On Sun, 2 May 2004 12:51:44 +0100, Jaques d'Alltrades
wrote:

The message
from martin contains these words:
On Sat, 1 May 2004 22:33:06 +0100, Jaques d'Alltrades
wrote:
The message
from martin contains these words:
On Sat, 1 May 2004 13:26:17 +0100, Jaques d'Alltrades
wrote:

The best whirlwind I've seen (not quite a tornado, but more than a dust
devil) was IIRC in 1957, when I was on the staff of Kingsdown Scout
Camp, near Deal.

I was at Kingsdown Scout Camp in 1956 & 1957. First on a normal summer
camp and then helping Peter West during the summer of 1957

Camped there with 1st Emerson Park in 1956 and was at Kingsdown for most
of the school summer holiday in 1957. People I remember are Chris?
Leadbetter from March (IIRC); Bob? from Ruislip; a rather pompous git
called Ted; Maj. E.C.L.Flavell; P.B.Neville of course; and, and, and....
I'll have to think.

Were you there when we lit the camp fire with (ahem) something naughty,
blew the gun up with the same stuff during a camp-fire stunt, and when I
detonated (with RM approval) a bermb on the R.M. range one Sunday?

not that I remember.

The answer's 'no', then. You would have remembered....

Not necessarily. It is all a long time ago.
I do remember kids queuing up and paying for me to burn/brand their
belts.
I vaguely remember that an open fronted storage shed had been burnt
down. Whilst I was there slave/scout labour was being used to build a
new one.

When I was there in the winter we walked to Dover and swam
in the army swimming bath there. By coincidence I found one of our
Dutch secretaries here had also used the swimming bath around the same
time. I can't remember how or why. We also got to use the indoor army
rifle range in Deal

Exit Flannel muttering: "Silly little boys! Silly little boys!"

I liked old Flannel - he was genuine.

Was he the owner of an Armstrong Siddeley Saphire(?)?
He gave me a lift to Tunbridge Wells. I caught Asian flu, whilst I was
there and I almost threw up all over his car.

I can't remember what car he had, but it sounds in keeping with the man.

It impressed me at the time :-)

Short and dapper, purple plume, small clipped moustache.

That sounds like him.


/snip/

I lived in a green Black's Niger tent, did they really call them that?
Not very PC. There was also a young guy doing national service in the
navy in Chatham, helping Peter West when I was there.

Paul Parker?

I forgot his name long ago.