Hockey

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.

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

The position of Hockey as a major game was in doubt last term when it was suggested that no boy should start Hockey until his third year. This would have led to the difficult problem of building a new first XI every year unless a boy stayed on for a sixth year. As the majority of our matches are with schools who play more Hockey than we do, both from the time and numbers point of view, we should have been put at a big disadvantage as far as representative matches were concerned and Hockey would have become an internal game. A compromise has been reached which, although reducing the playing experience of future first XI boys to Fridays only for four weeks then full-time for two weeks has also resulted in the making of a third pitch on the Wightman field. This enables all three games to operate at once, whenever pitches are fit, and also allows voluntary Hockey for the beginners after Athletics on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

With five of last year's XI left there was promise of a good side. The defence picked itself but several forward lines were tried in order to get a goal-scoring attack. In early matches the ball was kept too much in midfield and to get some attack from the wings Mitchell was moved to outside left with great success and Morris transferred to the right wing from left half. Here he used his speed to advantage but lacks at present the experience to know when to continue on his own. Of the inside forwards Cloughton covered a lot of ground in defence and attack, setting a good example to his team. Willstrop combined well with Mitchell on the left flank and Baxter was a competent centre forward but must learn to get his shots at goal more quickly. At centre half Pickersgill was a tower of strength and his distributional sense improved with each match. Eatough worked hard at left half, his defence being very sound but lacking the ability to give a hard cross-field pass. Vooght had a good season at right half and is a very powerful striker of the ball. The full backs, Nettleton and Hudson, were generally very sound but in three matches goals were scored against us before they had settled down. Winn, in goal, started shakily but soon learnt to rely more on his pads than his stick and made some very good saves particularly in the Bootham match.

The frost early on in the season gave little time for practice, with the result that the first matches were with untried combinations in the forward line. The play at this stage contained too much pushing rather than hitting but eventually the team began to realise the advantage of making the ball do the work and using the wings more but by then the short season was over. On March 1 1 th we took part in the six-a-side tournament at Welbeck with the same result as last year. We just lost by one goal to the Army Apprentice School who got through to the final, and won our other two matches against Welbeck College and Abbotsholme Grammar School.

The 2nd XI had an unbeaten season captained by Shearsmith, and won their last four games by convincing margins. Thirlwell showed promise in goal but had little chance to show his ability. Abel, Pawson and Lancaster made a sound halfback line whilst the newcomers Roebuck, Waller and Blundy showed sound positional sense in the forwards. At centre forward Rawlings scored most of the goals. With only the two fullbacks leaving, the future looks quite good.

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ist XI

M. J. Winn; *P. F. Nettleton; D. E. Hudson; *J. A. captain); W. R. Pickersgill; J. J. Vooght; T. C. Mitchell; G D. R. Baxter; *G. W. Cloughton (captain); N. G. A. Morris. * Cap. Eatough (vice- . A. Willstrop;

2nd XI.

J. R. W. Thiriwell; P. F. Shearsmith (captain); *A. D.

Lancaster; J. Pawson; *P. Abel; W. J. Roebuck; D. Waller; *D

P. H. Blundy; *R. D. Harding. Bailey; *S. G. . M. Rawlings;

* Colours.

RESULTS

ist XI Sat., 23 Jan. v. Leeds Corinthians Sat., 3o Jan. v. Welbeck College ... Sat., 6 Feb. v. Trent College ... Wed., to Feb. v. Scarborough College Wed., 17 Feb. v. Bootham School ... Sat., zo Feb. v. York H.C. 2nd XI Wed., 24 Feb. v. Worksop College Sat., 27 Feb. v. Old Peterites Wed., 3 Mar. v. Styx H.C. Thurs, tt Mar. v. Six-a-side at Welbeck 2nd XI Sat., 3o Jan. Sat., 6 Feb. Wed., to Feb. Wed., 27 Feb. Wed., 24 Feb. v. Welbeck College ... v. Trent College ... v. Scarborough College v. Bootham School ... v. Worksop College Home Cancelled Away Lost 0-2 Away Lost 2-3 Away Drawn 2—x Away Won 4-2 Home Lost 2-4 Home Lost 1-2 Home Lost 0-2 Home Cancelled

Away Won 3-2 Away Won 5—o Away Won 5-0 Home Won 6—i Home Won 4-2

MATCH REPORTS

v. WELBECK COLLEGE Played away on Saturday, 30th January. Lost 0-2.

The match was played away as the School ground was unfit. However at Welbeck the match was played under perfect conditions with the School having a slight advantage in the first half owing to the slope. The approach work was good but movements broke down on the edge of the circle. When we did get into the circle the shooting was weak, as the forwards tried to dribble the ball right into the goal. The Welbeck defence was very sound especially the centre half and captain who broke down many attacking movements. Welbeck scored their first goal direct from a penalty corner. In the second half the School continued to do the majority of the attacking but again the finishing was poor and Welbeck increased their lead after a defensive slip. v. TRENT COLLEGE Played away on Saturday, 6th February. Lost 1-3

Trent opened the scoring very early in the game through a defensive slip. However, the School scored direct from bully off with Mitchell scoring after collecting a ball off the goalkeeper's pads. After this both sides settled down and the game was very even. The School tried to employ the through ball too much and would not let it go out onto the wings. The result looked like being a draw, until about five minutes from the end when Trent scored two quick goals.

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