Earlier this year, our Editor in Chief Sarah Cheverton judged entries to the Fratton Big Local writing competition, One Day in Fratton. Over 3 weeks, we are publishing the winners and runners up. One of this week’s 3 stories is a beautifully written and heart-breaking tale by Elisa Dragomir from Portsmouth Academy.
Runner up, 12 – 16 years category
A Day in Fratton by Elisa Dragomir
After the pirate One-Eye John cast out Prospero, Miranda, Ariel and Caliban from the island, One-Eye John found the treasure and left from where he came.
Prospero, Miranda, Ariel and Caliban left to the other side of the island where there was a time machine. They used it to go to the year 2017 in London, but because of a malfunction they arrived in Portsmouth.
Each of them had two bags of gold. They paid one bag of gold each to buy a house. They found one in Fratton with four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a huge backyard. After that they left to town to buy some furniture. Meanwhile, Prospero was complaining to the others that he was very hungry, so they found the Tesco Extra to buy some food.
On the way out they met an old man. They asked him about where there was a shop with nice clothes. The old man answered that in Commercial Road they could find many shops. He told them about Fratton, what they could visit there and that the Portsmouth FC team was playing in Portsmouth today at 17.00 pm. They said to the old man that they will be glad to go, but they didn’t know what football is and they were curious to find out. The old man asked about what their names were. His name was Charlie. They said goodbye to each other. Charlie went on his way and Prospero, Miranda, Ariel and Caliban left for home.
A few hours later, all four bought match tickets and found the Fratton Park stadium. Curiously, their place was next to Charlie. They sat down and started to watch the match. When the game was over they were very happy about their first football match ever.
They found a restaurant next to the stadium. It started raining. It was the first time they ate at a restaurant. They ate fish and chips, an ice-cream and they drank an orange juice. The rain stopped and they could go home to sleep.
When they woke up they saw the most beautiful sunrise in their life. All four ate the breakfast on the porch. Prospero, Miranda, Ariel and Caliban left to visit Fratton. They saw a lot of houses, shops, nice people. They visited City Council to make the papers that they needed.
The next destination was B&Q supermarket to buy some little trees and nice flowers to decorate their backyard. Miranda brought some beautiful white flowers for the porch. Prospero had a nice idea about what to do next.
They were wandering through Fratton from shop to shop. After a few hours of doing that, they found a nice park, Kingston Park, to relax for a while to quench their thirst. They met a nice girl called Elisa that shared with them her knowledge about Fratton.
Fratton was a fisher village before the 1870s that started to develop well in the industrial age. The Fratton common was created by Portsmouth in the 1870s and 1880s. In the past, Fratton was a huge railway depot, but in time it made way for a large shopping centre and for the Portsmouth FC stadium, Fratton Park.
In this way Elisa make known the history of Fratton. Prospero, Miranda, Ariel and Caliban enjoyed their lives in Fratton.
Judge’s comment, by Editor in Chief, Sarah Cheverton
Elisa’s story brought some of Shakespeare’s characters into the modern world and celebrated the people and places of Fratton, taking the reader on an exciting journey.
One Day in Fratton is an annual writing competition run by Fratton Big Local for residents of all ages. S&C is publishing the winners across three categories: 9-11 years, 12-16 years and 17 years and over, and you will be able to read all winners here as they’re published.
