storyLines

Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”
— Rat from Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows

Year 8 raft-building

Above: Click for Raft Building Photo Story .

[For a link to photos from 2007 camp click here - Intranet only] 

There is certainly a story or two to be told about this raft building excercise from Year 8 camp. If you were at this session with any of the groups let us know about your story by adding a comment to this post. (No names, no pack drill - just the story!)

Some may have recalled all those High Seas and Desert Islands book references from first term, but this certainly wasn’t Robinson Crusoe, The Swiss Family Robinson, Treasure Island or even The Coral Island. A little bit Wind in the Willows, a Dash of Swallows and Amazons and plenty of Huckleberry Finn. Perhaps Jesse Martin’s Lionheart adventure began as a tiny idea after enjoying a day like this.

Our first Legend@Lunch for 2008 was Head Master, Tim Hawkes, talking about one of his passions - naval history and the literature which it inspires.

See larger version here.

Dr. Hawkes read from or made reference to three authors in particular:

C. S. Forester (we hold Mr Midshipman Hornblower, Flying Colours, The General, The Ship and The African Queen), Dudley Pope (Ramage) and Alexander Kent *(Captain Richard Bolitho RN, The Flag Captain and Form Line of Battle!).

Other books of interest held by TKS Library include:

Patrick O’Brian (The Far Side of the World, Master and Commander), Jay Worrell (Sails on the Horizon, Any Approaching Enemy) and Julian Stockwin (Kydd). Stockwin’s web site is a treasure chest of interesting and archane items like scrimshaw and the poetry of the sea.

 * Alexander Kent is the pen name of Douglas Reeman who is a prolific writer of 20th Century naval stories under his true name.