THE JOURNAL OF THE PLYSU GROUP No. 3 AUTUMN, 1971

BE SOCIABLE - IT'S A CLUB!The first Committee meeting of the Plysu Social Club was held on 9th Novem-ber. The Committee has been appointed to get the Club's activities movingon a sound basis, and the management has applied for a licence for theCanteen for Club activities. In short, it's all systems go-the Club's successnow depends on the efforts of its members.

The Plysu Social Club's Committee has been formed under the provisionalchairmanship of Mr. Maxwell Summerlin. It comprises: Joan Hartup, Tony

Hollis, Kath Roslin, Marjorie Mastersand Richard Large.

Also appointed are: Claude Phil-lips (Secretary), Jim Passingham(Treasurer), Harry Arnold (HonoraryAuditor).

Everyone at Plysu will be keptfully informed of the Club's progressand social activities, and we shall befeaturing Club news regularly inthese pages. Mr. Maxwell con-cluded the first meeting by stating"this is your club and now it is up toyou. It is obvious that the majorityof the employees wish to see aPlysu Social Club but its successdepends on the goodwill and workof its members."

Help the Old this Christmas

THE DAY CHARLIEWENT TO SEETHE QUEEN ...

Charlie went to BuckinghamPalace to see the Queen.

It is not often this kind ofinvitation comes to a memberof Plysu! But it happened toCharlie Davies, Plvsu's SecurityOfficer, this summer.

Most people, when they visitLondon, see little more than theChanging of the Guard and theQueen's Ensign when it isflying.

Charlie and lsobel. however,were official guests, and a rightroyal occasion it proved to be,as he will tell you.-page 2

Plans are afoot to make Christmasthat bit brighter for old folk in thearea next month.

A Christmas party is being held inthe Canteen on Saturday, 11 thDecember, for the 'Evergreens' ofWoburn Sands, the 'Silver Threads'of Aspley Guise and the Wavendon'Friendship'.

Plvsu's five-strong organisingteam-Dora Buckthorpe, AudreyBritton, Midge Hollier, Tony Hollisand Ken Coleman-hope to cater forup to 200 guests, including helpers.

Coaches have been laid on tocollect visitors in the afternoon andthey will be served with a full mealandwine at 4.30 p.m.Entertainment and carols will then be

Of course you can. Frank provided by the Brooklands SingersTodd tells you how, aided and the Woburn Sands Church Choir.

And a special 'guest' appearanceby two Plysu lovelies. His has been promised-by Santa Claudeadvice could help you save I Phillips!a life-possibly your own.. Now-this is where YOU can-page 5. help, by entering the Christmas Cake

YOU CAN'T SWIM?

Competition. Cakes must be deliveredto the Canteen by 30th November.Judging of entries will be by Mrs.James Summerlin on 1st December.

First prize in the Competition willbe a Premium Bond and the cakeswill be distributed as Christmas giftsto the old folk in the community.

So get those baking tins ready.With a little effort you could givea whole lot of pleasure to theaged this Christmas. Make it abumper Christmas for them!

SHARKS ARE FUN?Exclusive - Harry Arnold's'reeling' tale of what it'slike on holiday in search ofthe kind of 'pet' that canleave six of its teeth in theside of a boat.-page 4.

A Right Royal' Do'Many times I have watched theChanging of the Guard at Bucking-ham Palace and wondered what wason the other side of that historicbuilding. This summer, I was privil-eged to find out.

My wife, Isobel, and I werefortunate to be guests of Her Majestythe Queen at a garden party held atBuckingham Palace for members ofthe British Legion, and also Service-men.

We arrived at the ConstitutionHill entrance to the Palace withapproximately 1,000 otherguests, andpromptly at 3.15 p.m. we entered theforecourt, thence under the famousarch, and into the quadrangle. Slowlymounting the stairs to the royalapartments we handed our closely

. scanned invitations to N.C.O.'s ofthe Coldstream Guards.

We continued on through the hall,furnished with red velvet chairs,cases of fine china and portralts ofdescendants of our Royal Family. Onto the terrace, and down some stone

steps to the lawn, where twelveYeomen of the Guard formed a halfcircle. Here we waited for HerMajesty, Prince Philip, the QueenMother and Lord Louis Mountbatten.

Punctually they arrived at 4 p.m.when leading British Legion memberswere presented to the Queen andPrince Philip. Later, many othermembers had the exciting oppor-tunity of meeting the Royal Family.

Tea was tastefully served in alarge marquee erected on the lawn.We enjoyed all sorts of good thingsto eat, and afterwards we took astroll around the sunny, peacefulgrounds. It was very hard to realisewe were right in the heart of London,yet no sound penetrated the delight-ful gardens. Indeed, it was possibleto hear birds singing .

We continued on by the lakewhere we saw a number of pinkflamingos, water fowl etc. The royalchildren's playground was visitednext, and we were very interested tosee the miniature caravan. Interest

PostboxI am very pleased to be able to tellthrough Plysu People of a wonderfulexperience I had whilst staying inBedford Hospital last July, and onewhich will always remain very prec-ious in my memory.

On this particular occasion, owingto being told by the Sister that Iwould not be able to have anyvisitors this time, and that she hadstopped relatives coming (whichturned out to be a blessing in dis-guise) I was in bed with curtainsdrawn, feeling very weak, but verypeaceful, pleasantly resigned to allthat might befall me, when slowlysomebody walked into the Ward.

To my delight-I believe we bothsaw each other at the samemoment-it was Mr. Claude Phillips.

Through Mr. Phillips' gentle andkindly personality, although notmany words were spoken betweenus, I felt to my amazement the weak-ness departing, leaving in its place afeeling of renewed strength andhappiness.

Words cannot express just howmuch I have appreciated all his helpand kindness since then; his kindlyvisits to Edgbury and afterwards athome and I am deeply grateful tohim.

I would like to say, at the sametime, how I appreciated Lorna and

Ruby's visits in hospital-it waslovely to see them, they were socheerful and kind-and it was mostkind of "Lorna's two girls" from thePrint Room to give up their time tocome with her, and I thank allPlysu for their kindess at that time.

SARAH KING (Print Room).

I would like to thank you all tor yourkindness, generosity and sympathy,also my heartfelt thanks to my work-mates in the Container Departmentfor their lovely flowers.

DOREEN STOCKER(Containers Stripping).

in the royal cars was very popular,and we found them very highlypolished and in first class condition.During the afternoon music wasplayed by the band of the ColdstreamGuards.

At 6 p.m. the Queen and her partyleft, in order to prepare for a visit toPrincess Anne who was at the timein hospital.

So ended a very special day in ourlives which I am quite sure my wifeand I will never forget. The Changingof the Guards will never be quite thesame now we've actually beeninside.

By CHARLlE DAVIES

SONGSTER TOM RETIRESTom the Song has gone-or nearly. One ofPlvsu's best-known personalities, TomNeale, retired this summer, after 13 years'service.

At a presentation in the canteen, Mr.Slocock handed Tom a wrist watch andfountain pen, on behalf of all departments inthe factory, and gloves and slippers from theoffice staff.

He started work at Plysu, April 1958,after giving up his bakery business inWavendon.

Asked how he planned to spend hisretirement, he said "gardening and singing"-for which he is very well-known aroundthe villages ..

The management have offered him apart-time job. He is very pleased with this,because according to his wife, he can'tspend all his time singing.

"He says he's only here for the beer."

CARTOONQUIZLlNES

So where was yoursense of humour?A disappointingbatch of entries toour competition.Quizline winnerwas Ethel Best(Housewares).

Plysu peopleCong ratulationsTo Ray and Maureen Tinson, adaughter, Louise, 29th July, 1971(7Ib.90l.).To Richard and Jennifer large, adaughter, Claire Melanie, 30th July,1971 (7Ib. 60l.).To Peter and Elizabeth Malia, ason, James Peter, on 16th June.To George Tough (Housewares),and his wife, Marsha, a son, .Jarrod.on the 11th August.To Fred Healey (Moulder) and hiswife Sally, a daughter on the 12thSeptember (weight 71b. 140l.). Theyare going to call her Jacqueline.

Silver WeddingMany congratulations to KenGriffin(Moulder) and his wife Clara (whois Mrs. Enever's deputy in House-wares) who this summer celebratedtheir silver wedding.

GET WEll SOONBest wishes for a speedy recovery toRonnie Wilson (Blending Room)who has been off work for some timefollowing an operation.And to Alec Bailey (Carpenter) whohas been in Mount Vernon Hospitalfor some time.

YOUNG GENERATION CORNER

Claire Melanie large (see above)

SAFETY FIRSTCongratulations to the followingwinners of the Plysu Safety Trophy:July: IndustrialAugust: Print RoomSeptember: IndustrialOctober: Housewares Production

Photographs appearing inPLYSU PEOPLE can be ordered

D. A. Bennett. Ext. 225.

Mrs. Mary Upstone seen here beingpresented with a hi-fi stereo recordplayer and radio by Mr. G. F. Walkeron behalf of the staff and employees,retired at the end of October, afterbeing with this company for nearly'20 years.

'Mrs. U: as she was known bymost of us, held a unique position in

the company. She was a friend whoone could approach for advice on anymatter, personal or otherwise, andshe will be greatly missed by every-one. On behalf of her friends in thecompany, Plysu People wish herand her husband a very long andhappy retirement.Every good wish, 'Mrs. U'.

WelcomeWe offer a warm welcome to the followingwho joined us at Plysu

Containers: Edna Alien, Jacqueline Ball,Ann Beal, Linda Beazley, Mario Borromeo,Carol Bunyan, Paul Campbell, GlenyseCapp, Linda Cowell, Rose Crisp, MaryDashwood, Gwendoline Edwards, OliveGeorge, Lesley Gilks, Maria Insogna, MariaJames, Stanley King, Vera Kingham, NoraLawrence, Lucia Di Lorenzo, BarbaraMatthews, Kathleen Matthews, Jean Nazir,Morina Overton, Doreen J. Pilgrim, RachelPotts, Jan Power, Brenda Rainbow, LindaRainbow, Gwendoline Richardson, ErminiaSantosuosso, Lilliana Sretenovic, MarionStaniforth, Ethel Stringer, Gillian Stringer,Harold Thurston, Christine Wight.Containers Stripping: Yvonne Bolah,Dorothy M. Cox, Ellen J. Cox, Lilian R.Kemp, Beryl Lowe, Stella C. Simpson,Madeline Sinfield, Gladys W. Stapleton,Elizabeth Taylor, Lucy Wilkins.Containers Packing: Martin J. Clarke(Nights), Brendan J. Connolly (Nights),Robert Dowdall, James Gibbison, PatrickGormley, Joseph Hodge, William Hummer-ston. Barry Pain, lan Power, Francis Rain-bow, George Shields, Roland Wilson.Container Sales: Marie Brennan, AngelaBritten.Containers Printing: Joseph Cardoe,Glynis M. Downing, Deborah J. Hudson,Linda Sibley, Sarah Steele.

Containers Transport: Kenneth C.Rainbow.Moulding: John Bernard, Brian Bishop,Paul Brain, Brian Bulmer, Gerald Cooper,David Dixon, John Gray, Raymond GreenJohn Hay, Bernard Hayles, Edward A.Holmes, Kenneth Hulks, Ormer Kerr, LeslieLanceley, Hugh Mackie, William McNamee,Stewart Nesbitt, Raymond Pearson, JamesReilly, J. Shanley, Robert Smith, Nicholas J.Stroud, Eric W. Trusler, Thomas Walker,Arthur Willis, Alfred Wright, Leslie J. Wright.Mould Moving: Vincent Barden.Products General: Sidney Cox, KeithDemner, Robert Hale.Products Engineering: Roland Golding,Jordan Jankoff.Products Moulding: Robin Hay, GeorgeE. Sutton, Sidney Vinton.Products Chipping: Albert Keegan, BarryRead, Geoffrey Saunders.Products Stores: Leslie G. Hailey.Standards & Inspection: Brian Cooke,Frank Nelson, Nathan Payne, FrederickSeaton.Electrical: John Worrall.Computer Room: Jim White.Restaurant: Angela T. Circuitt.Driver: Ivan Conlon.Artic Driver: Anthony G. Bishop, Victor T.Minton.Print Room: June Grummitt.Housewares Sales: Joan Walsh.Cleaning: Leslie Hamilton.Chipping: Redvers Gargett.Engineering: James Bayliss, DennisEdwards.Carpenters: Keith Howkins.

3

It's not often a fisherman finds a mermaid on the line. But Harry Arnold 'caught'Marian Shanley after reporting a marked absence of sharks in the Plysu lake.

Sharks -Ahoy!Contrary to popular oprruon. theshark population of British seas isnot confined to the English Channel,but may be found all round ourcoastal waters. As a summer sport,the pursuit of these fish is to berecommended, although not with aspear gun-make sure your shark ison the business end of a fishing rod.

The sharks for which one goesfishing are Blue, Porbeagle, Thresherand Mako. Basking sharks are notpotential man-eaters, and can beignored for sporting purposes. Oneor two other types of shark areoccasionally found in our own waterssuch as the Spiny Shark and GreatWhite Shark, but they are rare andtheir presence is more an accidentthan habitual.

Shark fishing, or sharking to giveits colloquial name, is done along the

by Harry Arnold

south coast from the Isle of Wight toFalmouth and to a lesser degree onthe West Country's north coast. Thesport has been started in the south-west of Ireland, and there is noreason why it should not take placeanywhere round Great Britain. Makoand Porbeagle sharks have been seenin the Firth of Forth and Threshers ofup to 1,000 Ibs. have been seen offthe Eastern coastli ne.

Record CatchesThe most common shark caught offthe south coast is the Blue shark, ofwhich some 6,000 are caught each

year on rod and line between mid-May and the end of September;their weight ranges upwards from15 Ibs. tor the young (caught at theend of July), to the British record of218 Ibs. They come over fromAmerica in the Gulf Stream to breedand are summer visitors only, (it maybe connected with having childrenon the National Health Service).

The Porbeagle shark is the secondmost common shark in our waters,its weight going up to 430 Ibs. whichis incidentally the all-tackle worldrecord and was caught 7 miles off theJersey coast in 1969.

'Shy Fish'The last two types of shark are the

Thresher and the Mako or BluePointer. The Thresher shark is a veryshy fish with a scythe-like tail meas-uring up to 5 ft. in length. The Britishrecord which has stood since 1932is 280 lbs. The Mako is the piece deresistance of shark fishermen, withthe British record of 500 Ibs. (May1971). It makes a fearsome sight.

Only two or three of these fish arecaught each year, so their capture is acelebratory event.

Unless one is lucky enough to seeit first, the first intimation that onehas hooked into a Mako as opposedto any other shark is when the seaerupts and up to a quarter of a ton offighting mad shark goes rocketinginto the air in an effort to dislodge thehook. Their ferocity is marked by thetime taken to bring them to the gaff,never less than an hour and moreusually two hours.

In 1969 a Reading man fought hisMako for 6 hours 5 minutes on a79 lb. breaking strain line before itwas gaffed and even then it straight-ened out two stainless steel gaffs andleft six of its teeth in the side of theboat.

Sharks in our waters are usuallyfound 5 to 15 miles from the shoreand their incidence closer inshore israre, although this summer I saw ahuge Thresher shark about 200 ydsoffshore. As it was thick fog at thetime I suspect he was more lost thanwe were. Up till this summer, therehas never been a confirmed reportof anyone being attacked by sharksaround our coasts, although a certaindaily paper reported in June that askin diver was attacked off a Devonbeach-they have to sell their papers.

A warningA word of warning to all would-beshark fishermen. Whatev~-1he skip-per says is law. If som)mne else isfighting a shark, always keep wellout of the way and never tighten thestardrag on the clutch of a reel.

An experienced sea angler outsharking for the first time Was playinga shark using a harness attachinghimself to the rod. "Oh! its just like

(continued on page 6)

~RANK TODD suggests you should be .

GETTING IN THE SWIMWhy the need to swim? The first andmost obvious reason to come to mindis su rviva I-we need to save ou rselvesfrom a watery grave. It may surpriseyou to know that during the next 12months more than 1,000 childrenand adults will die from drowning.

Approximately 75% of these fatali-ties will take place in inland waters,i.e. swimming pools, canals, lakesand rivers. The majority will be under11 years of age.

This accident rate is second highestafter motor accidents. One wouldhave thought that more publicitywould have been given to this fact.

The Amateur Swimming Associa-tion publicised the fact in a pamphletSwim for your Life and ran an exten-sive National Learn to Swim Cam-paign during 1970. Statistics are notto hand, but the campaign must havegreatly reduced the number of non-swimmers in the country. The AS.Ais one of the oldest governing bodiesof amateur sport having celebratedtheir centenary in 1969 and governsall amateur swimming for both sexes.One of its objects is to promote theart of swimming and to encourage itsteaching.

This object is supported by mostamateur swimming clubs and allclubs in North Bucks devote a portionof their Club's nights solely to teach-ing swimming. One immediatelythinks of children being taught toswim, but the service is offered toadults also.

Age no barrierThere seems to be quite a high pro-portion of Mums and Dads who'cannot swim probably due to ern-barrassment or taking the least lineof resistance-can't be bothered.This is a/pity because swimming isone activity the whole family canenjoy together at little expense, aslittle equipment is required. If one isso inclined, the company of others isnot essential. Age is no barrier-from

Frank Todd is an Official Starter,Judge and Time Keeper for theAmateur Swimming Association andserves on the Swimming FacilitiesCommittee of Midland District A.S.A.A founder member of Bletchley Swim-ming Club, he is now Secretary of Wol-verton Swimming Club, Champion-ship Secretary of Oxford and NorthBucks A.S.A., and AdministrationOfficer for Winter Training Courses atR.A.F. Halton. .

Frank Todd demonstrates the use of floats to Marian Shanley and Susan Ruff-Smith. Thanks girls for being such sports. It must have been perishing-but you made our cameraman's day!

4 to 90 years. I have witnessed a managed 70 years plus, being taught toswim in 15 minutes.

As to the Body Beautiful: keep fittypes can revel in the fact thatswimming is the finest natural phy-sical exercise devised. Large quanti-ties of air are inhaled resulting in aproportionate amount to injuriouscarbonic gases being expelled. Fewrecreations call to action so manymuscles at one and the same time.Swimming is invigorating, exhilarat-ing and very useful in an emergencyto save life.

I cannot imagine the feelings of anon-swimmer who is compelled bycircumstances to witness a drowningincident unable to help.

FacilitiesThe second object of the ASA is tostimulate public opinion in favour ofproviding proper accommodation andfacilities for acquiring the art ofswimming. Throughout the countryduring the last decade or so, greatstrides forward have been made inproviding swimming pools. Mostbig towns have modern facilities foracquiring the art and this area is noexception.

Heated open air pools now exist atNewport Pagnell, Aylesbury, Buck-ingham and Wolverton ; the latter alsoprovides a shallow heated learnerpool.

Bletchley is fortunate to have theonly municipal covered pool locallyand also has an open air learner pool.

With Milton Keynes developing, newswimming pools will be providedand the first three to be built will be atStantonbury (New Bradwell) SportsCentre (25 metres) plus a learnerpool; City Centre (33 metres) with aseparate diving pool, and at Bletch-lev. These projects are planned tostart in 1973/74.

VolunteersWhere there is a swimming poolthere is usually a club and here youwill find a dedicated group ofvolunteers keeping the activities tick-ing over and spending their sparetime teaching and improving swim-ming.Usually a non-swimmer is tenseand rigid when in water, this being anunnatural medium to be movingaround in. To swim one must relax,and confidence gained with the useof artificial aids, i.e. inflated armbands, rings or floats.

The learner can move about quitefreely with an aid, having a go andgradually gaining confidence. Oneputs over that swimming is fun andtries to convince the learner he canswim by continually telling him so, atthe same time reducing the airsupport in the swimming aid.

At the end of this I have knownlearners to swim well with no airsupport in their aid whatsoever, yetunable to swim with the aids off.

In a shallow learners' pool as atWolverton, the shallow water method

(continued on page 7)

.5

1_-

Plvsu's GRAHAM SHAWwrites on the pleasures of hop-ping, skipping and jumping andgenerally keeping fit.

Athletics, from a spectator's point ofview, is a much under-rated sport.There has been a slight revival withthe magnetism of Dave Bedford, butthe terraces have been empty far toolong.

It is not generally appreciated thatAthletics takes place at all levels.Obviously International matches getthe most publicity but there arehundreds of clubs in England, Scot-land and Wales set up in Leagues ona Regional basis with the best clubsmaking up four Leagues on a nationalbasis. It was the Southern LeagueDivision III club, Luton United A.C.,that I decided to join in August 1970,after a break from Athletics of about4 years, since leaving school.

At school I had been Beds.Schools Champion for two years atthe Triple Jump (some may call itthe Hop, Step and Jump-I call itsomething else!) and I held theschool record at 43ft. 4ins. I had letAthletics drop whilst at University inLondon and last year I decided tomake a come-back. The Club hasdone well since then, gaining pro-motion to Southern League Division2 in September 1970, and this yearwe secured promotion to Division 1,something that the rival footballteam couldn't do! Next year we arehoping to gain promotion to theNational League. That will meandoing well in each of six matchesagainst four teams, different in eachcase and, if we do well enough,winning a special promotion match.

For myself, I started my come-backwith the intention of Triple Jumpingbut I have also been Long Jumping,High Jumping, and this year I haveeven learnt how to Hurdle properly.I ended the season with a regularplace in the team for my Triple Jump-ing and 11o metre Hurdling. My bestperformances last season were LongJump, 20ft. 5~ins., Triple Jump42ft. 2ins., High Jump 5ft. 4ins., and110 metres Hurdles 16·6 secs. Theseperformances might not be all thatimpressive but with a winter's train-ing ahead to obtain greater strength,next year should see a great improve-ment. I will probably concentratemost on the Hurdles, a relatively newevent for me but one with the mostpotential. I have already Hurdled forBedfordshire and even written anarticle for the Evening Post on "Howto Hurdle."

Athletics is a fine sport-no goodfor smokers or heavy drinkers though!It keeps you fit, in shape, and I find it arelaxation from the pressures of work.

HURDLING HIGH

SHARKS-AHOY! (from page 4)winching in a big ray," he said,tightening the clutch. When the fishsaw the boat it dived for the sea bed.As the line couldn't run out he waswhipped out of the chair and clam-med against the gunwhale.

If the skipper hadn't leapt downand loosened the clutch he wouldhave been over the side and gone.The final indignity was that althoughno bones were broken, "his right armwas numb and he had to hand therod to someone else to bring the fishto boat.

The skipper's language nearlyblistered the paintwork off, and theincident was passed from shark boatto shark boat via intership radio fromFalmouth to the Isle of Wight. Theshark? It weighed 60 Ibs.

A day's shar!<ingLet us take a typical day's sharkingfrom Falmouth on the 'Huntress'skippered by Robin Vinnecombe. Weassemble on Customs House Quay,rather hung over from the previousevening's festivities. Each persontakes whatever food and liquid(usually non-alcoholic) that he feelshe needs and away we go.

We steam for an hour and a halfout of the harbour and then theengines are cut and we prepare todrift for the rest of the day. We start byputting the rubby dubby basket over-board. This is a log basket half full ofmackerel, well rotted and minced up.

This forms a 'smear' which by the endof the day will be half a mile long anda hundred yards wide. The initialsmell of it is something more thanrepulsive to use, but very appetisingto sharks.

Taking the baitThe lines (one rod per person) are

baited with live mackerel caught onthe spot and we sit down to wait.The day is spent reading, sleeping,listening to the radio (Top of thePops' or other shark boats andtrawlers from Lands End to Hove),bottom fishing, mackerel fishing forthe following day's rubby dubby orbeing sick to leeward if you're a badsailor.At any time from putting the rods outto finishing time (about 4.30 p.m.)one might expect to hear a reelscream in protest as a shark takes abait and rips off 50-250 yards of line.Each person is allocated a rod for theday and whoever the rod belongs to,takes the 'fighting chair'. He is giventhe rod and from then to gaffing he'son his own.

One might have a "double strike",i.e. two sharks being played at thesame time, or even very rarely, atriple strike. Experience will tellwhether the shark being played islarge or small. A large shark, stomachhooked, will give very little fight; asmall shark which has wrappeditself up in the trace will come in

The motorists of Plysu who aspire tocompete in the 'Monte' showed theirpaces in the 'Country Ramble' inJuly (writes Martin Tucker).

Kitted out with maps, compasses,s top w a t c h e s. s pot I i g h t s, sum pguards and noisy exhausts, theylined up at the Station Hotel car parkto be flagged away at their appointedtime. They were only, in fact, requiredto bring a pencil and a car.

The lucky ones, with navigators aswell, soon negotiated the level cross-ing and were making their wayalong the Cranfield Road. The sprink-ling of clues along here were foundby most but the sparser sprinkling ofdirections soon had some guessing.

Chimney potsBy now, with the not-so-seriouscompetitors in the Leathern Botteland the serious ones lost the rallywas well and truly under way andwith half of the organisers recalled toduty (earning overtime) the con-testants were left largely to them-selves. It was difficult, however, toremain lost for long. Among theclues and directions actual place-names were occasionally to befound.

backwards and will seem to weigh atremendous amount.

On a quiet day one has to be pre-pared for the usual pranks, someonepulling off two or three feet of lineso that the rachet on a reel causesinstant action, or 10 Ibs. of leadbeing tied to the line to the chagrinof the person who brings it to thegaff. The ctessic is a Londoner who'telt' for a 2 gallon galvanised metalbucket. He fought it for 20 minutesbefore it was gaffed to hystericalscenes.

The catchAt about 4.15 to 4.30 it is time tohead for port having drifted about15 miles along the coast. Our arrivalat Falrnouth harbour is welcomed by200-300 'ghouls' waiting to see theday's catch.

For each shark caught we fly aflag: yellow for a Blue shark, greenfor a Porbeagle or White with a Blueshark silhouetted for a Mako. Wemay come back with none or lookinglike a village fete. On arrival at thequayside, the sharks are weighed,75 Ibs. being the qualifying weightfor the Shark Angling Club of GreatBritain, and photographs taken.

Finally we go ashore £4·50 poorer,richer in experience, sunburnt andworrying why the ground goes upand down before we've even got tothe bar!

CAR RALLY

The 'Monte' at the

'Leuthern Bottel'The route proceeded with the par-

ticipants looking for chimney pots inWalton, a grave stone in MiltonKeynes and an otter in Great Linford.A short stretch of main road intoWolverton and then out into thecountry again towards Haversham.Crossroads Farm was missed bymost but from then it was a fairly easyrun back through Newport Pagnelland North Crawley, finishing at thelocal hostelry in Moulsoe, where theearly ones got sandwiches andprizes and the late ones got prizes.

The positions were swiftly workedout and the winner's prize presentedto Mr. David Woollett and navigator,his fiancee, Miss Wendy Osborne.This couple have made tremendousstrides together after coming last inthe previous rally. Second were Mr.and Mrs. John Bunker and third Mr.Ted Bates and driver.

Moveable cluesDave Stapleton and myself, althoughcornered into organising the wholething, enjoyed our side of it immense-ly, although we had a little troublekeeping track of moveable clues inthe last few days before the start,when the proposed route had alreadybeen printed. We tried to keep theclues fairly simple, yet with justenough difficult ones to ensure that.no one obtained full marks. It wassuccessful in that everyone com-pleted the course, probably helpedby the fact that they knew where to

finish. Certainly, everyone seemed tohave plenty to talk about.

There has been talk of forming aPlysu Motor Club but as yet noaction. Judging from the interestexpressed in this event. there aresufficient people to make this agoing concern. All that seems to berequired is for someone to crystallizethis interest into something solid.Perhaps then these treasure hunt/rallies will become regular events.

PLYSU COUNTRYRAMBLE CAR RALLYOFFICIAL RESULTS1st: D. Woollett, 23 marks (+4 bonus)2nd: J. Bunker, 23 marks (+3 bonus)3rd: E. Bates, 22 marks (+2 bonus)4th: M. Kesby, 22 marks (+ 1 bonus)5th: D. Sinfield, 22 marks6th: C. Butler (non-Plysu), 21 marks

(+2 bonus)7th: W. Barnett, 21 marks8th: G. Shaw, 20 marks9th: P. Evans, 19 marks (+3 bonus)10th: J. Sinfield, 19 marks (+1 bonus)11th: D. Caton, 19 marks12th: R. Larby, 17 marks13th: H. Purcer, 13 marks14th: G. Waul, 6 marksMaximum total marks-27

Althoug h competitiors were not toldbeforehand, the bonus points were awardedfor "making-up" places, i.e. starting 5th andfinishing 3rd =2 bonus points, and thesewere only used for deciding ties.

GETTING IN THE SWIM (from page 5)

is practised. The beginner movesabout the pool with his hands on thebottom and straight arms, this en-ables the body to be flat on the waterand in the swimming position. Witha leg kick one is almost swimmingeach time a hand is taken off thebottom of the pool to ease oneselfalong.

A simple method whereby a learnercan get the feel of movement inwater and buoyancy.

To float, the specific gravity of thebody must be less than that ofwater which is 1·00. All tissues in thebody with the exception of fat have aspecific gravity greater than 1·00so it's left to fat and air in the lungsto make the body float.

Women are better able to floatthan men and muscular men are poorfloaters and sometimes sinkers. Afraction of the two relative specificgravities is ·99/1·00 suggesting that99/100 of the body is submergedcompared with cork where 22/100only is under water. Air in the lungssupports one end of the body and itdepends on the positioning of the fatwhether one floats vertically orhorizontally.

The proof you can float, non-swimmers, is above, so all you haveto do now is move and you canswim. Here's to a champion inthe making or at least a swimmerable to enjoy the water, maybe in thefuture a competitive swimmer in aPlysu team.

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Move over, Genls!

So where have all Plvsu's pretty girls gone? Most of them werein the canteen one September evening. The occasion: a summerdance staged by Plysu's very able organising committee-DoraBuckthorpe, Audrey Britton, Midge Hollier and Tony Hollis.Thanks go to them, the directors for supplying coloured lighting,and Mr. Sturdy for the piano. Thanks, too, to all of you whosupported the occasion-it raised £102 towards the Old FolksChristmas Party.

Plysu Fishing ClubHere we are, fast approaching the latter halfof the 1971/2 season and to the morefanatical of us, by far the best half. Certain-ly the shirt sleeves. and bottoms on the drybank days are over, but to the really keenfisherman who doesn't mind braving theelements, the next few months can be veryrewarding.

The fish are reaching their peak conditionprior to the spring spawning. The shoals ofsmall fry that can be such a nuisance duringthe summer are already breaking down intosmaller shoals and being thinned out by themarauding pike and perch, and from nowuntil March, we can expect rather fewer inquantity in our keep-nets but of a betterquality.AttendancePassing on to Club news, I am enjoying myfirst season as Secretary. Already we haveheld several competitions on our own lake,and considering that shift working tends todivide us up a little, attendances at thematches have been very good.

The weights of fish caught have perhapsnot been as good as they might be, but Idon't have to look up the records to findthe member who has consistently been inthe top weights.

Our congratulations go to Dave Catonwho has not only won three consecutivematches, but has, to the best of my belief,not failed to weigh in on a single match.Club matchesWe have held some interesting and veryfriendly matches with outside Clubs, bothhome and away, the great thing being, with

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these inter-club matches, that we have achance to fish new waters and make newfriends. Also this season we ventured out toNewbridge in Berkshire and fished theThames, where we were put to shame by aJunior Member, Master West, who showedhis dad and the rest of us how to catch fish.However, I hope to arrange some othersimilar trips in the future, but perhaps alittle nearer home next time.Junior's SectionMoving on to the Junior's Section, ourtrial matches were a great success. Keencompetition was evident on their faces andfor one or two the concentration was sogreat that they could hardly take time offfor the 'pop' that was provided, and with asmall cash prize for first and second places,I'm sure the winners at least felt it wasworthwhile.

We have a silver cup to be presented tothe Junior catching the heaviest fish. Todate I have a tench of 11b. 20z. caught byMaster Dolton, and a carp of 41b. 110z.caught by 8-year old, Master Caton.New membersWe welcome new members both senior andjunior, so don't forget-for even if youare not interested in fishing, your sonsmight be, so enrol them as members so thatthey can benefit from the advice and super-vision of the senior members.

One last word to our members-doremember when fishing the lake, to pick upany rubbish after fishing, and put it in thebins provided, please, especially nylon lineor discarded hooks.

JACK SORENSON,Moulding Room.

shop!You may buy, sell or barter freelythrough Plysu People's small ads.column. If you want to remainanonymous please ask for a boxnumber.Copy for the next issue by 31st Dec.

2 Fireside Armchairs, cushioned backand seat, medium oak type wood. £4the pair.Contact: Ethel Best-Housewares.

Philips cassette tape recorder. Batteryoperated with microphone and sparetapes-hardly used. £15 o.n.o,Contact: D.A. Bennett, Ext. 225.

Aquarium 1S"x12"x12", Five Gold-fish, electric light and air pump.Original price £7-Bargain at £3.Contact: John Perry-Industrial Pack-ing Dept.

NEWS, pleaseWe welcome news and views, com-ments and carps. That is whatjournals are all about. This is yourjournal and your opportunity to putpen to paper. We plan to appearagain after Christmas. News to:

Ethel Best-HousewaresEdna Ingram-ContainersKay Norman-IndustrialDavid Bennett-Main OfficeClaude Phillips-New Office off

Canteen HallDerek Sinfield-Moulding Shop

Produced by Paul Winner Marketing Communications Ltd. and Printed by Powage Press Ltd., Aspley Guise, Beds.