Free Sutton SET sample papers: English, maths and answer sheets

The lantern in the workshop

[1]The lantern had stood on the workshop shelf for as long as Mina could remember. Its glass was smoky and one brass foot was missing. Whenever visitors asked about it, Grandad said, "That one is waiting for the right weather." Mina had taken this to mean a storm. On the first properly wet Saturday of October, she cleared a space on the bench.

[2]Grandad brought down the lantern but did not light it. He gave Mina a cloth, a shallow tray and a notebook. "Before we do anything," he said, "tell me what we have." Mina listed three feet, a stiff handle and a door that would not quite shut. She was disappointed by this small inventory. She had imagined sparks, perhaps, or a flame leaping into life.

[3]Under the grime on the base she discovered a name, scratched rather than stamped: E. Vale. Grandad's hand, which had been reaching for the oil can, stopped. "My sister," he said. "She used to carry it to the station when our father came home late." Mina had never heard him mention a sister. She began to ask what had happened to her, then noticed the care with which he folded the cloth.

[4]Instead, Mina asked whether they should polish the scratches away. "Not those," Grandad replied. Together they cleaned around the name. The door still hung crookedly. Mina suggested bending its hinge; Grandad fetched a smaller tool and showed her how to move it a little at a time. "Metal remembers a hard push," he said.

[5]By tea time the lantern stood steadily on a temporary wooden foot. It had not been lit. Grandad set it by the window and turned the scratched name towards the room. Mina wrote one more line in her notebook: Ask before making something look new. Outside, the rain had stopped, though neither of them had noticed when.