Geoff Morris
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Geoff Morris - Moray Sea School, Burghead Scotland, 1963

I was a Police Cadet in Warwickshire. We were all allocated places at Outward Bound during training and mine was for Moray Sea School in March/April, 1963. A long rail journey, four trains to Elgin, taking nearly 24 hours, was the first test.
I joined a watch of 12 teenagers, schoolboys, apprentices, Air Force cadet, approved schoolboy, a fair mix of individuals, who all got on well to a greater extent.
Early morning run and cold showers, murderball in the sand dunes, orienteering in the forest by the sea, bike rides, camping expeditions in heavy snow in the Cairngorm mountains, sailing in small lug sail whalers in and around Burghead harbour and most memorably an extended period at sea on the Prince Louis, the ‘Spuey Louis’ to us boys. A night at sea in a gale in the Pentland Firth en route for Scapa Flow and the Orkneys, when we nearly lost the Square sail over the side, left us asleep in our life vests on the deck. Man overboard drill, Easter Sunday at church in Stromness, spud bashing on the deck, no early morning shower but put under the ship’s pump and cold seawater instead. We were shattered but most memorable. Nearly sixty years on I can remember it all with great affection.