Senior School Scouts

Signalling under Mr. Jeffs has been proceeding as usual, and a field telephone is in action between the Rise and School House. Apart from the telephone, the lamps have been the only means of signalling as the heliographs have been requisitioned for the Army.

The band has been unable to make much headway this term owing to absentees.

SHOOTING.

Altogether, eight league matches have been shot off this term, and up to date, nine out of twelve league matches have been won, which says much for the skill of the Shooting VIII when one considers that several people have been away ill for part of the term. League Results:— End of Last Term. St. Peter's 129 Repton 116 118 Bromsgrove [no card] Won Won 115 Ampleforth 125 Lost 127 Stowe 124 Won 7/ 114 Royal G.S. 128 Lost This Term. St. Peter's Pf 124 Witham 119 129 Repton B. 119 127 Bromsgrove [no card] Won Won Won ff 128 Uppingham 124 Forest School 126 118 Won Won

9 f

130 Oundle A. 120 Won t1 39 125 Repton 126 King William's 132 118 Lost Won

Congratulations to D. Cole and J.McN. Inglis on being awarded their Shooting Colours.

This term organised Scouting has been difficult and most of the parades have been unofficial and poorly attended. In spite of this some of the Scouts have done very useful work.

The task of collecting and disposing of the School's waste paper was taken on by the Scouts, as is being done all over the country. It was a big job for the few volunteers, but was carried out without much trouble with the aid of our improvised mechanical transport! We were bewildered 52

at times by the extraordinary assortment of `junk ' that people try to pass off as waste paper, ranging from old electric light bulbs to orange peel. The inclusion of such materials makes this business of sorting an enlightening but dangerous task.

Towards the end of term, when circumstances permitted, an Ambulance class was started. This will be continued next term.

Some Scouts have been worried about our Summer camping. They can be reassured now as arrangements have been made provisionally for a beautiful private camp site within easy reach of the School. It is hoped that we shall be able to have more week-end camps as successful as last year's.

There has been very little activity among the Senior Scouts this term. We assume that this is due to the approaching examinations which unfortunately come at a time when Scouting should be at its highest.

HOCKEY, 1940.

ST. PETER'S SCHOOL v. WORKSOP. Result—St. Peter's School 1, Worksop 3. Played at Worksop, Wednesday, February 28th.

A team, depleted by illness, lost to Worksop 1-3.

Neither of the teams had had much practice and the standard of Hockey produced was surprisingly good.

The game started in a drizzle with an attack by the School. Sleight took the ball down the wing and centred, but the forwards tapped it about in the circle and it was cleared.

It became apparent that our forwards were beset with the same sin that has marked them for the last few years— an inability to hit hard in the circle. They can get up to the circle, but once inside they seem stricken with paralysis and, with the exception of Milburn, they pat the ball about until it is cleared.

The School were doing most of the attacking, the halves, well up, hitting the ball back as soon as it was cleared, but no goal resulted. Then at last it came ; Milburn got the ball from a clearance, and, with Sleight, took the ball down the right wing. Sleight centred and Buckler was there to push it past Middleton into the goal.

In the first half the Worksop attack was held by the School. Knox was making repeated efforts to beat Belchamber, but Belchamber was playing magnificently and stopped him every time. Evans was more concerned with 53

defence than attack, and so a dangerous left wing was bottled up.

Just before half-time the School lost their grip. Their attacks had only met with one success and their forwards weren't combining well. Cole tended to centre too late and was usually tackled before he could part with the ball. Worksop began to feed their left, and with Evans playing well up it became a dangerous left wing. Then Hunting got the ball and had a hard shot at goal. The ball rose, hit Garnham and went into goal.

Evans was playing a grand game for Worksop; he was back in defence and started most of their attacks. Within a few minutes of Worksop's first goal he sent Knox away down the wing. Knox centred, and following up Hunting's shot, put the ball into the net.

The School made great efforts to score an equaliser, but the Worksop defence, with Graham playing a sound game, kept them out. Milburn put the ball into the net from just outside the circle, but nothing else resulted.

Steele, who is not used to the centre-half position, was tending to give Hunting too much rope, and this, coupled with the fact that the backs were standing square, enabled Hunting to score Worksop's third goal.

No side came with the School making desperate attacks on the Worksop goal.

The stickwork of the School team was much better than that of Worksop, but Worksop played as a team, whereas the School team played as eleven individuals, sometimes combining in groups of two or three.

Graham and Evans were the best of the Worksop team, and Belchamber played a grand game for the School. Teams :-

St. Peter's—J. S. Garnham ; H. A. Belchamber, J. H. Butler; R. C. Lynch, F. F. Steele, P. M. Steele ; J. I. Sleight, H. A. Milburn, F. N. Buckler, J. R. Frost, D Cole

Worksop—S. A. Middleton ; P. M. Graham, H. D. Jenison ; R. W. Naismith, P. F. Stow, G. Watner-Smith ; W. B. Knox, A. L. Evans, S. J. Hunting, P. Carmichael, J. B. Millar.

ST. PETER'S SCHOOL v. ROYAL ENGINEERS. Played at Home, March 16th. Result—St. Peter's School 3, Royal Engineers 2.

The School fielded an exceptionally young team, perhaps one of the youngest that the School has ever fielded, owing to the fact that 6 regular members of the XI were absent. 54

From the start the School were on the attack, and several times they were in their opponents' circle, but owing to some poor shooting and some fine saves by the goalkeeper, they failed to score. The Royal Engineers then made their first attacking movement and this resulted in a goal, which Garnham could hardly have hoped to have saved. The School immediately attacked again and Buckler scored an equalising goal, this being followed immediately afterwards by another goal, this time scored by Broadhurst.

For the rest of the half the School were pressing for most of the time, but there were occasional rushes by the Engineers into the School circle which were all beaten off. Just before half-time Frost scored the School's third and last goal.

The second half was a repetition of the first, with the School pressing for most of the time and with spasmodic rushes downfield by the Engineers, one of these resulting in their second goal. The School shooting was again poor, and in this way many scoring opportunities were wasted.

Team—J. S. Garnham ; H. C. Belchamber, J. H. Butler; F. N. Buckler, A. S. Clephan, J. R. Frost; D. Cole, A. Broadhurst, T. F. Cookson, J. Caley, P. M. Steele.

SENIOR HOUSE HOCKEY. SEMI-FINAL. Result—School House 2, Rise 1.

The Semi-final of the House Hockey was played Thursday, 7th March.

Both teams were depleted through illness. This probably accounted for the low standard of hockey.

After the first five minutes it was obvious that it was going to be a hard struggle.

In the first half, the play was fairly open and the Rise did most of the attacking; their attacks lacked cohesion and never got far against Milburn and Clephan. The Rise halves dominated the game, starting attacks and breaking up attacks by School House.

Neither goal was in any real danger as the forwards on both sides were the weakest parts of their teams. Frost, Sleight and Buckler provided what fireworks there were in the shape of individual efforts to score, but the defences were on top. Half-time came with no score but with the Rise doing the major part of the attacking.

In the second half School House began to wake up, and for the first time in the game, Taylor, the Rise goalie, 55

touched the ball. It was in an attempt to stop a shot from Sleight, but the ball glanced off his pads and went in.

The Rise now made a series of attacks in an effort to get an equaliser, and their backs and halves went right up the field. This proved to be their undoing; Sleight got the ball, hit it right down the field, went racing after it, and had scored before any of the defenders could intervene.

The Rise continued to attack, but the School House defence was too good for them, only Frost proving really dangerous.

School House then forced a short corner and a goal was saved by Steele, who, in the nick of time, flicked the ball clear off the goal line.

A long corner followed, but Steele cleared to Shillitoe and another Rise attack started.

Frost was making great efforts to score, but Garnham was playing his usual fine game and stopped all his shots.

Then at last the Rise scored ; Coombe dribbled the ball into the circle and, with Garnham on the floor, put the ball into the net.

Soon after this no-side was blown with School House victors by two goals to one.

Milburn, Clephan, Buckler and Garnham were the best of the School House team, and for the Rise, their halves and Frost were outstanding.

Teams:—

School House—J. S. Garnham ; A. S. Clephan, G. W. Vero; D. J. Burton, H. A. Milburn, J. P. Caley ; J. I. Sleight, F. N. Buckler, F. B. Davison, D. G. Middleton, D. Anderson.

Rise—D. Taylor; J. H. Butler, S. H. Beetham ; K. M. Ramsden, F. F. Steele, P. M. Steele; J. B. Shillito, P. L. Hort, J. R. Frost, H. L. Taylor, A. P. Coombe

SENIOR HOUSE HOCKEY. FINAL. Result—School House 6, Temple 0.

The Final of the Senior House Hockey was played on 8th March.

As is usual in House matches the hockey was, with the exception of that produced by a few people, rotten.

On paper, School House, with their fast-moving right wing, were the potential winners, and the result, 6-0 in their favour, is a good indication of the run of the game.

The game started with a series of attacks by School House, which were cleared by Lynch before they reached the circle. The play then pottered about in midfield, and it 56

began to look as though the game was going to deteriorate into a colourless affair with defences on top for both sides.

We thought if School House could once get a shot at goal they would, with only boater Inglis holding the fort, score; and so when Sleight at last got into the circle and shot we were mentally registering School House's first goal ; but lo and behold, what do we see but boater Inglis saving and kicking clear with his feet in a manner worthy of a veteran goalie, a goalie who was obviously used to this sort of thing and could do it in his sleep if wanted.

Soon after this, Davison scored School House's first goal after a loose maul in the circle.

School House then started a series of attacks, and their forwards left one astounded by their inability to hit the ball in the circle ; centres from the right would travel across the circle and we would be treated to the sight of three School House forwards wildly waving their sticks at the ball in the vain hope of hitting it.

Sleight put School House further ahead just before half-time.

After half-time School House attacked almost continually, but the Temple defence was surprisingly strong, Lynch, Denison and Inglis being outstanding, and nothing much got past them. The School House attacks were engineered chiefly by Milburn and Buckler, both of whom played excellent games.

Then came a spate of goals ; Milburn scored from a corner and Sleight notched another after Inglis had saved three certain goals.

Sleight tended to keep too near the centre of the field for a wing, but made several good runs, and with Buckler's help at inside this wing was a continual menace to Temple.

Davison finally managed to hit a centre from the right and put School House's total up to five.

Temple made a few desultory attacks, but Broadhurst was their only forward who knew much hockey, and he had not enough dash for an individual effort. School House goal was in danger several times though, but Garnham and Clephan managed to clear every time.

Just on time Sleight made a good run down the right wing and the School House total became six.

Milburn and Buckler were outstanding for the victors ; they engineered most of the attacks and stopped a lot of Temple attacks. Sleight was dangerous on the wing and Clephan was sound at back. Lynch and Denison did stout work for Temple, but undoubtedly the man of the match was a boater—Inglis. We take off our hats to his goal-keeping. 57

JUNIOR HOUSE HOCKEY. Result—Rise 11, Temple 0.

The Semi-final between the Rise and Temple was played on Friday, March 1st. The two teams contained the usual sprinkling of boaters and the game provided as high a standard of amusement as last year. The game started with a forward rush by the Rise ; their forwards made a compact bunch with the ball in the middle and by dint of kicking, barging and beating Temple shins, the ball was propelled into the circle, where Ruddock cannoned it in off one of the Temple backs. Temple then made a haphazard attack which got them as far as their own twenty-five, but the Rise, with their superior footwork, forced a corner. Temple gave Taylor approximately half-an-hour to play about with the ball, and, after hitting most of the circle into the goalmouth, he finally connected with the ball, which whistled through the Temple team and went in off Terry's head.

The usual mêlées in mid-field were held, everyone hitting anything they could see. When, by an obvious effort of memory, they remembered the ball, there would be a rush of a yard or so, occasionally followed by a massive " beat," which would send the teams off in full cry after the ball (sometimes).

The boater technique of dealing with the ball is classic and was well worth noting. The ball would trundle along towards the boater, watching with a smirk and an eagle eye; just as the ball is about to pass him, he jumps into action— there is a spraying of legs, a flurry of stick and arms, a slash at the ball, a miss as the ball sinks into a pot-hole or bounces over the stick, and the boater crashes onto the floor.

There were occasionally some glimpses of hockey; Walker was the strong man of the Temple defence—their attack was non-existent—and Coombe made some good runs down the left wing for the Rise. Hillyard (F. H.) was invincible at back and Robson displayed his usual high standard of Rugger—finishing several classic pieces of work by gracefully sinking to his knees and bowing his face in the dust. There were some good moments—scrums in the Temple circle, boaters back-sticking, and looking up to see if the umpire had noticed, Taylor's goals from corners and Wright's third goal, when he whistled into the circle to smash the ball into the net. Scorers for the Rise were Wright (R. A.) 2, Rodwell3, Ruddock 1, Coombe 3, Taylor 2.

Result—Rise 11, Temple 0. 58

JUNIOR HOUSE HOCKEY. FINAL. Result—Rise 7, School House 0.

The final was played on Saturday, 2nd March, and was much the same as the semi-final.

This time, however, the Rise were up against a team whose footwork was as good as, if not better than, their own. The Rise backs, however, were unbeatable ; Hillyard played a faultless game and Morris's stick was enough to strike terror into men of a sterner calibre than the youths of the School House team.

Well, let us cease this frivolity and get down to brass tacks.

We knew that the School House team had more system than that of Temple, and thought that they would give the Rise a shock. We were expecting a hard fought game, an even one, and for the first ten minutes or so we were not disappointed. The play wandered from twenty-five to twenty-five and back again; everyone got in everyone else's way and nothing much was done.

Then Coombe got the ball and dribbled down the left wing; he centred and Ruddock was there to put the ball into the net.

A little later Ruddock dribbled down the field and scored another for the Rise.

The Rise were now doing most of the attacking, and just before half-time Wright scored their third goal.

A boater, Taylor, set an example in hard hitting in the circle, which the School forwards might follow. Almost immediately after half-time he scored with a terrific shot. Soon after this he had another shot at goal and nearly broke the leg of a spectator who was standing next to the goal.

Ruddock scored off a centre from Rodwell and Hillyard (E.) got one by waiting just inside the circle for the ball to come out of a scrum in the circle and then hitting it past Braun.

Just before time Taylor got the seventh goal with another hard shot.

Caley was the best of the School House team, Davison was neat with his stick in more ways than one.

The Rise were all good, but Ruddock, Coombe, Wright and Hillyard (F.) were outstanding; Taylor produced some of the hardest hitting seen for some time.

Rise Team :—J. R. Penty ; G. R. Morris, F. H. Hillyard ; E. J. Hillyard, C. M. Robson, C. A. F. Cookson ; B. Rodwell, H. L. Taylor, P. H. 0. Ruddock, R. A. Wright, A. P. Coombe. 59