Scouts

A party of 14 boys left School at 8-15 p.m. on Monday, 22nd October, to visit R.A.F., Topcliffe, for a navigational flight on Tuesday morning. The party arrived at Topcliffe at 9-15 p.m., and after having been identified at the guard-room, were shown to their sleeping accommodation. This proved to be comfortable, and after the party had deposited their kit, they visited the N.A.A.F.I. for refreshment, and then retired to bed.

Reveille was sounded over the tannoy system at 7 o'clock, when cadets dressed and had breakfast, after which they made their beds, and assembled for pre-flight briefing. The cadets were briefed with the aircrew of the four aircraft and issued with life-jackets in case of emergency. The briefing provided information about the route of the aircraft, the expected weather conditions, and special flight routines. The cadets then dispersed to their respective aircraft, which took off at ten-minute intervals.

After leaving the ground, the aircraft headed east, crossing the coast at Whitby, and then turned north towards Peterhead in the north-east of Scotland. The cadets were each allowed to take over control of the aircraft, under the supervision of the pilot, and also became acquainted with many of the instruments. The bomb-aimer's position in the blister underneath the aircraft was occupied by cadets, and was rarely unoccupied during the flight. The aircraft were kept within sight of land, and after Peterhead turned north-west towards Wick, and the northern coast of Scotland. As the Orkney Islands came into sight, the aircraft headed west, and then south. On the return trip the aircraft flew over the Tay and Forth bridges, arriving back at Topcliffe after four hours in the air. The aircraft flew at varying heights, at a speed of 150 knots, and covering approximately 560 miles.

In the afternoon the cadets were left to entertain themselves as they wished, making good use of the games-room of the N.A.A.F.I., whilst some cadets explored parts of the station, before returning to School at 6 o'clock. The cadets greatly enjoyed their visit, and particularly the flying.

J.R.F.

The Group again numbers just over seventy, evenly divided between the Scout Troop and the Senior Scout Troop. This year, so far, we have only one Assistant Scoutmaster from the Senior Scout Troop, namely J. J. Cooper, but we hope to promote others during the year. Once again a party sang carols in the Clifton area on two evenings after the end of term, and collected the very creditable total of £20 Os. Od., this year for the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief. They also were entertained in a most seasonable way by many of the people to whom they sang, and all felt it was a most enjoyable way of doing a Christmas good turn.

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Once again we have six Patrols and the Patrol Leaders this year are A. D. Bailey, P. A. J. Gibson, J. W. Hey, M. H. Ibberson, R. P. Shouksmith and R. J. D. Wilson. One of these six, J. W. Hey, is to be heartily congratulated on gaining his Queen's Scout Badge. The other five hope that it will not be too long before they fallow his example.

We held a Field Day in October and this followed a very similar pattern to that of the previous year. A large number of the Troop elected to build rafts as part of their qualification for the Senior Pioneer Badge. Five rafts were constructed and two of them had the added refinement of sails—of a sort! These were lighter and much more mobile than last year's very large rafts, and the day ended with an exciting regatta on the Ouse. Some 12 members of the Troop spent the day in the Hambleton Hills training for the Venturer Badge.

During the term training sessions were conducted for the Ambulance, Meteorologist and Despatch Rider Badges, whilst various Seniors worked individually at other badges. Towards the end of term Dr. Fear brought a Naval film on Artificial Resuscitation. We found this most helpful in that it showed the use of the "Mouth to Mouth" method in all sorts of different situations and also illustrated External Cardiac Resuscitation. We were very grateful to Dr. Fear for showing the film and for dealing with our queries afterwards. Dr. Fear is to come again next term to talk to those interested in taking the Public Health Badge.

Arrangements for the Easter Expedition are going ahead. This is to be held in Snowdonia during .the last week of March and a large number of the Senior Troop are proposing to attend. The majority will take part in a walking expedition which will take in a number of the higher peaks, weather permitting. A small party will go on a rather long cycle tour, meeting the main party on various nights at pre-arranged sites. A good deal of next term's activities will be directed towards training for this expedition and making certain that the equipment is in a suitable condition to stand up to what might be rather rigorous conditions.

With 17 new members this term the total is now 33. Two who joined as Tenderfeet, Hardie and Baby, were invested early in the term and have made good progress on their Second Class tests. The First Class Scouts, under Mr. Nixon, have been training for the Pioneer badge, which will be taken early next term. The Second Class Scouts have all passed three of the First Class tests, mapping, tracking and emergencies.

A successful Field Day was held in October and took the form of patrol cycle rides of about 20 miles with part of the journeys across rough country. Surprisingly there were no punctures and only one or two minor accidents. The patrols returned at about 1-30 p.m. and cooked meals in the compound.

With no senior boys available as A.S.M.s I should like to thank Perks for his help in training the new Scouts. First Class badges were awarded to Farmer and McGrath and Second Class badges to Davies and Tree.

G.D.C.