aymestrey magazine summer - 1958

7/27/2019 Aymestrey Magazine Summer - 1958

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THE AYMESTREY MAGAZINE SUMMER - 1958

" TETTIE "

Many generations of Old Boys and others connected with the school will hear with regretof t he d eat h at her home in B eve rle y of Tettie (Mi ss E. Barnsley), on July 18th.

Tettie was Matron at Aymestrey for 37 years, from 1909 to 1946, and throughout this long pe riod she devote d hersel f wi thou t st in t to the se rvic e of the sch oo l an d of the bo ys un de r he r care. She never courted popularity with boys, parents or staff; she ruled her department witha rod of iron, and never put up with any compromise on what she held right and wrong; and her Yorkshire downrightness of speech and action could be disconcerting But her utter honesty,unselfishness and loyalty, combined with her tireless work, skill and efficiency, ensured thateven on short acquaintance all who came into contact with her could not fail to a ccord her a

wholehearted respect and admiration; and those who had the chance to know her well sooncame to recognise tha t she had above a l l the warmest of hear ts . She was ruthless withmalingerers, but she had an uncanny instinct in spotting real illness in its earliest states; and for those who genuinely needed her she would work t il l she dropped with infinite kindness,gentleness and patience. The under-dog always had in her a friend and champion, and many ashy and miserable new boy had cause to bless her sympathy and help.

After her retirement she kept in clos e touch with the school and was a regular visitor whileher health allowed. She remembered vividly all the boys she had ever known, and never tiredhearing of their doings in later years and of all news connected with the school. There are notmany like her, and Aymestrey was fortunate indeed in her service.

OLD BOYS' NEWS

D. N. K. Blair-Oliphant has been promoted Air Commodore. He is Director of GuidedWeapons Engineering at the Air Ministry.

A. J. French is going to Tripoli with his regiment. He is engaged to be marri ed. His broth er,D. J. , is in th e C anad ia n M ount ed Po li ce and has just been posted to the Great Slave Lake area.

D. J. V. Wright has a son.

J. S. Morley is engaged to Miss A. F. White; he has recently passed his final exam. and isqualified as a Chartered Accountant.

A. F.Thorneh, has returned from South Africa to take up an appointment with Messrs.

Blundell Spence & Co.J. N. Thornely has a post in the European section of the B.B.C.

R. A. Sparrow passed out first on the list at the R.M.C. Sandhurst and won the Queen's Medal.

A t O xf or d, D . R . McLeod (Hert ford) got a Second in Grea ts, and A. G. M. Slat te r (Christ Church) a S econd in M odern Languages . M cLeod is joining I.C.I.

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Tief had vis it s dur ing the summer hol idays f rom A. P. Sherwood, on leave f rom histeaching post at Achimota School, Ghana; from I. N. B. McGowan, on leave from farming inS. Rhodes ia; and fro m A. H. Dud er with his wife and son.

P. D. Stokes is Captain of the School at Rossall. He has been Captain of Cricket, winningthe Fielding Cup for the second time, and Captain of Squash and Fives. Playing squash in thehol idays he was in the sem i-final of the Evans Cup, the Lousdale doubles, and the Drysdale Cup.

W. D. Matthews is a. School Prefect at Wycliffe.In connection with these last two items, it is worthy of mention that three Old Boys have

been Head Boys of thei r publ ic school s in the la st tw o years, and four others have been SchoolPrefects.

W. B. Stal lard is o ut of the army and goes up t o St . Jo hn's Coll ege, Cambridge, to read law.

I. W. Routh has won a State Scholarship to Birmingham University from Bromsgrove.Aymestrey was prominently represented at Bisley this year. R. G. R. Owen was Captain of

the Repton VIII who won the Ashburton Shield , and M. A. H. Duncan was shoot ing for Allhallows and W. D. McDonald for Oundle. P. D. Coates was shooting for Cambridge and N.R. Bomford for Oxford, and the latter has been elected Secretary of the Oxford UniversityRifle Club for the coming year. P. M . Coates won the shooting competition in his battalion of theSomerset Light Infantry at Warminster.

I. A. M. Thoms on has pa ssed in 9 subjec ts at 0 level in the G.C.E. at Shrewsbury.M. G. Godsa ll wa s 2nd in hi s div ision in th e 440 at Br omsgro ve, a nd 4th in the half-mile.R. N S. Parry was in the third game at Uppingham in his first cricket season.

SCHOOL NOTES The following have left:

R, H. B. Davies. Came September, 1952. Prefect; Leader of Greens. Soccer XI 1957. CricketXI 1958. (Wycliffe).T. J. Gerard. Came May, 1953. Choir. (Uppingham).

C. J . Hoddel l . Came January, 1956. Soccer XI 1957. Rugger XV 1958. Colours for Athletics and Gym. (Wycliffe).J . S. Sherwood. Came September, 1954. Cricket XI 1957. Athletics Colours. Choir.

(GlenallnODd).S. H. P. Taylor. Came May, 1954. (Kings, Canterbury).

R. D. Thomas. Came September, 1953. Prefect; Leader of Blues. Rugger XV 1957-8.Boxing Colours. (The Leys).

A. M. Turner. Came September, 1952. Head Prefect; Leader of Greys. Head of VI Form.Ru gg er XV 19 56 -8 . Cr ic ke t XI 19 56 -8 . Sw im mi ng Colours. Choir. Patrol Leader. (Sherborne).

New boys: W. M. G. Lewis, R. F. Snell, T. M. Steadman.A. M. Turner won an Open Exhibition in Classics to Sherborne.

The following passed Associated Board Exams in Piano: R. H. M. Tildesley (Grade III) ,A. J. Powell (Grade II, Merit), J. S. Sherwood (Grade II), R. M. Urwin (Grade I., Distinction).Mr. P. H. Evans, who j oined the S taff in 19 51, h as le ft t o ta ke up an appointment as Second

Master at Hydneye House, in Sussex.

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PRIZES

Form VI: A. M. Turner (2), R. H. M. Tildesley, G. A. Hughes.

Form V: P. R. M. Conner, J . F. Gouldi ng,Form IV: T. H. Evans.Form III: A. J. Powell, R. H. Collins.Form II: E. J. Gallimore, A. M. Gosling, P. A. Baddeley.

Form I: H. Tuthill, J. C. Dowson.Writing: M. J. Stokes, 7. J. MillsReading: M. J. Stokes.Shield (bes t al l-rounder a t games ): D . H. Snel l. Fielding Cup: M. J. Stokes,Swimming Cup: M. J. Stokes, R. H. M. Tildesley.

COLOUR COMPETITION

WORK: I Greys, 42; 2 Greens, 38; 3 Blues, 20.Mentions:

Blues: Powell 60-10, Mills R. 51-5, Evans 47-0, Hughes 39-3.Greens: Conner 67-4, Goulding 54-2, Fisher 53-7, Collins 52-6, Dowson 48-7, Sherwood

49-3, Gosling 45-5.Greys: Gal lim ore 66- 8, Tr ott er 6 5-8, St oke s 6 1-5 , Wil son 51- 6, Tuthill H. 50-3, Tildesley

49-1, Turner A. 41-3.

DISCIPL INE: 1 Gre ys, 42; 2 Blu es, 36; 3 G reens, 22. Mentions: Blues: Dun can 33- 1, T hom as 28- 2, S nel l D . 2 0-4 , M ill s T. 15 -0, Brinton 13-0, Gerard 13-3.Greens: Davies 13-3.Greys: Turner A. 21-1, Hoddell C. 18-2, Todd 18-2, Hoddel l J . 16-2, Stokes 16-3, Wilson 14-0,

Tildesley 14-4.

GAMES: 1 Greens, 42; 2 Greys, 39; 3 Blues, 19.Cricket Cup: Greens. Swimmi ng Cup: Greys. At hletics Cup: Greys. Drill Cup: Blues andGreys.

Total for Term: 1 Greys, 123. 2 Greens, 102. 3 Blues, 75.Total for Year: 1 Greys, 356. 2 Blues, 276.3 Greens, 258.

CRICKET

It was a difficult season. The weather was discouraging and deprived us of a good deal of prac ti ce time , and we had a young and inexperienced side wi th ve ry li tt le on whic h to bu il d.The younger members however in some cases came on well, particularly Green, who was our steadiest bowler and showed some promise as a batsman. Stokes was eventually made captainand increased in ski l l and confidence , and he showed a t a l l t imes an exce l lent example

bot h in abi li ty an d in al er tne ss in the fi el d. Tuthi ll G. as wicketkeeper, was good in keepingdown the byes and was jus t beginning to accept his stumping chances at the end.

The sec ond and jun ior gam es pla yed kee nly, and the sec ond in particular reached a goodstandard.

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CRICKET MATCHES

May 21st. AYMESTREY v. THE LICKEY HILLS, away.

We started the season with five members of last year's team, but the strongest batsmen hadgone and all the bowlers, and there was no obvious claimant for the captaincy; so our firstmatch loomed up as even more of a question mark than usual. In the event we were soundly

defeated by a team stronger in all departments except fielding. Almost everyone did his bestin batting against an attack which was always respectable and sometimes more than that, but our woeful lack of technique was clearly shown up. The Lickey batsmen on the other hand hadsufficient strokes and confidence to make runs fairly easily against our untried bowling, thoughour fie lding was keen throughout.

AYMESTREY Green b Lewis ... 4Urwin c johnson b Scott 4Stokes c Spencer b Lewis 7Turner I. b Scott ... ... ... 0Turner A. b Scott ... ... 8Thomas c Strickland b Scott ... ... 2Scholefield c and b Lewis... ... 2Snell lbw b Scott ... ... ... 4Todd not out ... ... 3Tuthill G. c Stickland b Lewis 1Sherwood run out... ... 0

E x t r a s . . . ... ... 4

To t a l . . . ... ... 39

THE LICKEY Bell c Snell b Green ... 14Johnson c Urwin b Stokes ... ... 0

Metcalf c Snell b Stokes ... ... 2Scott c Tuthill b Snell 35Spencer lbw b Snell 13Lewis run out ... ... 11Somers c Stokes b Green 28Smart b Stokes ... ... ... 1Upton c Turner I. b Stokes ... 0Wathes not out ... 2Strickland b Green... ... ... 0

E x t r a s ... ... 13

To t a l . . . ... ... ... 118

Bowling: Snell 2 for 19, Stoke., 4 for 35, Green 3 for 32, Sherwood 0 for 6,Turner I. 0 for 13.

May 24th. AYMESTREY v. ABBERLEY HALL, away.Abbe rley bat t ed f ir s t w ith a young and inexpe rienced t eam but we set a reverently

defensive field, inviting the quick singles which our opponents eventually began to take. Our bowl ing was loose and the fi elde rs tr ie d ha rd but su ffered st ra nge la pses . Abbe rley declaredwith plenty of time for us to make the runs, but only Urwin batted with any spirit. Abberley'stactics in the later stages were a model for us, with the net of fielders drawn very close andeveryone on his toes.

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ABBERLEY Butler b Stokes ... 1Hardy lbw b Snell ... ... ... 2Prideaux-Brune i. not out 24Stuart-Brown lbw b Snell ... 3Sabarro c and b Green ... ... 13Cobb run out ... 5Prideaux-Brune ii. c Turner A. b Todd 2Burton b Todd ... ... ... 1Bailey not out ... 14

E x t r a s . . . ... ... ... 2

Total (for 7 wickets dec.) .. . 67

Bowl in g: Snel l 2 for 19, Stoke3 1 for 15, Green 1 for 19, Todd 2 for 12

AYMESTREYGreenrun out ... ... ... 5

Urwin c P.-Brune i. b P.-Brune ii. . .. 10Stokes b P.-Brune i. ... ... ... 6Turner I. b P.-Brune i. . .. ... 0Turner A. lbw b Stuart-Brown ... 2Snell b Stuart-Brown ... ... 0Todd lbw b Stuart-Brown ... ... 0Tuthill G. not out... ... ... 0Franklin b P.-Brune ii. ... ... ... 0Tildesley c Stuart-Brown b P.-Brune ii. 0Tuthill F. b P.-Brune i. ... ... ... 0

E x t r a s . . . ... ... 2

To t a l . . . ... ... ... 25

May 28th. AYMESTREY v. SEAFORD COURT, away.This was a better game than the previous ones. Seaford batted well but our bowling had

much more vim, Green in particular showing determined accuracy, and our fielding wasgood. Our batt ing however was not s trong enough to s tand long against accurate bowling.Turner I . played a good innings and Franklin showed up as a s tout defender. The end wasexciting and Seaford deservedly took our last wicket on the stroke of time.

SEAFORDLampard not out ... ... 58

Wilde b Snell ... ... ... 1Tinkler b Green ... ... 27Graham lbw b Green 0Blackleg b Green... 14Turner not out ... ... ... 17

Extras ... 8

Total (for 4 wickets dec.)... 125

Bowlin g: Snell 1 for 26, S tokes 0 for 44, Green 3 for 25, Todd 0 for 14,Urwin 0 for 8.

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our own batting was weak, though Tildesley and 'Thoma s str uggled ga mely to play out timesuccessfully.

THE ELMS Westcott hit wkt b Todd ... ...14Foster lbw b Snell... ... ... 29Priest run out ... ... ... 11Greaves hit wkt b Tuthill F. ... 1Parker b Snell ... ... ... 2Penn b Green ... 10Usher run out ... ... 1Figtree b Snell ... ... 4Tadman b Green ... ... 1Kaye not out ... ... 0Eckford b Green ... ... ... 0

Extras... ... ... ... 6

Total... ... ... ... 79

Bow ling : Snell 3 for 12, Stokes 0 for 20, Green 3 for 16, Todd 1 for 11,Tuthill F. 1 for 12.

A YMESTREY Green c Penn b Eckford ... ... ...3Urwin b Eckford ... ... ... ... 8Stokes b Eckford ... ... ... ... 4Turner I. b Priest ... ... ... ... 1Tuthill G. b Eckford ... 1Franklin lbw b Priest 0Tildesley not out ... ... ... 0Todd b Eckford ... ... 0

Snell c and b Priest ... ... 1Thomas not out ... ... ... 2Extras ... 3

Total (for 8 wickets) ... ... 23

June Ilth. AYMESTREY v. ABBERLEY HALL, home.Half hearted shots and bad running, both of which troubled us all the season, kept our

score low. But Snell and Green took useful wickets early in the Abberley innings; and fromthe moment that their captain hit a bad ball hard to leg for Todd to make a really fine catchour morale went up and theirs went down. Our fielders were brought in close, more goodcatches were held, two men were run out through smart fielding, and we won an unexpected

bu t we ll de se rv ed vict ory, the mora l be ing as us ua l that fielding brings its reward.

AY MESTREY Green lbw b Stuart-Brown ... ... 1Tildesley c Stuart-Brown b Hardy ... 2Stokes b Prideaux-Brune ... ... 1Turner I. st Butler b Hardy ... ... 11Urwin b Hardy ... ... ... ... 1Turner A. c Prideaux-Brune b Stuart-Brown 9Tuthill G. lbw b Hardy ... ... 0

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AY MESTREY Green run out ... 4Franklin run out ... ... 5Tildesley b Priest ... ... 1Turner A. hit wkt. b Figtree ... 4Stokes b Figtree ... ... ... 0Turner I. not out ... 8Urwin not out ... ... 9

E x t r a s . . . ... ... ... 5

Total (for 5 wickets) ... 36

June 28th. AYMESTREY v. SEAFORD COURT, home.Our bowling had improved and made the Seaford ba t t ing look less formidable than

befor e. Stok es bo wled muc h bett er tha n his figures sugg ested, Tod d was stea dy, and Gree nkept a nagging length. Our f ield ing showed some zest but was unre l iable and, as of tenhappens, we dropped at the beginning of his innings the man who went on to make top score.Still, Seaford were all out for 61 and we were in quite a good position But once again manyof our batsmen failed badly and Stokes, who appeared to have played himself into form in theColour matches , was id io t ica lly run out by his par tner. Urwin hit hard and Tuthil l G.defended well, but we failed by eighteen runs.

SEAFORDLampard lbw b Todd ... 12Tinkler c Urwin b Todd 7Graham c Stokes b Green 2Blakey lbw b Green ... ... 0Reeves c Urwin b Green ... ... 6Turner run out ... ... ... ... 17Wildeb Green ... ... ... ... 7

Coulson c Urwin b Todd ... 8Charles c Stokes b Green ... 1Cotton b Green ... ... ... 0Daniel not out 0

Extras ... 1T o t a l _ ... ... ... 61

Bo wl ing : Stokes 0 for 19, Todd 3 for 28, Green 6 for 13. A AY MESTREY

Green c Coulson b Reeves ... 3Franklin b Coulson ... ... 1Tildesley c and b Coulson ... ... 0Turner A. b Reeves 6Stokes run out ... ... ... 0Turner I. st Graham b Tinkler ... 1Urwin lbw b Reeves 16Davies c Coulson b Tinkler ... 4Todd lbw 13 '1 inkier 0Tuthill G. c Coulson b Reeves 6Tuthill F. not out ... ... ... ... 0

E x t r a s . . . ... 5

To t a l . . . ... ... ... 43

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J uly 19th. AYMESTRE Y v. THE OLD AYMESTREY ASSOCI ATION.

The Old Boys batted first and hit out with enterprise, and the school failed to adapt their tactics and go for the many catches in the deep which could probably have been collected.Tuthill G. however accepted well from s tumping chances and gave his best performance aswicket -keeper. Our batsmen, as so often happens in this match, were so overawed by the better

bowl in g th at th ey la rgely fa il ed to take ad va ntage of th e wors e, and count les s lo os e ba lls we nt

unpunished. Green however played a useful innings, Davies showed determination, and Snellhit the best shot of the match; but in the event the Old Boys easily won the first victory in theseries for a long time.

O.A.A.G. L. Phipps c Turner A. b Stokes 5J. S. Morley b Stokes ... ... ...14J. B. Heath c Green b Stokes ... ... 10I. W. Routh st Tuthill b Tildesley 41H. S. Morley b Stokes ... ... ... 0E. J. Wood b Urwin ... 18R. L. Steynor c Stokes b Green ... 11M. F. Heath st Tuthill b Green ... 20J. H. Phipps st Tuthill b Green ... 0F. J. T. Robins st Tuthill b Green 0M. Bates not out ... ... 7R. Johns not out ... ... 0

E x t r a s . . . ... ... ... 4Total (for 10 wickets dec.) . . . 130

AY MESTREY Green st Heath b Robins 11Franklin c Phipps J. b Phipps G. 5

Tildesley c Wood b Phipps G. ... 0Turner A. run out ... ... ... 1Stokes c Wood b Routh ... ... 0Turner I. hit wkt b Johns 1Urwin lbw b Bates ... 3Davies not out ... ... 10Todd b Morley H.... ... ... 1Tuthill G. lbw b Routh ... ITuthill F. c Wood b Phipps G. 0Snell st Heath b Phipps G. ... ... 8

E x t r a s . . . ... ... 21

T o t a l . . . ... 62

SWIMMING

We celebrated the installation of the new water-system with a good season in which thestandard was higher than for some time. There was only two boys in the school who could notswim by the end of term, many in the middle grades made very good progress, and there were

bot h mor e and better experts than usual. Colours were awarded to Barnard, Brinton,

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Snel l D. , Stokes , Ti ldesley and Turner A. , and others to do wel l were Thomas , Hughes,Gerard, Mills T., Evans, Banks, Collins, Fisher, Tuthill G., Tuthill F., Wilson and Lewis. ThePicked Squad put on a par ticular ly good show on Sports Day. Greys won the Cup pre t tyeas i ly, and the Indiv idual Cup was shared by S tokes and Ti ldes ley. The ou ts t and ing

performance was achieved by Tu rner A., who beat his own record for und erwater swimm ing wi th a dista nce of 112 feet. The s wimmin g spor ts results were:

SENIOR. 50 yards: 1 Stokes, 2 Snell, 3 Barnard.1 Length: 1 Turner A., 2 Barnard, 3 S tokes.

Life Sav ing : 1 Tildesley, 2 Turner, 3 Duncan.Underwater: 1 Turner, 2 Tildesley, 3 Barnard.

Duck Diving: 1 Brinton, 2 S tokes, Tildesley. Diving: 1 Stokes, Tildesley, 3 Barnard.

JUNIOR. 50 Yards: 1 Tuthill F., 2 Collins, 3 Banks.1 Length: 1 Tuthill, 2 Lewis, 3 Evans.

Diving: 1 Tuthill, 2 Lewis, 3 Fisher.RELAY. 1 Blues, 2 Greys.

ATHLETICS

During the practice period conditions were good and the level reached in Standards wasabout average. Those who obtained all their St andards were Hoddell C., Sherwood, Turner I.,Tildesley, Tuthill G., Duncan, Snell D., Tuthill F., Powell, Butterworth, Jay, Barber R. and Mayson R.

Sports Day itself was pretty wet and the jumps and hurdles had to be postponed until theMonday, but the performances on the whole were quite good. Hoddell ran a fast 440, and inDivi sion II Turner I . beat the Division I height by 2 ins. Greys won the competition fairlyeasi ly. Colours were awarded to Hoddell C., Sherwood, Todd and Turner I.

DIV. I 440 yards: 1 Hoddell C., 2 Scholefield, 3 Davies ; 65 4/5 secs.100 yards: 1 Scholefield, 2 Hoddell C., 3 Todd; 12 4/5 secs.

Hurdles: 1 Hoddell C., 2 Todd, 3 Sherwood. Hi gh Ju mp: 1 Davies, 2 Scholefield, Sherwood; 4ft. lin. Lon g Ju mp : 1 Davies, 2 Todd, 3 Turner A.; 13ft. lin.Cricket Ball: 1 Turner A., 2 Davies, 3 Stokes; 58 yards.

DIV. I I 220 yards: 1 Turner I., 2 Mayson D., 3 Duncan; 303/5 secs.100 yards: I Turner 1., 2 Duncan, Mills T.; 13 1/5 secs.

Hurdles: 1 Turner I., 2 Tildesley, 3 Snell D. Hi gh Ju mp: 1 Turner I., 2 Snell D., 3 Duncan; 4ft. 3ins. Lon g Jum p: 1 Turner I., 2 Trotter, 3 Duncan; 13ft. lin.Cricket Ball: 1 Snell D., 2 Turner I., 3 Brinton; 552 yards.

DIV. II I 100 yards: I Butterworth, 2 Tuthill F., 3 Peate; 13 2/5 secs. Hurdles : 1 Tuthi l l F. , 2 But te rworth , 3 MacRae. High Jum p: I Green, 2 Gallimore, Tuthill F.; 3ft. 6in. Lon g Ju mp : 1 MacRae, 2 Tuthill F., 3 Lloyd; 11ft. 3in.Cricket Ball: 1 Tuthill F., 2 Green, 3 MacRae; 46 1/2 yards.

DIV. IV 80 yards: 1 Powell, 2 Barber R., 3 Mayson R.; 11 4/5 secs. Hurdles: 1 Powell, 2 Jay, 3 Barber R. Hi gh Ju mp: 1 Mayson, Powell, 3 Banks, Barber; 3ft. 3ins. Long Jump: 1 Powell, 2 Barber, Jay; llft. tins.

Cricket Ball: 1 Powell, 2 Jay, 3 Mayson; 411/2

yards.

RELAYS Medl ey : 1 Greys, 2 Greens.Sprint: 1 Greys, 2 Blues.


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Hurdles: 1 Greens, 2 Greys.

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C A M P

(By NOAH)

It is 8 p.m . on Monday. Last Fri day we had ni ne hours of ra in, on Sunday the same again but heavie r, and now it is comi ng down in a st eady, drenchi ng sm ok e of wat er. However, wehave had supper and have even washed up and the Scouts are all in bed, and if we stoodthose o ther two days su re ly we can s t and anyth ing . The S .M. has pee led o ff a soddenmackintosh and is gropingly making his bed in the dusk. A squelching of feet outside: " Sir,there's a river in the Cuckoos' tent."

Well, there was. The waters from the hill above, tired of making their way underground,had decided to come up and have a look round and had chosen the middle of a tent for their sort ie. As groundsheets were peeled up the whole f loor-space was s imply an oblong of water. Bedding was hastily rolled up in such groundsheets as were still dry on top, and wasr us he d t o t he S he lt er w it h t he k it , a nd w e p au se d f or b re at h a nd p la n- maki ng.Reinforcements were mobilised from the members of other patrols who had the s toutestmackintoshes, the bedding was all checked over and everythi ng rejecte d t hat the water hadreached, the other tents were ransacked for all rugs and groundsheets that were not beingus ed, and m ir ac ul ou sl y a c om pl et e s et w as e xa ct ly a ch ie ve d f or e ve ryb od y.Miraculously also the rain stopped. Two Cuckoos were lodged with other patrols; the actingA.S.M. P. D. Coates , who had nobly given up the week again to help with camp wasevicted from his tent and condemned to share the S.M.'s ; tools were chucked out and the

remaining four homeless Cuckoos were safely housed. We breathe again, butS.O.S. from theEagles: large lake outside the tent, just about to come in at the door. Out spades and torches,and some fifty feet of extra river are added to the waterway, of Wales. The tide goes out andthe Eagles are saved. But for how long ? We'd better move the drowned-out Cuckoos' tent to anew place. The clouds were now shr edding away, a ful l moo n sho ne out, and by i ts l ight atriumph of removal was achieved; in an incredibly short time the tent was repitche d on a drysite , and we now even had a spare tent for the next emergency, which however mercifullydid not arise. To set the seal on the evening's work, a brew of cocoa was produced, and by10 .30 we were al l in bed again, safe, dry and warm.

A full description of this episode is given, although it did not involve actively the wholetroop, because it was the highlight both of our difficulties a nd als o of our a chievement It was a

really good show, and all who were called upon rose to the occasion magnificently.

The first three days were fine and mostly sunny; this was lucky in any case and especiallyso since quite a few of us had contrived to catch colds at school just before starting and itgave us a chance to get them largely subdued before the wet came. There was some good

bat hi ng , and we jus t go t in the us ua l exp ed iti on to Ll and eg ley Rock s, the fi rs t rea l ra in se tti ngin as we got back.

But it was unkind of the weather to be whole-heartedly wet for visitors' day on Sunday. Wefilled the church to overflowing and afterwards successfully gave tea to more than fifty guests.Their courage was admirable, and they not only cheerfully put up with our entertainment but

pa dd led off to the ir car s wit ho ut qu ite da rin g to sug ge st tha t wo ul dn 't it be a go od thi ng if theytook Johnny home now as he was obviously going to get pneumonia

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if he wasn't drowned first. Seriously, that really was rather noble, and as a silentlystoical vote of confidence in our abili ty to look after ours elves it was very encouraging.

I t was no t pe rhaps one o f the rea l ly g rea t camps in the Troop ' s h is to ry.There was just too much frittering away of time which made jobs take too long,and smal l oddments of ineffic iency and fool ishness which might have beenserious. But cooking was mostly very good, there was a complete absence of anything approac hing grumbling (excep t by Ahab), and no one can have failed to learn agreat deal. Cuckoos were the best patrol.

When all is said and done, we had to deal with the heaviest rain we have ever faced. Another troop camping in the neighbourhood were driven from their tents toa vil lage hall , and we heard of a camp that was beaten altogether and forced tore turn home . We were unde feated , fu lly fed ( thanks to Miss Worton , Mrs.Aste rley, and Todd in charge of the store s) and dry.

We w er e i ns pe ct ed o n o ur l as t d ay b y t he D is tr ic t C om mi ss io ne r.unfortunately not t i l l after some dismantling had already taken place, and thisaccount may well end with his report: " This was a most completely organised andefficient camp. Despite extremely bad weather all scouts were cheerful and hadobv iou sly enj oye d the ms elv es; and the sta nda rd maintained reflected much credit onthem."

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aymestrey magazine summer - 1958

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