Page 63 - It's a Rum Life Book One "In the Beginning 1947 to 1960"

A FUTURE WITH THE SCOUTS
As time went by I myself became a Patrol Leader then Senior
Scout. During this time, being a Scout was as much an aid to
seeking employment as was a good education. Prospective
employers valued the training for life that the Scout Movement
provided.
(Sea Scout Uniform 1956)

I still had designs on a career on
the sea but was not sufficiently
academic to become an officer in the
Royal Navy. My parents were very
much against me joining on the lower
decks so I chose to train as a Radio
Officer in the Merchant Navy.
This involved joining one of the
small number of private ‘Marconi’
authorised training establishments
around the coast.

At the same time as I was in the
Scouts, I was a Cadet in the Grammar
School Combined Cadet Force. If I
remember correctly, boys could join in
the third year at school, everyone had
to spend one year in the army section doing their basic training.

Compulsory National Military service was about to be
stopped and the Cadet Force attracted I would imagine about 70
to 80 boys out of total compliment of about 500.

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