Scout Group

and even what compartments of the holds are to be used. After departure control is from U.K., even to such details as the temperature at which the fruit is to be carried if variation from normal is required for marketing purposes. Thus oranges are normally carried at 40°F., but on the homeward passage instructions were received to raise this to 52°F., presumably to speed up ripening.

Voyage 24 of the "Rothesay Castle" began at Southampton on 29th March, and after calls at Antwerp and Le Havre to discharge the remaining cargo from the previous voyage, she sailed for •S. Africa on 9th April. Ports of loading were Loureng Marques, Durban, East London and Cape Town, while tomatoes were picked up at Las Palmas. The main cargo consisted of grape fruit and oranges, with some lemons, grapes and apples and 345 tons of canned fruit, to a total of just under 5,000 tons. The ports of discharge were Southampton and Bremen.

At the time of writing the "Rothesay Castle" is engaged on a similar voyage, but for citrus fruits only.

C.C.F. NOTES

"It was a very great pleasure to inspect this Contingent, whose turnout and drill were of a very high order. The training of all three Service Sections was very well organised and executed efficiently. I was much impressed with the enthusiasm and interest shown by cadets and with the high standard of instructional technique and leadership qualities displayed by cadet N.C.O.s. "The School is to be congratulated on a first-class voluntary contingent which is achieving the aims of the Combined Cadet Force."

These are the words of the Chairman of the Joint Cadet Executive, Colonel J. F. Lake, M.C., who inspected the Contingent on Tuesday, 22nd June.

Such comment from an Officer whose position brings him into contact with more schools than perhaps any other serving officer must give justifiable pride to the Contingent, and at the same time has set a very high standard for the future. We have always regarded the Annual Inspection as an occasion for trying to show a summary of what we normally aim at in the year's training rather than for introducing stunts and sideshows, and the Inspecting Officer's remarks show that everyone did his best.

Apart from the Inspection, the outstanding achievement has been the winning of the Marling Cup at Bisley, and we congratulate the team and Captain Le Tocq, who gives so much of his time to its training.

ARMY CAMP

There were two unusual characteristics of this year's camp.

First, a high proportion of Senior N.C.O.s made it difficult for Captain Craven to give them as much responsibility in the exercises as they should have had. We always try to fit in anyone who wishes to attend camp, but if we are to continue to arrange camps, it is essential that we have a bigger proportion of younger cadets, and thus we shall start to publicise camp much earlier in the year.

Secondly, the base of this year's camp was at the Royal Air Force Regiment Depot at Catterick. Some may have felt that an Army camp should be in an army area, but the Regiment is unique, and we are very grateful to the Commanding Officer of the Depot, first for letting us go there at all, and secondly for providing a day's training and instruction with the Regiment. The Royal Air Force Regiment gets little publicity, but at least one C.C.F. contingent now has some knowledge of its work and history. On the administrative side the help and courtesy given to us by the Regiment was unlimited and we would like to record our gratitude to them.

In spite of the base of the camp, the training programme was traditional for the most part, but there was much more opportunity for shooting, and everyone had extensive firing practice with the Bren and Self Loading Rifle. An innovation was the forming of "commandos" of self-contained parties to take part in the night exercise and to bivouac independently overnight.

RN. SECTION

This term three new recruits joined us, bringing our numbers to twenty-nine.

The term's training mainly concerned preparation for the General Inspection and repainting of the whaler. When completed, the latter was pulled up to York from Naburn by Nelson Division. The General Inspection programme took the form of raising the mast after its annual overhaul. Anson Division also rigged a jackstay across the rose-bed.

During the year eighteen cadets from the Section have been to Naval camps, which is a good record. This summer nine cadets spent a week at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.

Four members joined the band and are to be congratulated on reaching such a high standard in so short a time for the General Inspection and Commemoration parades. A.B. Harrison is also to be congratulated on building a fine canoe for the Contingent, mainly in his spare time. D. J. McKenzie was promoted Leading Seaman at the beginning of term and has distinguished himself as a fine shot in the School team.

This term L/Sea. Carr and A.B. Monks are leaving the Section; the latter is joining the Merchant Navy, and we wish him luck.

QUARTERMASTER COURSE AUGUST, 1965.

Three members of the section, D. J. Barker, C. J. Sinclair and J. N. Yellowley, took part in this course for cadets at the Royal Naval Barracks, Portsmouth, during the first week of August.

The course took the form of instruction at the Seamanship School on the Monday, followed by three days at sea on the inshore minesweeper, H.M.S. Portisham. The fourteen cadets and five officers formed the crew, and instruction in ship handling navigation, anchors and cables, scrubbing decks, was given in the form of practical demonstrations. One or two cadets found that the Solent and their food did not quite agree with each other, but on the whole everyone considered these experiences to be well worth while.

On Thursday night after leaving the ship, we revised for the exam which was to be held on the following day. This exam was very straightforward and all the cadets passed.

Sgt. Bennitt continued as N.C.O. in charge of the Section, assisted by Cpls. Doyle, Gough, Miers and Oglesby. During the term eleven new members were recruited.

In external examinations, Kemp, Lees and Reid passed the Elementary Proficiency and J. Cpl. Smith the Advanced Proficiency (with Credit).

Air Experience Flying took place at R.A.F. Dishforth on Sunday, 16th May, and 20 cadets were each able to obtain 30 minutes in a Chipmunk.

B Flight, having successfully constructed lightweight models of past famous aircraft, turned its attention to powered models. It is hoped that these will be launched early in the Autumn Term.

SCOUT GROUP

No School Group can operate efficiently unless its older members are prepared to give up the time to assist in organising the many activities. Once again we have been fortunate in having an Assistant Scoutmaster, A. D. Bailey, a Quartermaster, J. R. Stapleton, and an active body of Senior Scout Patrol Leaders, all of whom have greatly contributed to the success of the Group. We should like to thank them all for their help, and wish them well in the future. Stapleton will be succeeded in his thankless task of keeping a check on Group equipment by R. J. Watts.

SENIOR SCOUT TROOP

Small parties of Senior Scouts were able to go out to Hovingham to assist with preparations for the North Riding's Whitsun camp, to welcome the Chief Scout, Sir Charles Maclean. Though we could not be represented during the whole camp, eight members of the Troop spent the Saturday night there, and were apparently responsible for the success of an unofficial Camp Fire which went on long after the official one had ended. Five Queen's Scouts attended the luncheon party on the Sunday, and three of them, D. A. Burnell, W. R. !Pickersgill and N. J. Smith, received their Royal Certificates from the Chief Scout. The other two, D. L. Edbrooke and J. E. Perks, had already received their Certificates.

A Field Day was spent in what is rapidly becoming a traditional activity, namely raft-building, while those who felt that they had enough experience with rafts attempted to construct an aerial runway across the River Ouse. This project, though not entirely successful, taught us many useful lessons and no doubt it will be tried again as soon as possible. We were grateful to the District Senior Scout Leader, A. D. Lowe, for once again lending equipment; and his tragic death a few days later came as a tremendous shock, as he had always been a great friend of the Troop.

Once again we undertook the reproofing of tents for a local junior school. W. R. Pickersgill bore the brunt of this work, and we thank him and his helpers for undertaking this valuable form of social service. It was most gratifying to learn that the tents stood up to very bad weather conditions without letting in a drop of rain. 39