Letters

M. Boldry, A. Wiseman, D. Gilbertson and P. Morcom were confirmed in the School Chapel by the Bishop of Selby. "The Fatal Gazogene" was the first play produced by the House for a number of years. We hope that it will start a theatrical tradition in the House like those of other Houses. Such a tradition would provide the necessary experience and expertise for a top class performance. "The Fatal Gazogene" was performed with a spontaneous vigour and a certain amount of improvisation. The play made few demands on the audience. who were able to relax and enjoy the performance. We would like to thank those responsible for their sustained efforts. It is hoped that future plays will also involve girls from York College. M.J.W.D.

HMS Hermes Valletta, Malta GC 18th April

Life has been very kind to me since leaving B.R.N.C. last term. I joined Hermes, a 31,000 ton Commando carrier, in Portsmouth early in January. We sailed for Rosyth and on to Norway. We returned to Portsmouth for three weeks and maintenance was carried out. Later we returned direct to Norway and cruised up and down the fjords.

The night before we were about to start an exercise with the Norwegians the trawler Gaul was lost and we were detached with R.F.A. Tideflow to search south of Bear Island at 74° North. The weather was atrocious and even we were rocked about like corks. We got positions from Nimrods and picked up several likely contacts which turned out to be false. After four days the ship was looking tattered and we returned to Norway and licked the wounds.

We returned to help in Kald Vinter 74 and were sunk four times by Norwegian submarines but we sank them as well so all was even! Whilst near Bodo I went ashore for three days at temperatures of —28°C to ski. This is not the downhill skiing done in Switzerland but military Norwegian cross country style. It is just like skating and a very efficient method of transport. We slept in the open air in a brushwood bivouac. It was so very cold.

After six weeks when the highest temperature was +4°C and the lowest —34°C, and the day started at 10.30 and sunset was at 14.15, we moved, via Rosyth, to Hamburg.

The entry was very quiet for Hamburg. There were two bands and flags and the flight deck was lined with sailors and officers. It was very impressive to watch. Hamburg was a very good run ashore although prohibitively expensive as regards shopping. The famous Reeperbahn is an incredible place and caters for all tastes!

We opened the ship to visitors and promptly had two bomb scares.. The numbers wanting to see the ship were in the region of 30,000 per day. We could only cope with 10,000 per day, which was sad.

We left there and came down to Malta. The sun is shining and we all have very healthy tans after a couple of days in this heat. It is sad

to come to Valletta and see what the Royal Navy could once call their own. We now have to pay Dom Mintoff's Government for even the ship's boats.

We leave here on Monday for Cyprus, Kalamata Bay in Greece and then Exercise Dawn Patrol. This will take three or so weeks and we then return to Malta for a week. The next stop is Halifax and St. John in Canada. We arrive in New York on, of all days, July 4! That will be quite a day.

I leave the ship in July and go off to a minesweeper somewhere, after some leave I hope.

J. A. G. Craven, Midshipman, R.N., (Manor 1967-72).

Officers' Mess, "Somewhere in the bush" Malawi BFPO 617 22nd April, 1974.

I am currently taking part in a British Army Royal Engineer exercise in Malawi. We are building four bridges and 11 miles of road on the eastern shore of Lake Malawi. The job will last until the end of July, but I am returning to England in May.

Currently I am employed as Plant Officer of 61 Sqn, 36 Engineer Regiment, based at Maidstone, in Kent. I have been there for one year, and am due to move again in the spring of 1975. D. L. Marshall, Captain, R.E., (Grove 1957-62).

The Bradfield 1973 notes mention swans met by Marcel Proust during a stay by the River Wye.

I am not familiar with the incident but in referring to Proust's book "Swan's Wye" I wonder whether J.J.B. is gently pulling our legs? "A la recherche du temps perdu" contains a volume "Du cote de chez Swann", usually translated as "Swann's Way". Swann, of course, is one of the leading characters in Proust's major work. G. W. Denby (1935-40) Kuala Lumpur.

Our reporter J.J.B. was enjoying a quiet joke. He is not sure what river he was sitting by, and now wonders if it was "De Swanee Ribber" —Editor

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

Sir.

We feel it our duty, without further delay, to disabuse the minds of the public of a delusion under which they are labouring. We allude to the belief that the masters and pupils of St. Peter's School have too many holidays, both regular and occasional. The short allowance of two hours' 61

cessation from regular work, three times in the week, may appear extravagant to such parents as would turn the Royal School of St. Peter into a nursery, where their children can be kept out of their way. It may be well to inform them that the school-hours continue till one o'clock on the so-called half holidays, and amount to thirty hours in the week, a length considered sufficient by all schools. As to the occasional holidays, they have been almost entirely suppressed, those formerly given by the Canons Residentiary having been taken away.

We hope that this statement of the case will cause the most intelligent of such complainers as abound in this city at least to doubt their opinion.

We have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient servants, THE SIXTH FORM. ST. PETER'S

This letter was written to the Editor of the Yorkshire Gazette, and published on May 1st, 1858.

I am grateful to Mr. A. J. Peacock, LP., MA., Warden of Yor Educational Settlement, who showed me the newspaper.

—Editor

INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS CAREERS ORGANISATION

Head Office: 12a-18a PRINCESS WAY, CAMBERLEY, SURREY (Telephone: Camberley 21188/9) Rags to riches through ISCO

Not long ago three brothers who had only two 'A' levels between them consulted the Independent Schools Careers Organisation—then better known as the Public Schools Careers Appointments Bureau—and were fixed up in jobs in oil, timber and security printing. Two of them were soon involved in overseas travel, one shuttling back and forth behind the iron curtain (he is now doing a two-year stint in Hungary) and the other selling his firm's services to governments in the Far East. All three claim to be enjoying themselves.

Not everybody wants to go to university or polytechnic and anyone rash enough to jump off (or fall off) the educational conveyor belt at 18 or so can ask ISCO for help in finding a job. Employers large and small are in urgent need of good trainees in spite of the recent crisis, and rightly or wrongly they still think of public schoolboys as people who can get up and go. (Admittedly girls have to sell themselves a bit harder.)

If you're under 23 you can fix an interview by telephoning the London office of ISCO at 27 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5JS (01-487 3660 and 3689).

Interviews can also be arranged at any of seven other regional offic in Edinburgh, York, Kendal, Leicester, Malvern, Taunton and Godalming. 62