C.C.F.—Army 48 R.N

C.C.F. NOTES

In a short term mainly concerned with preparation for various Proficiency Tests, we have again been much helped by Officers and N.C.O.s of the Yorkshire Brigade Depot.

A small party undertook a weekend survival exercise in the Pickering forest area, and this would seem to be a type of training for more cadets to do. It should be possible to combine it with canoeing in the summer.

Seven cadets with two officers went on arduous training at the end of term, and M. D. Hirst very kindly joined them to give rock climbing instruction.

In the summer term we hope to welcome Mr. A. J. Riley into the Royal Air Force Section. He is a former R.A.F. pilot, and his presence will be of great value to the contingent.

Summer camp will be at Proteus camp, near 011erton, from 15th July to 23rd July.

D.G.C.

R.N. SECTION

Throughout the term both divisions have made progress toward their examinations. Nelson division, that is those who joined the section at the beginning of last Easter Term, have been instructed by Chief Petty Officer Keele on 'his frequent visits, and we are grateful to him for this help. When he was absent Petty Officer Nixon carried out the instruction.

Rodney division, for whom this is the first term in the C.C.F., have been instructed by Leading Seamen Littlefield, Marsden and Eggleshaw and will be taking their Able Seamen's examinations next term. They have also seen films on "Ocean Yacht Racing" and another on "Anchors".

Towards the end of term a party of cadets, consisting of Nelson division and all the N.C.O.s went on a visit to H.M.S. Safeguard with Lieutenant Bulcock in charge. The party set • off on Wednesday, 13th March, after lunch, and arrived at H.M.S. Safeguard at about 1930 hrs. Later on a film was shown of the salvaging of H.M.S. Truculent, a First World War submarine, which had collided with a tanker in the Thames estuary with the loss of nearly all hands. The film gave an idea of how difficult and complex such a job could be.

Everyone rose the following morning at 0630 hrs, although somewhat reluctantly, and put to sea in H.M.S. Rapid at 0800 hrs. The day out at sea was valuable experience for everybody concerned and a good time was had by all. The ship was doing an exercise with H.M.S. Ocelot, a new but conventional submarine, but unfortunately all that was seen of her was the conning tower. However it showed up on the Radar screen and many of the party spent quite some time in the operations room, showing interest in how the submarine's position and speed was being plotted by the Radar. The ship docked at 1630 and the party left Inverkeithing Station at 1950 hrs. On arrival in Edinburgh it was necessary to run from one platform to another to catch the southbound train and the slower ones or those who had more than usual baggage all but missed the train. The party arrived in York at one in the morning, rather tired after an energetic 17 hour day.

The section now has one double and two single canoes in operation in which a growing interest is being taken. Another double canoe, on which one or two cadets have put in a lot of work, is in the process of being built. This term the dinghy has been out of use as it cannot be launched before moorings have been laid. The previous moorings were carried downstream and stuck on Scarborough bridge where they still remain held down by the heavy concrete sinkers.

Lieutenant-Commander Streatfield James visited the section during the term and seemed, in general, to approve of the efforts being made, although he passed one or two comments on the length of hair of certain members of the section.

On the whole the section has had a successful term with only the occasional minor setback.

J.S.N.

R.A.F. NOTES

With the influx of 10 recruits, the section totalled 48 with Sgt. Scaife the N.C.O. in charge and Sgt. Thompson 2 i/c.

Arrangements were made on several Wednesdays during the term for Air Experience Flying at R.A.F. Church Fenton but on each occasion unsatisfactory weather conditions resulted in cancellation.

Good progress has been made by Cdts. Blackburn, Harris and Mcllroy in the construction of a model wind tunnel and it is anticipated that they will shortly be turning their attentions to a model hovercraft.

At the end of the term the 5 most senior N.C.O.s spent a week at R.A.F. Bruggen, Germany, while junior members of the section had their annual camp at R.A.F. Binbrook near Grimsby, under the command of Cpls. Wood and Gratin. Cpl. Wood and Cdt. T. B. Sargeant are to be congratulated on obtaining gliding certificate B at R.A.F. Linton-on-Ouse over the Easter Weekend.

P.L.H.

R.A.F. CAMP IN GERMANY

The party left York in the evening of 26th March and spent the night at the R.A.F. transit station at Hendon before flying the next day from Gatwick to R.A.F. Wildenrath. From there we continued by road to R.A.F. Bruggen, a large station very close to the Dutch Border.

The camp began with a businesslike talk on security but proved to be very easy-going. The first day was spent on the base, partly in Pembroke flights, while some were fortunate enough to be able to go up in Canberras. The next day the party went over the Dutch Border to Venlo in order to go swimming while the afternoon was spent watching the R.A.F. dogs being put through their paces and in a very interesting talk with a U.S.A.F. officer.

The Saturday was spent in Holland sightseeing and shopping in Rocmand and Venlo and on Sunday after attending Church in the morning we took part in an exercise in a nearby wood.

Monday was the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the R.A.F. and most of the airmen on the station had the day off. As the station was to be nearly completely closed down, a coach trip to Cologne was organised. On the journey we stopped off at R.A.F. Rheinlaben, headquarters of the 49

NATO forces in north-west Germany, for half-an-hour to see a parade to mark the occasion and should have seen a fly-past which failed to materialize. Later we stopped at Kenigsminter, one of the great beauty spots in the Rhine valley, before going on to spend most of the afternoon and early evening in Cologne.

Tuesday was spent looking round the two Canberra squadrons on the base and seeing the Maintenance Unit which did everything from repairing generators to mending furniture.

On Wednesday, 3rd April, after watching a photo-reconnaissance squadron training for a NATO inter-nation competition we left for R.A.F. Wildenrath to make the return journey.

J.R.W.

THE SCOUT GROUP

Gradually both sections are beginning to implement the new training schemes and all activities have been tackled with refreshing enthusiasm. The many activities of the term are listed in the accounts which follow, but the most outstanding feature has been that the Venture Scouts and the Scouts themselves have taken much of the responsibility for arranging activities, usually most successfully. We are very pleased to welcome back our Scout Leader, Mr. Craine, looking hale and hearty once again and we should like to thank D. P. Rounthwaite and his Patrol Leaders' Council for so ably keeping the Scout Troop running during his absence.

Most members of the Group now possess the new Scout uniform, universally acclaimed to be a marked improvement on the old one. This change, and the many others which accompany it, make Scouting more expensive and we find ourselves frequently concerned with financial problems. For each member of the Group we now have to send 11/- per annum to national and local Scout Headquarters, and, more and more, we rely upon the successes of our "Bob-a-Job" efforts during the Easter holidays.

Despite our difficulties we have financed a canoe-building programme and we have bought that notorious "Old School Bus" from the School. We hope, gradually, to convert this into an expedition vehicle, while our car maintenance enthusiasts intend to make it fit for the road. At least it solves the problem of what to do with the waste scraps of glass fibre from the canoe-building section.

K.G.C.

VENTURE SCOUT NOTES

It was decided that A. L. Jervis and L. H. McKeon should take up places on the committee, after its losing Macartney at the end of last term.

We also welcomed from the Scouts R. M. Cooper, P. J. Elliott, I. A. Gill, J. C. Goodrick and R. D. MacLeod.

As the previous term had been found to be a success under the ruling of the committee it was agreed by all at the first meeting of the term that the plans should proceed without alteration. During a number of committee