Sunday, March 29th.

Monday, March 30th.

Tuesday, March 31st.

Wednesday, April 1st.

LONDON

The Tower of London, and Traitor's Gate, St. Paul's with its Dome, to the Palace in haste. The Sentries and (Guards, the photos we took, Peter Plan's statue was worth a quick look. The. Science Museum with inventions galore, The Victoria and Albert, (Showed a, century before. Old creepies and crawlies — if you like to see them, Then .visit the 'Natural History Museum. The Indian Museum of Eastern charms Had statues) quite odd, — some with five arms.. The Houses of Parliament are well worth a tour, And awaken our (pride in our (Government and Law.

MY PUPPY

I have a little puppy, He's as fluffy as can be, And every time I see him, He always wants his tea.

He often takes my slippers, They're nowhere to be found Until at last he brings them back. (He'd lost them underground).

But still I love my puppy Though he's naughty as can be. I'd better go and see him now He's longing for his tea.

Kelvin F. Palmer IDG.

I was only in New York a couple of days. But that was enough to tell that it was a very (big place! It's -population is almost eight millions. You notice at once the tall sky-scrapers, with the Empire State Building towering above them all.

While in New York we visited many places of interest. One of them was the Empire State Building. It to known as the world's highest building and has one hundred and two floor-levels. From the top you can see miles around.

Fifth Ave. is one of the main streets in New York. Along here there are many fashionable shops with windows decorated beautifully. Another place of interest we saw was Rockefeller Center. Here there are beautiful gardens and fountains and a large open skating-rink with the R.C.A. building towering above it.

These are only a few Of .the main sights in New York; there are also many more, such <as Times Square, Madison Square (Garden, Greenwich Village, China Town and many others. There is .only one thing I have left until last, and that is ,the Statue of Liberty. .It stands on Bedloe's Island in the harbour of New York, City and was given to us 'by France as a token of friendship between the two 'Countries. As she stands in the harbour, holding the torch of (Liberty in her light hand, she welcomes the new-comers and bids .farewell to those who are leaving. I hope that someday soon I shall see this torch of Liberty, and I'll know then that I am really home again.

VERDALA CUBS

The 2nd Royal Naval School Wolf Cub Pack continues to meet every Wednesday afternoon at Verdala School and its strength is being kept up to a steady 24 cubs.

The pack took part in the annual St. George's Day service at St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral and afterward they "ran" past His Excellency The Governor Chief Scout of Malta.

I would like to thank the Headmaster and Staff of Verdala School for their wonderful co-operation.

May I say a great big thank you to "Chill", District Commissioner for U.K. Cubs, for all she has done for me personally in the 5 years I have been Cub master. She has helped me over many stiles and difficulties. Thank you "Chill".

This, I am sorry to say, is the last time I shall be writing for the School Magazine, I am leaving Malta in June for U.K

Lastly, a word for the cubs. Good intentions are not enough. It requires a sustained personal effort if you are to acquire the habit of "Doing your best" as you have heard me say many times. It is to your advantage.

Goodbye and Good Hunting.

AKELA.

1st R.N. GUIDE COMPANY

The school Guide company has had an active year and has proved popular, particularly among the younger girls. Numbers are now at full strength and there is .a considerable waiting list.

There have 'been several division activities, A hike during the Easter holidays proved enjoyable in spite of wet weather, and a barbecue on the roof of Headquarters gave everyone a hilarious evening. In the course of the year, there have been two Church parades, both of which were quite well attended.

During recent months, the Guides, have been fortunate in having Miss Rippin to teach them country dancing. Faced with large numbers of enthusiastic beginners and a few¹ more advanced, she has taught everyone several dances which are now performed with gusto, If not with technical skill.

Meetings this term have mostly been held out-of-doors in the form of stalking games and sausage "sizzles." A more ambitious venture next week is a P.l's meeting to cook a two-course meal.

Our thanks again go to those members of staff who have so kindly tested for badges, and to Mr, Plant for his friendly co-operation.      SH

SEA SCOUTS

 -The past year has seen the usual spate-of activities. Last Summer during the whole of the recess, daily courses were organised by the kind co-operation-, of the officers of H.M.S. Fierce and H.M.S. Ranpura. Badge courses were held--for Signaller, Bosun's Mate, Coxswain and Oarsman, and proved very popular. Saturday morning courses were held at H.M.S. Ricasoli in Marksmanship- and Seamanship whilst the ever popular trips by M.F.V. to Comino gave the boys the practical experience of compass work they needed.

An outstanding feature was the day's outing on Miner VI for the recovery. of rocket targets.

A Christmas -party organised by the Group Committee of Parents was very well attended and all appreciated the variety of 'eats' as well as the variety of entertainment. Each Scout received a present of an electric lantern to help provide a safe light during camp.

The Annual Camp was held at Easter on the Ricasoli Rifle Range when the new tent was well and truly christened. Perhaps the most memorable thing about this camp was the way in which the "Grey Lady" so obligingly walked when called upon to do so and convince the Tenderfeet of her existence. Unfortunately we have now lost the facilities of Ricasoli and must now pitch our tents on fresh ground.

St. George's Day Parade was very well attended this year and was by far the smartest turn-out yet seen in Malta. We were honoured this year by the presence of H.E. the Governor, Sir Robert Laycock, Chief Scout and the Rt. Rev. the Bishop of Gibraltar — himself a keen scout.

At this time of year we lose many of our troop as they return home or move to other countries. There are now Scouts of the School Troop in many parts of the world, westwards to America and Eastwards to Hong Kong and Australia. Scouting is truly a great brotherhood — let us see to it that the brotherhood will be proud of us and that we are worthy members of it.

BOATING ACTIVITIES

Since September last year, Inst. Lt. Cdr. Law has taken a number of fifth year boys, six in all, to H.M.S. "St. Angelo" to receive boat instruction every Friday games period.

As most of the boys had been to sailing classes in their fourth-year, we have had .about eighteen months' experience.

Instead of starting the new term with whaler-pulling, as we had done in the fourth year, it .was decided to go sailing. But, alas! before we could sail the whaler, it had to be pulled out into the Creek, and this operation proved one thing — we had forgotten how to pull properly. We spent that afternoon sailing, being reminded that the following week we would be doing a "little" pulling. The following week it was windy, although not rough in the Creek, and Mr. Law showed us how to manoeuvre the whaler correctly alongside buoys and quays. Then one of the boys took over the tiller, his task being to bring the whaler alongside a landing stage. Being up-wind of the stage, we approached it at a high speed, as the wind was behind, and it was therefore impossible to stop the whaler quickly. The situation was saved by Mr. Law's quick action. The moral of that incident is, "never do the opposite to what the Coxswain has told you."

We do not always go sailing or pulling; twice since September we have had lessons on powered-cutters, and one week we practised our shooting on the indoor rifle range at "St. Angelo".

Just recently, some of the more proficient of the boys have been going out in a dinghy, while the others sail or pull ;n the whaler.

We would like to thank the Boat Officer of HMS. "St. Angelo" for his cooperation, and also, our instructor, Inst. Lt.-Cdr. Law for his assistance and encouragement.

S. TAYLOR, SAG.

Before we came to Malta we lived in a little village, called Beanacre. The village was in Wiltshire near Chippenham. The village was in the country, and we had a big house in Beanacre. It was great fun. My father worked in Bath which was thirteen miles out of Beanacre.

We had a maid and she was in her seventies and was awfully nice. There was a farm just across the road. We got eggs there and they were nice big eggs too. The lady's name was Mrs. Skinner. We went to school in Melksham in the town. There was a church in Beanacre. It was about five minutes walk from our house. The village was called Beanacre because it grew lots of beans and had lots of acres.

MARY BRYANT. 1.E.M.

LOVELY BLACK STALLION

Lovely black stallion, So wild and so free, Who rung like the wind, Past mountain and tree.

Lovely black stallion, As black as the night, Defending his herd,

With all of his might.

Lovely black stallion, I wish I was he. I envy the stallion. So wild and so free.

David Chambers. l.C.G.

NIGHT

Slowly, silently, the night draws on, Far away a cockerel cries,

The nightingale sings his vesper song, Early workers start to rise,

A faint death cry as cat mets prey, A mouse is dead, a cat has fed,

The expectant air of the coming day. The schoolboy sleeps still snug in bed.

But now the dawn is edging in, To wake once more the city's din, The cat goes home to sleep contented, The mouse is found, but not lamented.

M. SNOWDOWN, 4BM.

A HOLIDAY RESORT

The breeze rustled softly through the tufts of grass which bordered the top of the precipitous cliff. From far below came the joyous shouts of happy children. The beach was situated between two big cliffs which towered above, casting a shadow on the crowded beach.

Gay sea pinks crowned the clefts in the rocks, their pretty heads waving in the breeze. The sea was shimmering under the glare of the hot sun and a thin spiral of smoke rose slowly into the air from the funnel of a ship on. the horizon.

Walking down the long narrow steps to the vast expanse of beach I noticed the amusement of some children who were riding donkeys, which trotted solemnly along. Many children splashed happily about in the sparkling water. Others contented themselves by exploring the jagged rocks while some packed lots of sea pinks and daisies.

Time passed quickly and it was soon time to return home. Reaching the top I looked round and; saw many gaily painted caravans standing in some fields. I wished I was staying in one as I made my way home after an enjoyable day.

GAEL BARKWILL 2.A.M.

Few people realise the vast amount of work involved in running a library, even a small one. When, you come into the library, select a took, have it checked in and leaver, that is the end of the matter for you, but for 'the librarian and his assistants it is only the beginning,. The book-card has to have your name and form, printed on it, and has to be placed- in correct alphabetical order in its file. This takes an average of two minutes a person and entails about 20 minutes work a day.

Luckily we have two competent girl assistants who cut this time down, but even so there are always a few cards not filed, or missing, which have to be in order by the next day.

Let me give you an idea of how the library works. Each book has to have three cards recording the book's details. Here is the way the cards are made:—

CARD 1: Author's name; type of book (Fiction or Non-fiction); title of book, and publisher's name.

CARD 2: Title of book and author.

CARD 3: Classification of book .(Biography, Essays, Literary Criticism,, Verse, Religion, Archeology, Art, Classics, Geography, Nature, Science, Hobbies and Interests, and History.)

After classification the books are marked on the spine and paper-cover according' to their section.

It will be realised that it takes a lot of work to keep a cheek on each book, and at the end of every term the whole library has to be checked. Missing 'books are listed, damaged books, or those which are too old, disposed of, and each box of cards is gone over to ensure correct sequence.

We find quite a number of books missing each term, and this is usually due to a borrower, returning to England', who forgets to give in his, book. This is a common fault, so please see that you have returned your library books before you leave school.

It surprises me that not many senior members of the, school avail themselves of the library. This is a pity, because ,we have quite a collection of books suitable for the older children.

Our most popular section is, of course, the fiction part of the library, and there are many books, by the popular modern authors, which are eagerly snatched up as soon as they are issued. A big shock, is the lack of interest in the more famous authors such as Dickens, Weyman, Balzac and others. For an experiment I placed twelve books by Charles Dickens amongst the other fiction books; and not one was even displaced in a fortnight!! The other books are usually disordered, put back in their shelves upside down or even shoved! in a different section altogether.

Still, I enjoy working in the library, despite all my grumblings. There is a fascination in sorting out books and cards, and even though the library is installed in a classroom, amidst the noise of busy students, and to concentrate is half the worry, we always manage to get everything running smoothly in time.

For anyone who is willing to give up his dinner-hour, a few spare hours in his curriculum, a couple of nights a week after school and a few days in the holidays, he will find the job well worth doing and extremely interesting.

A warning for all those who are about to rush for this job. At peak times I spend about 10 hours a week in the library and I am still well-stocked with work. I would lie even more behind if I did not have a few girl assistants who do an excellent job.

By the .time this, is printed there will probably be a separate library,* which is our greatest need. Unfortunately I will have returned home and will miss seeing it, but I wish every success to the next librarian who will be able to experiment much more than I can, amidst more pleasant surroundings.         R. YOUNGMAN. 5.AM

A RIDE ON A SPANISH BUS

To see is to believe, it is said, but when one does see a Spanish bus — one finds it very hard to believe!

These buses are made from pieces of other vehicles, I saw one; the base from an ambulance, the engine was from an old A40 car, doors, seats, windows had been salvaged from unidentifiable sources, best left to one's imagination.

This contraption runs for about six months, before various parts drop off!!

The one I rode on must have just completed its 'Maiden voyage", because we were still intact at the journey's end. We began the trip, all of us packed inside like Sardines in a tin — men with sacks, women with children .— most of them howling, and chickens tied together by the legs and hanging head-downwards, they, also making a din. The smells combined, were awful! The most powerful was garlic! Digested garlic, I mean.

We rumbled and swayed along at a perilous ten miles an hour — the driver holding an animated conversation with a fellow passenger, which necessitated much waving about of his hands, leaving the steering to take care of itself.

Passengers wishing to alight stamped their feet and shouted — then made a wild rush for the door — as the driver seemed reluctant to let anyone get off!!

The conductor, meanwhile, was having a doze somewhere at the rear end of the bus, only coming¹ to life to argue about fares and politics with anyone foolish enough to query his wisdom!

Originally, I intended to enjoy the view from the window during the journey, but owing to the marked absence of space and the lively antics of bus, crew, and passengers — I saw very little of it.

The chief outside activities I noticed were pedestrians, dogs and cats leaping for safety as we passed by!

Our final destination was reached amid a screeching of breaks, more shouts, and howls from uncomfortable and "fed-up" babies. The driver immediately dismounted and opened up the bonnet, his head disappearing from view among clouds of smoke and steam.

I had enjoyed the journey, but felt very thankful I was making the return journey by ferry-boat!

D. ROWE. 3B.M.

We left Malta at 9 o'clock on the 26th of March, 1959, on the "Argentina", and arrived at Sicily on the following morning at about 7 o'clock, where we walked straight to the station and caught the train for Salerno, Italy.

The journey lasted for 12 hours in which time I had spent 15s on postcards, drinks, sweets, etc.

When we arrived at Salerno we started walking immediately on a journey which was supposed to have been 3 miles but seemed like 10. However we found a camping site and I eventually got into my sleeping bag at about 1.30 a.m.

The next morning, after breakfast and a swim in the bay below the camping site, we broke camp and headed for Ravallo which was reached after walking up nearly 6,000 steps, which nearly killed us all.

A weary party of 3 masters, Mr. Richards, Lt. Cdr. Bentley, and Lt. Parry, and 12 boys, Ronny Drew, Tony Elliot, John Kennedy, Colin Birt, Ronald Rowe-berry, David Garnish., Tony Graham, Robert Lewis,, John Finch, George Richards, John Thomas and myself Malcolm Snowdon, rolled down a road leading to the outskirts of Ravallo, and pitched camp.

Then It started to rain, so the masters decided to take us into town for lunch. We found a small cafe and had an egg and bacon, supper with, of course, vino (wine). I think nearly all of us were very giddy that night. It hadn't stopped raining the next day so we moved into' a half-built set of rooms which were going to be a hotel when finished. Here we stayed that day and night.

Next day, the 31st of March we caught a bus to Positano. Actually, we caught two buses because we changed at Amalfi.

We arrived at Positano and stayed the night on the beach. Next morning after a, swim and break-fast we set off on a 10 mile trek to Sorrento, one of the main, and in my opinion the best, town we visited. We camped in a special tourist camp on the outskirts of Sorrento, and we pitched camp amongst the orange groves; which was an invitation to help ourselves of course.

That night and early next day it rained heavily, so the trip to Capri was postponed until the following day. Instead we moved into an unfurnished house actually on the camping site. There we stayed for the next two days. In the afternoon we went shopping, and I spent 4,500 lire = £2. 15s. on presents alone. The next day we were up early and caught the boat for Capri. The weather was very, very, rough. Cat least my stomach thought so), and I and three others were seasick.

However, we arrived and for the next hour four or five of us were moaning like "I wanna die".

The masters couldn't find a place in which to get a cheap meal, so we had to get one which cost 700 lire, which is about 7/6d. each. The bill for the whole day was somewhere around 32,000 lire = £20.

We stayed the night at our so-called "hotel" and the next day we again stayed in a proper camping site, under .the shadow of Vesuvius.

Next day was a big day. We had to 'walk' to the top of Vesuvius which took us three hours. When we got there we were disappointed; all there was to see was lava in solid form. But the excitement came, going down., because we actually ran down! We had ,a picnic lunch on the road-side and returned to camp tired and dirty, but happy.

The last leg of our journey was on the next day when we visited Pompeii which I enjoyed very much, but I think a lot, of others were more interested in catching lizards.

Then we started our journey home. We caught a train to Salerno, then a train to Taormina. In this train there were 10 of us boys and our ruck sacks cramped into a tiny little passage-way, which was very trying indeed.

At Taormina we again stayed in a camping site and had a nice day bathing, going into town etc. We also met the party who had been touring Sicily.

Then the next day we caught a train to Syracuse, where we boarded the boat for home.

We arrived in Malta at about 8 o'clock on the 8th of April, tired, weary and happy.

I would like to thank the teachers for the marvellous time we had, while they were staying behind working out the next route or the next meal. "Thank You, Sirs!"

M. SNOWDON. 4.BM.

It was a lovely morning in late April when Jennifer Stephens who was staying with her Grand-parents on their small farm in Devon, set off for her friend's house in the nearby village of Sampford Courtenay.

There was a fragrant scent of Almond Blossom lingering in the air as she ran joyfully along the narrow lane which led to the tiny village with its old church and Elizabethan type houses. The birds were singing continuously, and the many beautiful Spring flowers still lined the hedgerows and clustered among the roots of the huge, old trees that stood here and there along the way.

Suddenly the lane 'began to wind steadily upward, and then, when Jennifer reached the top of the hill she could see all the surrounding countryside and the little village nestling in the valley below.

She was nearly there, and after running quickly down the hill found herself in the picturesque village street. Passing the quaint, old inn with its cobbled courtyard, Jennifer rested for a while on the small, old, rustic bridge to watch the stream as it danced and gurgled over its rocky bed, as though in great haste to reach the sea.

'LESLEY HAESLER 3. B. G-.