MRS. ETHEL VON BENECKE
During my time in "the Shop", I have had some strange requests:-
"Please send me two hats size 6 & 7/8ths, one must be bigger than the other." Trefoils have been called "Iron Badges", and "Mental Trefoils", and belts "Skin belts", which gave me an instant mental picture of snake skins, complete with head and beady eyes, daring the Captain to fail the wearer any tests!
What would you guess if you were asked in a letter:- "Please send us some yellow and red, blue and white, red and blue, and pink and white." I knew it wasn't one for the paint shop, and shoulder knots seemed to satisfy.
I was rather startled one day by the request in a letter:-
"We wish to start a Guide Company. Please send a Commissioner and a Uniform." As Commissioners only came in large sizes at that time and we were clean out of large boxes, we sent a letter instead
And then there was the Guider who wanted "24 wriggles".
There have been many good laughs in that Equipment Department
As a Guide myself, fifty years ago, we wore a navy serge skirt, cotton tunic-type blouse of lighter navy and a leather belt. The hat was large and brimmed and we had no special uniform for camp. Most of us only possessed one uniform, so by the end of camp we weren't exactly as fresh as daisies. I remember my father asking me not to sit next to him on the bus home after he had met me at the bus station after a camp!
Our Captain and Lieutenant were keen on camping but not very knowledgeable we usually used to camp on a slope or miles away from a water supply. Our most favoured camping ground was at Matlock in Derbyshire, the farmer nearby was most helpful. One night we had a cloud burst, being camped on the hillside it was quite interesting to see all your belongings go rushing away under the brailings, we never took a spade to dig trenches, this particular night the farmer came along and took us to sleep in a loft over the cottage. This
was used part of the year as a grain storage and the rest of the year as the Rats Playground!... we discovered as they jumped all over us during the night!
At one Camp our Lieut. brought along her large Alsatian dog. During the night cattle wandered the camp. We heard the dog barking and screams from our seniors. It appeared they had tied the dog to the tent pole and the dog had decided to investigate the cattle!
Some years ago we camped at Inyanga. The Captain was our present Chief Commissioner. I was the Q.M. and enjoyed every minute of it. The crows had to be watched all the time, especially round my store tent. One morning we had opened both ends of the tent to let the fresh air through; in flew two crows and out the other end, with one pound of bacon each
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