keep her waiting.’ said Jasmine. Margaret smiled and said ‘Don’t you worry about Miss Arnold. The museum will look after her.’ Without another word, she turned and headed for the door that no-one had noticed on the way round. And one by one all twenty four children found themselves following her through it, even the Three Js, Jemima, Jess and Jasmine, who weren’t quite sure if they should go. They found themselves in a huge building with huge vats just like the one in the museum, as far as the eye could see, but these were filled to the brim with what looked like cotton wool. Overhead was a mass of metal pipes that dipped down into the vats and beside each a couple of girls were kneading the cotton. They were dressed in the same way as Margaret. They didn’t seem to notice Margaret or the children but just went on working. In the echoing space the only sound was of pipes gurgling and girls humming or singing softly as they worked. ‘What’s in the pipes ?’ asked Charlotte. ‘Nitroglycerine. Nasty stuff,’answered Margaret. ‘We have to mix the two together.’ ‘I think I can taste it on my lips. A kind of tingling.’ Charlotte said. ‘You get used to that if you’re here everyday.’ Margaret told them. ‘It does smell bad in here too.’ said Beth. ‘You get used to that too.’ Margaret replied. ‘It’s not as bad as the acid plants. But we have to be very, very careful. Do you know why ?’ Emily and Niamh spoke together. ‘Sparks!’ ‘Yes, sparks. Where the pipes are joined to the vats they can’t use solder, the acids would dissolve the joints and then the pipes would leak, so they have to weld them together with lead that is smooth on the inside. And what else might cause sparks ?’ Emily said, ‘Metal earrings.’ Niamh added, ‘Hairpins.’ ‘Metal buttons.’ They both said. ‘Quite right. You have been paying attention. Oh look, here’s Harry, our maintenance man. He has to keep on eye on all the machines and pipework, make sure there are no leaks or breakages.’ And old man stepped forward. ‘Good morning, Margaret. Good morning children.’ he said. ‘What’s that squeaking noise I can hear ? Is it your chair, little girl, or is it you ?’ he spoke to Evangeline. She laughed. ‘My chair has a wheel that squeaks when I turn. It’s been getting worse recently. Can you fix it ?’ she asked. Harry bent down and looked at the wheel. From his overall pocket he took out a tiny can of oil and touched it to the wheel bearing. ‘That should do it, he said. ‘ Now I have an important pice of work to do - a bit of very careful measurement to make with these……’ he took out a tool from his pocket. ‘Feeler gauges !’ called out at least a dozen voices. ‘Goodness me, how did you know that ?’ ‘Richard told us.’ said Lewis. ‘And who is Richard might I ask ?’ Harry demanded. ‘He brought lots of old tools to our class and he told us about them. We sketched them and wrote about them.’ answered Lewis. Harry scratched his head. ‘They were all hand tools - number punches, a boxwood four-fold rule,a pipe wrench and a pin vice and a huge brass hinge…..’ George added. ‘Well then - that’s very interesting. I like to think that someday my grandsons will know about my work and talk about it to their children. That might take us right into the 21st century ! Ah well, can’t stop, nice meeing you. Thank you, Margaret.’ And he wandered on. The children waved him goodbye. ‘I mustn’t stop either. Time to get you back to Miss Arnold.’ ‘Won’t she be cross that we’ve been away for so long?’ Adam asked. Margaret smiled. ‘No. This is a very special part of the museum, only available to special groups. Miss Arnold will think only five minutes have passed since she sent you off to look for George. But we must go back now.’ So the children trekked back to the entrance where Miss Arnold was waiting. ‘That was quick,’ she said. ‘I thought I was going to have to round you up. Let’s go then.’ She didn’t seem to have missed them at all. Somehow, the children knew they wouldn’t speak about Margaret and Harry and their extra visit but they were all quite thoughtful on the way home. Something special had happened to them, each and every one, and each and everyone would never forget it. Collapsible text is great for longer section titles and descriptions. It gives people access to all the info they need, while keeping your layout clean. 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