
Is the grandad of Jack Barclay? Or he’d like to be.
When I first started writing about, Jack and Billy the Dragon, I was semi-retired and working as the caretaker/site manager at Bilton Community Primary School. It soon became clear to me what a delight it was engaging in small talk with the children at the school. As I wandered through the grounds of ‘Cosy Primary’ with my tool bag – the children would ask every five minutes.
“What are you doing, Mr. B?”
Sometimes, they’d watch with eyes gaping when I opened up the door to the boiler house. At first sight, they could see the stone staircase leading down underneath the school. It was dark and dreary, a bit like a dragon’s cave.
“What’s down there, Mr. B?”
I’d tell them I had a pet dragon. After the Oooo’s and Ahh’s had gone quiet, I’d explain how I found a baby dragon one day after a weird summer storm caused its mother to crash land on the school playing field.
What followed was a torrent of questions, and “Can we see it?” I had to explain that the baby dragon slept during the day and was only allowed out on a night time. More soon…