Something I like at last
NextBackOne day a parade was held by the Army Cadet Corps on the school playground and so impressed was I by the uniform and especially the drum corps I immediately enrolled as a cadet. Some of it was fun especially camping and manoeuvres unfortunately there were no vacancies in the drum corps. The drill hall was on Easemore lane and it's proximity to the river Arrow was ideal for manoeuvres or field exercises. These took place each week and heavily camouflaged we ran through the woods and meadows trying to ambush the enemy. I was a member of the three man Bren gun party, membership however was subject to a rather frustrating 'pecking order’. I was number three on the team but had been informed by my ego that I was far more intelligent than Titchy Evans who was number one. Titchy had the glamorous task of carrying the gun, a real Bren gun, albeit a 'DFO' or 'demonstration purpose only' model. Mickie Brown, as number two had only a little less glamour, he carried an empty ammunition box but I, carried a 'Ping Pong bat'. This bat had a metal strip with a lead weight attached to its underside. When we sighted the enemy we took up firing positions and on Titchy's command of "Fire", I self consciously and half heartedly shook this bat producing a kind of "Takatakatakataka" sound intended to simulate rapid machine gun fire. It was demeaning and I hated it. Consumed with jealousy and resorting to petulance I moaned and groused until eventually I was allowed to carry the gun. Titchy Evans seemed somehow strangely relieved to be rid of it. I soon found out why. Blissfully unaware that a Bren gun and magazines weighed about twenty eight pounds I soon discovered that I had a placed an Albatross round my neck. As I had campaigned so strongly to carry it I could not now appear to be unequal to the task and must reluctantly soldiered on. However before long the burden of weight and responsibility was taken from my hands, literally.
