School Tour

At the end of another successful term we bid farewell to A. M. Headlam, our Head of House, who apparently prefers the sun, sand and sin of the Continent to the joys of Study 4 and also to C. L. Brown.

SCHOOL TOUR TO AUSTRIA

After a lapse of two years, there was a School tour to the continent during the Easter holidays. It differed from its predecessors in that, instead of using a fixed centre, it was based on walking, post-buses, local trams, and youth hostels. This has the great advantage of bringing closer contact with the country and the people and provides much more of an "experience", at any rate to those, like the members of this party, who have not tried anything of the kind before. As far as we were concerned, it carried three major risks: organisation, the weather, and "out of season". As it turned out, the first was no risk at all. We had an Austrian student with us, Miss Dietlinde Muhlgassner, who arranged everything for us with an efficiency possible only to someone who knew the country and its ways intimately. The weather was very mixed, but we were never called upon to use our wet-weather kit, and the main interference was from heavy snow-falls on the mountains, which restricted our plans somewhat. Three of the days were really excellent, and, luckily, these were amongst the most important. As for "out of season", this proved the main difficulty, for while it meant that other tourists were not encountered, too often we found notices "Opening 1st May", and found our plans thwarted. It is curious that more information on these points does not seem to be available in England.

The area selected was the Salzkammergut, and for this type of holiday it can hardly be bettered. We stayed at hostels at St. Wolfgang, Bad Ischl, Bad Aussee and Obertraun, and also had a night in a mountain but at Hiitteneck Alp. The hostels vary enormously: none had all the virtues, all had some. In retrospect, one remembers St. Wolfgang for comfortable bunks but biting cold (it was partly new and opened specially for us, and felt really chilled), Bad Ischl for primitive conditions but a useful woodburning stove, Bad Aussee for warm water, but an icy dining room (the stove had broken down), Obertraun for its fine modern planning and furnishing. As for the mountain hut, it was in some ways best of all, except for those who object to a thick atmosphere—it is not really a feasible proposition to open windows at 3,500 feet with snow outside up to the roofs of the "alms", the homes of farmers in summer when cattle are brought up to the mountain pastures.

The main walks were from St. Wolfgang to the Schwarzensee, a small mountain lake which we found frozen over, from Bad Goisern to the Hiitteneck, and next day from Hiitteneck to Steig, from Bad Aussee to Grundlsee, and from Obertraun to Hallstatt. This does not represent a vast mileage but suited the tastes of the party very well, and all the walks were of much interest. The best was up to the Hiitteneck. This took four hours and was favoured with ideal weather, which enabled us to enjoy to the full the distant views of Lake Hallstatt and the mountains, and the nearer ones, first of farms and pastures, then of the forests. The last 1,000 teet or so was in snow about four feet thick. It bore the weight of a man well enough, though the front walkers found it fairly heavy going, but it had the peculiarity that every now and again it would collapse and someone, very likely near the back of the party, would find himself knee-deep or more.

Sight-seeing was not a major item, but we visited the church at St. Wolfgang (where, most unfortunately, the Pacher altar was shrouded for Lent), the White Horse Inn (outside only ! "opening 1st May"); the Kaiser Villa at Bad Ischl (two rooms only—the rest closed for cleaning—but enough to give us the impression that Franz Joseph spent most of his time shooting chamois: his two thousandth is mounted there); the church, cemetery and charnel house, and the salt mines at Hallstatt (the salt mines provide a nice balance of formal instruction, visiting the works and fun ranging from the donning of gaily-coloured protective clothing to slides from one level to the next and a gravity railway); the Mirabel gardens, St. Sebastian, Cathedral and Castle and St. Peter's Cemetery (an early Christian burial ground in use since a date only a little later than that of the foundation of St. Peter's School) at Salzburg, as well as many of the other features of that attractive city, though we failed to see the inside of the new Festival Hall.

The day most generally enjoyed was probably the one on which we went up the Krippenstein by cable railway. The weather was at its best and the sun really powerful, the views were of course magnificent, and even hardened travellers find an excitement in crossing from peak to peak by cable railway. At the top we found a tremendous wind, but this did not deter most of the party from climbing the summit pole to gain an extra 20 feet or so. This was a day to be remembered.

Time was found for the delights—never failing—of window-shopping, of shopping, and of visits to restaurants. Neither the Austrians nor most of our party showed any desire to resist the imported joys of coca-cola, juke boxes and espresso. These seem strangely out-of-place to those with a more romantic view of the country and yet must be accepted now as part of the Austrian scene. Happily, besides these other international influences, Austria retains many characteristic features: men's and children's costume; iron shop signs; domestic architecture in rural districts; local dishes —not least the ubiquitous use of caraway seed. Altogether it is one of the best of continental countries for a holiday, and a holiday such as we had one of the best ways of enjoying it.

DAY-TO-DAY DIARY Monday, 9th April. York to Dover; Channel crossing on "Kroningen

Elizabeth", on from Ostend. Tuesday, 10th April. Arrive Salzburg for lunch. Post-bus to St. Wolfgang. Wednesday, 11th April. Walk to Schwarzensee and back. Post-bus to

Bad Ischl. Thursday, 12th April. Visit to Kaiser Villa; train to Bad Goisern; walk to Hiitteneck. Friday, 13th April. Walk from Hiltteneck to Steig. Train to Bad Aussee. Saturday, 14th April. Walk to Grundlsee. Bus back. Sunday, 15th April. Train to Obertraun. Up Krippenstein. Monday, 16th April. Walk to Hallstatt and back. Tuesday, 17th April. Train to Salzburg. In Salzburg. Wednesday, 18th April. Salzburg. Leave 4-30. Thursday, 19th April. Back to York. 10

Early in the term the Epiphany Procession in the Minster once more brought its message to us in a dramatic form. Its very difference from the normal liturgical services helped some of us to realise that all the latter are dramas in which each of us has his part to play.

We were so glad to have the Dean of York to preach again after his serious operation and the Bishop of Selby, another old friend of the School, who gave us his last sermon before his retirement.

There were so many Confirmation candidates this year that for the first time in the School's history there was no room in the Chapel for other boys apart from the School Monitors. This was especially regrettable, as the Archbishop of York was visiting St. Peter's for the first time. We much hope that he may be able to visit us later and preach at Evensong.

Once again we began Lent with a short evening service for the whole School on Ash Wednesday. On the Friday evenings in Lent there was Voluntary Compline, followed by readings of Christian verse. The first reading was taken from verse of the 14th century, the second from George Herbert and the last from contemporary poets.

On the last Sunday of term we sang Stainer's "Crucifixion" instead of Evensong.

N.K-W. The following boys were confirmed in the Chapel on 13th March:

The Grove The Manor Queen's

D. R. Baxter J. M. W. Bennitt J. F. Brown M. Donnelly R. K. Hall K. Hollenden P. R. J. Hoskinson J. P. Hugill G. M. Jobling M. G. Mallinson W. N. Marshall G. P. Neil R. A. Peaker R. A. Reed A. G. Slater P. St. G. Stephenson The Rise

A. H. Baker C. R. Barton M. K. Beaumont C. C. H. Bell J. A. Eatough P. J. Flint N. E. Furey R. W. Oliver D. C. Ord J. R. Platts P. M. Shepherd C. J. Swiers M. J. Thompson P. N. Banks F. S. Boddy I. L. Boyd P. W. Brown J. R. Flintoft Q. Gray T. J. Haggie K. A. Moffatt K. H. Murray P. F. Nettleton W. R. Pickersgill J. Robinson P. R. Scholefield R. G. Steel N. E. Tomlinson A. Youle School House

R. M. Carlin T. B. A. Evans M. W. Fear G. M. Foster I. R. Gibson M. E. Gough J. M. Grayson A. P. Hothersall D. E. Hudson J. R. S. Lazenby S. C. Maslin J. T. Norbury R. Pickersgill R. D. S. Pilcher R. B. Tonkinson B. S. Wallis C. W. D. Wood G. M. Barton A. P. Benn C. W. Birch T. C. C. Harris T. C. Mitchell Q. G. Rowbottom M. Senior H. M. Shaftoe G. A. Wilistrop P. W. Wood

Temple

J. A. F. Bilsborough R. D. Fletcher J. M. Fry C. G. Goodlock P. A. Horsman K. D. Lockwood J. H. Russell J. R. Stapleton D. W. Tidy B. J. Watson J. C. H. Wright