experience in descending a river bank to rescue a poor lamb in distress. He was assisted by two bucolic acquaintances with whom he exchanged pleasantries; as he did with his master on many occasions, much to everybory's constant amusement. His knowledge of the Lakes' mountains was most impressive and indispensible and although he was only once seen on a mountain—being led, be it noted, near the top of Skiddaw—his help in planning routes was invaluable. We hope we did not add too much to Mr. Coulthard's already heavy responsibility in seeing us all back safe and sound. Once again he did and our thanks are due to him for all his work before and during the expedition and for supplying the excellent food with which we were fed. An army marches on its stomach and this was true of our troop trudging up and down hill and vale! J.R.W.T.
SCOUT TROOP We have welcomed one new scout this term, I. L. Dodd, and Houghton has left the troop. The training programme has continued. Under Bailey the First Class scouts all passed their Pioneer badge. The Second Class scouts have made further progress with their First Class tests, completing the splicing and knotting section and starting on the Axemanship and First Aid. Under Mr. Allen the eight who joined as tenderfeet last term have now nearly qualified for their Second Class badge. Both groups will be doing the final tests in their respective sections, the journeys, next term. A successful field day was held on 2nd March. It followed the pattern of recent years with each patrol cycling about 25 miles, some of this over country paths or along tow-paths. The patrols took packed lunches with them returning to the scout but about 2 o'clock, tired and somewhat muddy. Each patrol then had to cook its own meal. The permanent fireplaces in the compound have been removed this term in connection with the widening of the rugger field so each patrol had to find a reasonably dry patch in the muddy compound. Despite these wet conditions the cooking, eating and washing up were completed to finish off an enjoyable day. The last two Tuesdays for the Second Class scouts were devoted to collecting in a good stock of firewood. On the first day all the scouts armed with saws and felling axes were transported by school bus to Tholthorpe and set to work cutting up the large pieces of wood into sizes that could be conveniently packed into the bus as well as scouts. The following Tuesday was concerned mainly with collecting the chopped wood, packing it neatly into the bus and transferring to the compound near the scout hut. During the Easter holidays A. D. Bailey is running a camp for P.L.'s and 2nd's near Helmsley at which they will be taking the Camper badge and gaining experience for running their patrols at the main summer camp.
HOCKEY As far as playing conditions were concerned this has been an above average year. Only two matches, Leeds Corinthians and the Styx, had to be cancelled because of the frost. The venue of the Welbeck match had to be changed and we were glad to get their offer of playing on their pitch. 23
