SCOUT NOTES

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 110, 3 February 1938, Page 7

SCOUT NOTES

Television Broadcast SWIMMING SPORTS (By “Ferao.”) • At'the invitation of the metropolitan executive, the rover swimming sports are now to be held in conjunction with the scout sports, early in March. The following are the items in the rover section of the programme:—100yds. free style, 33 l-3yds. free style, 33 l-3yds. backstroke,' 00 2-3yds. breaststroke, lifesaving, diving, dressed race. In the lifesaving event the patient is to be as near the same size as the rescuer as-possible. ■ Competitors in the dressed raee will be required to swim a distance, disrobe, and I. then continue the course. Rover Athletic Sports. The Rover Athletic Sports are to beheld this year during the week-end I’ebruary 19 and 20. at Butterfly Greek. Ihe sports will be an inter-crew competition for the Coster Cup. Following are the events on the programme: —Broad jump, high jump, hop, step and jump, crosscountry, 100yds., 220yds„ javelin throw, putting the shot, throwing the cricket ball, tent-peg relay, tug-o’-war, fire-lignt-ing The cross-country race will be run on the Saturday, and the other events on the Sunday, ft is hoped that all crews will cuter as many as possible m all tae events. Death of Air. C. S. Clarke. ; The scouting fraternity ot Wellington and all over New Zealand will I® 01 " with regret of the death of Mr. C. ». Clarke, Karori. The late Mr. Clarke was one of the three pioneers of scouting in Karori. He. attended the first meeting to start a troop in that district, and owing to the handicap of not havin o a meeting place, he permitted the front room of his home to be used for. m eet in”s. The members so increased that U was necessary, to secure a larger h and he again came to the rescue and bu ir a large hall in which the guides, scouß, and cubs had their meetings. Mi. Claike and his wife took an active interest m ?h e committee; he held the position of treasurer, and’generally movement. There must > , i un(lrC( ® boys who have received their training owhi“- to Mr. Clarke’s enthusiasm 1-n scout” movement has lost a very ya’ua <- member, who held the. rare pos t on o honorary scoutmaster in recognition his services to the movement. er for sea scouts at London, of. a, tele vision broadcast in which the scouts tioioated *—“An immensely nioß room, banks of brilliant lights shining grey machines on legs, tames everywhere, intense heat, an army of white coated men, ami a sense of silent activity-that was jny first impression of the Alexandra Palace television studio the other day. I had promised the 8.8. L. to give a television interview about the Discovery’s new career as a scout ship, but when I got there and saw what it nas all like I began to wonder. I wanted some “atmosphere,” so I took along with me three hefty, sea scouts —Geoff Brooks, Hampstead ; Arthur Burton, North 1< inchlev ’ and Jack Clark, Lymington. I don t know if they felt nervous, but they certainly didn’t look it. We were taken along wide corridors, up steps, down steps, and round corners to our dressingr°“Some hasty rehearsals here, and then on to the set for the full rehearsal. AVe are placed in position— mustn t move quickly backward or forward, or, you 11 get out of focus." A huge emitron camera with a man sitting on it is wheeled down at us, lights are brought closer, a microphone comes sailing down over our heads, a buzzer goes, and the Produce! gives some instructionsXWe mustn t look at the announcer when.we talk, but at the ■emitron’s’ lens, which glowers balefully at us from.quite a different place—ami that I found the hardest , job of a l. Hie stage hands gather round to look, and hitch up their trousers a little to make the chaps feel the sea is in their blood too. Everybody is good-natured ami cheery. The current is turned on, and we appear on the viewing screen. Camera shifted a bit, more lights here, ‘Bend more forward, please,’ another buzzer, and we start. , . , 4 , Tr . . ‘“What do the Sea Scouts do.' What will the Discovery be used for?’ and so on. You can’t read your remarks from a paper and you may not learn them by heart, so it’s a bit of an ordeal. The announcer is quite imperturbable, and if you miss bits out he alters his next question to remind you. I missed lots of bits out at that rehearsal, and though everybody was jolly nice I felt that we were in for a poor performance later. “After lunch we were made up, and you never saw anything like us—yellow as leeks, and very scented—and then having some time to wait we were taken to the viewing room to see our fellow convicts ‘going over.’ Television comes through awfully well these .days, as clear as any cinema, though on a mjjch smaller screen —and the sound as good as any ordinary broadcast. The minutes went by. “Our call boy came for us. We went on the set. The programme runs through at lightning speed. No waits at all. We were moved up ready before the next two turns were through. Then on. Buzzer. The calm voice of the announcer. Cheery back-chat from the chaps. Everything went according to plan. No waits, no worry. Buzzer —we were through, with one or two more grey hairs over the ears, perhaps, but with an experience at the back of us that we’d none of us be without now.”