Drayton Junior

Angela Lamb (right) yesterday, just before popping home for lunch (a boiled egg, two slices of toasted bread, a cup of coffee and a waggon wheel).

Ah! Sunshine! Spring time! Sap be a rising, ooh-arr! etc. You catch my drift. Early morning starts are much more fun when there is some daylight involved, as witnessed yesterday. I was back at Drayton School in north Norwich, so I had driven to Essex to stay with Amanda and James on the Tuesday. Even being this much closer to Norwich, it is still a two hour drive from sunny Basildon to sunny Drayton, so I was up at 5am and out of the door by 5.30am. Early mornings are also made more human now by being a completely "Sarah Kennedy Free Zone". Bliss! Vanessa Feltz may never be my first choice as a radio presenter, but in comparison to Sharah (sic - or is that hic?) Kennedy she is like Vaughan Williams' "Lark Ascending" compared to the "Crazy Frog" ring tone. i.e. only one of them makes you want to rip the radio out of it's housing and spray it with bullets from an Uzi before setting fire to it.

This was my fifth, or even possibly sixth return visit to Drayton School, and it is truly one of my favourites in Norfolk. I was warmly greeted by all the staff as usual, and particularly Angela Lamb who is a dead ringers for Julianne Moore (hence the picture above!). It was a group of about 80 children today and we were in the main hall with it's migraine inducing floor design. They were a lovely group, great costumes, very eager to learn and only one or two slightly lippy ones which is always a good thing. The morning went through at a fair old pace, with only a break for an assembly to slow us up. Lunch was an unappetising looking burger with saute potatoes, which goes to prove how wrong you can be as it was delicious. Mrs Lamb took the more intelligent option and went home for lunch.

The afternoon was a good one and culminated in what was originally a quiet joust that soon turned into a deafening joust. And just to prove me wrong, the gentlemen won AGAIN! They are now virtually equal footing with the ladies. This is much closer than last year. Our score now stands at:

GENTLEMEN 20 - 22 LADIES

They will now lock horns again on Tuesday at Radlett Prep School in Hertfordshire. After the show it was back to Basildon for cuddles with my son and a few games with him on Club Penguin on line (don't ask). And look outside - it's sunny again! And in Basildon! Surely there is a law against that sort of thing.

What a Blow Out...

Good King Hal's Mazda 323 but with tyres intact and not a pikey in sight.

Back to the south east again! Sunday 7th February I drive up to Essex to spend some nice quality time with my wife and son. We had a nice couple of days, but then come early Wednesday morning I was off at the crack of dawn heading up the merry old A12 towards Norfolk and a return visit to the wonderful Caister Junior School. The journey started off very well and I was making good progress, but it was cold outside and getting colder. We suddenly had a tremendous flurry of snow, but it didn't seem to settle. Getting up into Suffolk there was suddenly frequent announcements on the radio that because of icy conditions, the A47 east of Norwich was now shut - this is where I needed to go to get to Caister. I cut across country and was soon making even better progress - this was going to be a doddle! Then it snowed again. Almost as soon as it snowed the moisture on the road froze solid. A pleasant easy main A-road to drive along immediately morphed into a slick, sheet-ice, hell hole. A long queue of traffic snaked ahead of me and we crawled along at only just over 10 mph and keeping a big enough space to the car in front in case we needed to stop, something that would be virtually impossible on this surface. As 9am approached I phoned the school to explain why I was so late - they were great, very understanding and just said "get here safe and sound, that's all that matters". Well it was worth it when I got there! A big group of brilliant children, bright, sparky and full of laughter. Their costumes were as brilliant as ever. The teachers were lovely and welcoming as well, particularly Snow White! (She'll know who I mean!). The afternoon session was wild and full of laughter and the jousting was deafening! It was a rip-roaring success and ended with a very close finish with the Ladies team just triumphing. This brought our score now to:

GENTLEMEN 10 - 15 LADIES

It's getting interesting now folks!

Amidst more flurries of snow I headed up the now re-opened A47 and headed for Acle and my appointment with a Travelodge there! Now I hadn't stayed in a Travelodge since I did the Education Show at the NEC in Birmingham back in 2006 - well I was very pleasantly surprised. A big comfy room, double bed, en suite shower room, secluded lighting and a posh plasma screen telly on the wall. And all this for just £29! The receptionist was also very pleasant and charming and was very interested in my job as Henry! I veged out in my room for the evening listening to music on my MP3 player and reading the entertaining but slightly melancholy new Sue Townshend "Adrian Mole" book.

Up bright and early and over to Drayton for a return visit to another lovely school - Drayton Junior. Another warm welcome from Angela the lovely teacher and we were soon off and running. It was another superb group, very quiet to begin with but getting brighter and louder as the day went on and in the end we had a roof lifting jousting tournament. The Gents stormed to a resounding victory. This brings our score to:

GENTLEMEN 11 - 15 LADIES

This is getting closer and closer. Drayton was a lovely school to visit and I had a lovely chat at lunchtime with a charming young trainee teacher from Ireland. A wonderful young lady.

I began to head for Basildon and dinner with my wife and son. I made very good progress until I got just south of Colchester. While bombing along at about 75MPH my front right tyre suddenly blew. The car slewed sideways and I ended up rumbling along at about 20MPH desperate to get to a lay by. I finally stopped and got out to survey the damage. The tyre was shredded and hanging off the metal tyre rim in sad looking strips. I checked the spare tyre - it was a emergency space saver, suitable only for slow driving and about 50 miles in total, and I had to get back to Somerset. I was not a member of the RAC or AA. Problems. With several phone calls to my wife, my mother and a friend in Colchester, I was eventually a member of the RAC and awaiting saving. I had been sitting in the lay by for about an hour when a big vehicle suddenly screamed to a halt behind me. It turned out it was the Police asking me if I was OK, which was quite re-assuring. After they had gone the RAC phoned back and said someone would be with me within the hour. As soon as they had gone another big pick up suddenly screamed to a halt behind me. I saw a figure get out and starting circling round the back of my car. This must be the RAC bloke - the figure wandered round next to my door, so I wound down the window and said "hello". The effect was electric - the big figure dashed round to the near side of my car and for some reason began to look into the scrubby undergrowth next to the carriageway, as if looking for something. He then turned round, whistled nonchalantly, and waddled off back to his pick up. He drove off. What the hell was that all about? When the real RAC bloke turned up he said with absolute definition that the man in question must have been a "pikey" checking out my car to see if it was abandoned and if he could ransack it. Nice.

Well I eventually got the car sorted, a new tyre, and finally I was on my way - at just short of 9pm. The tyre had burst at about 5pm. I got back to Crewkerne at about 11.30pm and was just so exhausted that I immediately collapsed into bed. I was glad to be home, but too tired for any good this weekend, so my visit to the Lake District and return visit to see Andy and Kate near Penrith has had to be postponed.

Half term next week and a visit to Wales with my son to see his Grandparents. Should be fun!

Drayton Junior, Norfolk

After my recent visit to Norfolk, what do I need right now? That's right! Another visit to Norfolk! This was another of those re-organised visits from when we were all snowed in. Drayton is a fabulous school and one that I have visited on a number of occasions, so it was a delight to be back there again. Now, you know you are getting old when the head teachers and deputy heads all look like they have just come from a Ralph Reader Gang Show. The Deputy Head at Drayton looks about 12 years old, but he is a jolly nice chap and very welcoming. He has also come fresh foot from seeing Norwich beat Plymouth over the weekend, so he is also a very happy chap as well as jolly.

We had a great day, as usual at Drayton! The kids were fantastic and the teachers were brilliant. The day just seemed to shoot past at an incredible rate. Lunch was perplexing. I would call them meat balls, but they weren't round. They were more like meat hockey pucks. And what meat were they? I ate one. It was chicken, surely. No, perhaps not. It could be turkey. Hang on. No it's chicken. Or is it. No, tell a lie, it IS turkey. Actually come to think of it I reckon it's a combination of turkey and chicken. Turned out it was pork. I just pray that my Rabbi never finds out.

The afternoon joust was fantastic! The ladies built up a massive lead but the chaps started chipping away at the lead and getting closer and closer, but the ladies JUST held on for a famous victory. Drayton as ever was a fabulous school, welcoming, friendly, happy and a pleasure to visit. I can't wait to see them all again next year.

Three Days in Norfolk...

After a couple of days recovering from the Abbotsbury Experience, I was back to being a proper Henry again with three days in two schools in one county! It was a return visit to Drayton Middle School in the village of Drayton near Norwich on Wednesday. This was a lovely return visit and a pleasure to see so many familiar faces again. The children were, as ever, brilliant with some fabulous costumes, great knowledge of Tudor times and a willingness to join in and have some fun, as well as learning, in to the bargain. We seemed to race through the morning (despite me still having a heavy cold) and the afternoon went even better. The gents won a thrilling jousting tournament by a short head.

Wednesday and Thursday night I stayed with my friends Ian Weston and Sue English. It was so nice to see Ian again - he is such a wonderful person, one of my oldest and dearest friends. It had been far too long since I had last seen the dear chap. Sue was her usual self, so no change there really.

On Thursday and Friday I was at Falcon School in Sprouston on the outskirts of Norwich, with two big year groups. I had about 96 year 6 pupils on the Thursday, and what must have been a similar number of year 5's today (Friday). They were magnificent groups - not a single child had missed out on a costume, the teachers were universally friendly and accomodating, and the caretaker had a really groovy Sony Walkman with massive headphones that seemed permanantly attached to his head! Of the jousting, well what can I say? It was business as usual as the ladies romped to victory on both occasions.

A quick drive home to my parents house (they are away at present), then on to my in-laws in Dunton for dinner, and then home to lovely Somerset down the lonely A303.

Next week I am back at St Michael's at Wimborne in Dorset on Monday and a new school, Countess Gytha at Queen Camel on Tuesday. Friday I am back on BBC Somerset for another appearance on the Morning Jo Show.