C.C.F. Notes

COMBINED CADET FORCE

Officer Commanding ... ... Major D. K. Crews. Officers:— Lieut. (Sp.) E. S. Jeffs, R.N.V.R.—i/c R.N. Section. Sub-Lieut. (Sp.) F. Waine, R.N.V.R. Capt. E. P. Piers—i/c Basic Section. Capt. L. C. Le Tocq—i/c Shooting. F/Lt. D. G. Cummin—i/c R.A.F. Section. P/O P. L. Harris—i/c Signals Section.

Sergeant Instructor ... R.S.M.I. P. F. Power, M.B.E.

N.C.O.'s:—

H.Q. C.S.M. Mortimer. C.Q.M.S. Royle. N.C.O. i/c Shooting, Cpl. Baird. Coy. Clerk, L/Cpl. Stanley. Armourer Sgt., L/Sgt. Willis. R.N. Sec. Supply Rtg., 0/Sea. Murray. R.N. Sec. Writer, 0/Sea. Hilton. Signal Storeman, L/Cpl. Littlewood.

R.N. Section

N.C.O. i/c—A/P.O. Wilson. i/c Ldg. Smn. Class—Ldg. Smn. Gibson. i/c A.B. Class—A/A.B. Holmes, D. H.

Army Section

N.C.O. i/c—S.S.M. Unwin.

Training Platoon:-

Pl. Comd., Sgt. Kershaw (2 i/c). Sec. Comds., Cpl. Hartley, Cpl. Quirke, Cpl. Hunt. Sec. 2 i/c's, L/Cpl. Walker, L/Cpl. Hodd, L/Cpl. Brook:.

6-pdr. Gun Crew:-

N.C.O. i/c., L/Sgt. Jenkins. 2 i/c Cpl. Hobson.

Signal Section

N.C.O. i/c., L/Sgt. Cobham. 2 i/c., L/Cpl. Jackson, J. F. N.

Basic Section

N.C.O. i/c., S.S.M. Kendell.

Trg. Pl. Comds:-

Sgt. Knowlson (2 i/c), Sgt. Warrington, Sgt. Baker. 2 i/c's, L/Sgt. Griffiths, L/Sgt. Thornton, L/Sgt. Jenkins.

Recruits

N.C.O. i/c., Sgt. March.

Squad. Comds:—

L/Sgt. Thompson, D., L/Sgt. Hourigan.

Asst. Instr. N.C.O.'s:—

Cpl. Townshend, Cpl. Bird, G. W., Cpl. Fletcher, Cpl. Anker: N.C.O. i/c Band, Drum Major Thompson, D.

R.A.F. Section

N.C.O. i/c F/Sgt. Calvert. 2 i/c., Sgt. Bird.

An extract from the weekly orders published on the 20th of May read : "The re-organisation of the Unit to a C.C.F. is now complete". We understand that there are very few units in the country that have all three Service Sections in full operation.

Almost before the term had started the Unit supplied a representative detachment to take part in the first full-scale military, or, as it is now called, Victory Parade, held in the Minster. After the service there was a march past and the standard that this small detachment set was extremely high. The O.C. received a personal letter from Major-General C. M. F. White, G.O.C. Catterick District, adding his congratulations to those of the Commander-in-Chief, General Balfour, on the loyal and efficient support given by all Cadets on parade.

The first part of the term was occupied in preparing for the Annual General Inspection. As this was the first Inspection with all three Service Sections present, considerable planning was necessary to ensure that everything went off smoothly. There were three inspecting officers. The General Inspecting Officer, Brigadier Lipscomb, from Catterick District; Commander Collett, R.N., Chairman of the J.C.E. at the War Office, and Group Captain McIntyre, from H.Q. 64 Group. The weather was fortunately fine and everyone appeared to enjoy one of the most successful Annual Inspections held for some years. We publish this short extract from the Inspection Report to show that the efforts of all ranks were not in vain.

General Inspecting Officer : "A Unit as good as this has little to hide and everything to show. It was a pleasure to inspect it."

R.N. Inspecting Officer : "One of the keenest and most efficiently run Naval Sections I have seen."

R.A.F. Inspecting Officer : "This School has a strong, flourishing and efficient Air Section."

After the Inspection, training continued and preparations were made for Camp. On 22nd July the Recruit "Passing-Out" Parade was held. This examination is now quite difficult, and a number failed to reach the "pass" mark enabling them to enter the Basic Section next term. Then the following week came the Fernie Cup Competition. Owing to the fact that the distribution of the three Service Sections throughout the Houses is quite arbitrary, we were obliged to alter the conditions this year. Each House submitted a squad, dressed in denim overalls, to compete in three competitions. The first was to test leadership and action in emergency, the second organising ability, and the last, ingenuity. The spectators appeared to enjoy the competitors' performance, especially their varied efforts at getting a heavy load across an imaginary river in the shortest possible time, with very limited equipment. We were very grateful to the two judges, The Command Secretary, Northern Command, and a regular R.A.F. Officer from Linton Aerodrome. Rise squad was first, followed by Manor, Grove, Temple and School House.

The last general activity to report, apart from the three camps, which are reviewed separately, was the Band Display followed by the Naval Ceremony of "Sunset" at the conclusion of Speech Day. Each Section supplied a small guard, and the Band, for the last time under the direction of its enthusiastic Drum-Major, Thompson, performed some intricate counter-marching, finishing opposite the flagstaff. Here two members of the R.N. Section sounded the "Still", and, while the Band played the "Retreat", the Colours were lowered.

CAPTAIN E. P. PIERS

The C.C.F. Notes would not be complete without an expression of thanks of the whole Unit to Capt. Piers for his keen service with the C.C.F. He was for a time in charge of the Signal Platoon, where his experience during the war was most valuable. He then took over the Basic Section and, together with S.M. Kende11, soon had the training running very smoothly. We shall miss him very much. The weekly training conference will be dull without him.

R.N. SECTION

During the Summer Term parades have been spent largely in preparation for examinations, for the General Inspection and for camp at the end of term.

With regard to examinations, Ldg./Smn. C. W. D. Green has been the first Cadet in the School to pass the Petty Officer Examination, and he is to be complimented on this achievement. In the Leading Seaman Examination six Cadets out of 15 were successful, and this percentage compares favourably with the results from other schools.

This term the development of the R.N. Section has been carried a stage further in that almost the whole responsibility for organising and running the Section has now been taken over by the Cadets themselves. The following list indicates the organisation this term :— i/c R.N. Section ... 2 i/c R.N. Section, i/c Training ... i/c Boat ... i/c Basic Section (Naval Squad) ... R.N. Instructors—Ldg. Smn Class A.B. Class ...S R.N. Supply Rating ... R.N. Divisional Officer Writer ... A/P.O. Wilson. Ldg. Smn. Gibson. A/Ldg. Smn. Groves. Ldg. Smn. Norwood. Ldg. Smn. O'Donnell. Ldg. Smn. Milburn. Ldg. Smn. Green. A.B. Murray. A.B. Hilton.

P.O. Wilson is to be congratulated on the smart turn-out of the R.N. Section during the term, especially during the Inspection; and Ldg. Smn. Gibson for his enthusiasm in organising the training. Ldg. Smn. Norwood has put in some good work with the Basic Section (Naval Squad), and Ldg. Smn. O'Donnell has been of great assistance in the Naval Signalling Examinations during the term. A.B.s Murray

and Hilton received a special commendation from the Naval Inspecting Officer regarding the efficient way in which they were running the Supply, and the Divisional side, respectively.

The following members of the R.N. Section have been accepted for the R.N.V.R. :— R. J. Gibson—Humber Division. J. G. H. O'Donnell—Humber Division. P. W. V. Milburn—Tyne Division.

A letter has already been received from Gibson, who has carried out his three weeks' pre-national service training in H.M.S. Vanguard, and he reports very favourably on the training received, stating that there seems to be good chances of commissions for cadets from public schools who join the R.N.V.R. O'Donnell also had a satisfactory period of training in H.M.S. Duke of York, but apparently the general facilities on board were not of such a high standard as those in Vanguard.

In spite of the difficulty of entry into the R.N. for National Servicemen, the complement of the R.N. Section has steadily increased, being 33 during the term. It is felt that there is a real keenness throughout the whole Section and a vitality in which is reflected the true spirit of the Royal Navy.

R.N. Camp

This year the R.N. Camp was held at Portsmouth in the Battle Class Destroyer, H.M.S. Cadiz, in which our own R.N. Section was joined by five cadets from Northampton Grammar School.

The journey from York to Portsmouth was conducted very smoothly, and many observers will recall the impressive way P.O. Wilson marched the R.N. Section right through Waterloo Station. On arrival at the ship, hammocks and bedding were issued, after which the cadets settled down to a welcome hot supper.

The cadets were assigned to the Boys' and Seamen's messes, along with the ship's company, and though there were some misgivings at first over this arrangement, the organisation proved a very satisfactory one. The members of the ship's company were, from the start, most ready to help the cadets, who thereby gained first-hand experience of the way things are done in the Navy.

After fully exploring H.M.S. Cadiz, the R.N. Section paid visits of inspection to other ships in the Dockyard, and also various "Navy Day" Displays Trips were organised to H.M.S. Excellent, the Gunnery School; to H.M.S. Dolphin, the Submarine Base; and to H.M.S. Hornet, the M.T.B`. Base. On the Sunday included in the week, the cadets attended a service held in Nelson's Flagship, H.M.S. Victory, at which the C. in C. Portsmouth, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Algernon Willis, was present. Later the same day a trip was made by boat to Ryde in the Isle of Wight. Some motor boat work and

sailing was carried out towards the end of the camp On almost every day the cadets joined the ship's company in "part of ship" work, and m this and other ways helped to repay the ship's company for its hospitality.

It was agreed by all who attended that the Camp was a most successful one. P.O. Wilson invariably showed initiative and resourcefulness, and the Leading hands were not slow to take responsibility. The discipline of the whole Section was excellent, and its smartness and bearing was at all times a credit to the School. THE ARMY SECTION

Training in Signals, 25-pdr. Gun Crew, and the Training Platoon continued throughout the term. Both the Gun Crew and Training Platoon put on good demonstrations for the Annual Inspection.

The Signals Platoon has been very active. During the year they have introduced a system of training by three classes —elementary, classification, and post-classification (instructors). This proved most successful as was shown by the results of the Command Classification Examination-16 of the 17 candidates passed. Extrasyllabus work included instruction on the School transmitter, for we intend to have all Signallers proficient in advanced training. The Signal Platoon wishes to record its thanks to Flying Officer Harris for all the enthusiastic work which he has done to build up and train the Section in the past year.

The Army Section is still supplying most of the Administrative and Instructor N.C.O.s for the Recruits, Basic Section, and Contingent H.Q. The time is not far off, however, when we shall receive competition in this monopoly, so leadership training must continue to take top priority.

The Gun Crew have had the 25-pounder out several times, and now that the new drill has been mastered it is hoped that some of the Crew will take the new R.A. Proficiency Certificate next term. C.C.F. Camp, Poulton

This summer the Army Section of the C.C.F. spent their Annual Camp at Poulton, Cheshire. This was new ground, for all those who had been to previous camps had been to Gandale. The Corps was divided into two sections, Senior members, who had passed Cert. 'A', Part I, and Juniors, consisting of the remainder. Both sections had interesting and instructive training programmes taken by Officer Cadets from the nearby Eaton Hall O.C.T.U. The Sergeant-Major saw we were not lacking in anything we required, while Major Crews was always about, joining in the various activities. Night exercises were popular as they always are, and on Sunday we had a march-past in which we excelled ourselves.

The food was excellent and the transport arrangements to Chester were most adequate, enabling many of us to visit this pleasant old city.

We were delighted to have the services of R. G. Emmett, now an Officer Cadet at Sandhurst. He acted as officer in charge of the Junior Platoon and generally saw to our welfare.

It was generally agreed that our first visit to Western Command was a great success and a very welcome change.

ROYAL AIR FORCE SECTION

With numbers rising to 35, the training programme was arranged as far as possible in two Flights.

By the time of the General Inspection the Section could be said to have become a real unit, with all cadets at least in R.A.F. uniform.

Those who undertook instructional work are to be congratulated; F/Sgt. Calvert and Cpl. Hodgson in Navigation; Sgt. Bird and Cpl. Roe in Internal Combustion Engines; and L/Cdt. Danton in Safety Equipment.

The success of last term's activities was greatly assisted by the efficiency and enthusiasm of F/Sgt. Calvert, who, we were pleased and proud to know, was selected from the many C.C.F. and A.T.C. applicants to go on a "reciprocal visit" to Canada. We wish him every success as a Cadet at Cranwell and as a future Officer of the R.A.F. D. Walton will also be starting his Cranwell career at the same time, and we wish him well.

F /Sgt. Roe brings credit to the Section by his selection for a Flying Scholarship, and by the time of going to press he should have flown "solo", and we hope he will do well both in this training and in his efforts to enter Cranwell.

Flying during the term eventually included every cadet, though the earlier policy was to carry out some longer cross-country flights for navigational training with the object of forming a group of potential instructors. Flying in the immediate future is likely to be considerably restricted, but every endeavour will be made to arrange it when possible.

Summer Camp, Cranwell

Most of those who went to Camp found it somewhat strenuous at first, perhaps because of the heat and the long distances to be covered at Cranwell, usually on foot. The organisation involved in providing so intensive a programme for so many schools was remarkable, and it would seem that the general opinion considered it a very superior camp.

The variety of interesting activities, apart from dual flying in Prentices and Harvards, included a trip around the Wash in R.A.F. motor launches, a talk on the R.A.F. Antarctic Expedition by the recently returned officer in charge, S/Ldr. Walford, and some novel ideas in swimming competitions.