Mr. Rignold said : "I consider this to have been the most important work I 'have ever done." W. B. HAWKINS.
Note: Plans for 1953 include a course at Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire (,10th-47th April). Concert : Royal Festival Hall, London (18th April), followed by a week in Brussels and Amsterdam (20th-27th April).
THE FRENCH TOUR, 1953 This year the School tour to the continent, which seems to be hardening into an annual event, took 412 boys to Faverges, a small country town of about 2,000 inhabitants, in Haute Savoie. The choice was based on several factors, of which perhaps the chief was that everyone enjoyed mountains so much last year in Switzerland that another visit to the Alps seemed called for. There was some discussion originally about the possibility of staying in Grenoble, but the majority preferred a country holiday, and so the smaller place was chosen. Perhaps this was fortunate, for during the period of our holiday Grenoble figured in the French press because of its bad weather, including a gale of hurricane force which did much damage. We, on the contrary, were very lucky, and what rain did fall during our visit occurred either at night or while we were in the bus. Faverges is pleasantly situated a few kilometres south of Lake Annecy, and, except in that direction, is surrounded by mountains rising to nearly 8,000 feet. 'Some of its streets are picturesque, and its chief feature is the castle—no quaint ruin, but the home of the manager of the local silk factory and formerly a convalescent home. It was not the architecture, however, nor even perhaps the setting, that made Faverges so attractive, but its atmosphere of rural France, for it is not a tourist centre in any sense, and has none of the features associated with towns such as, for example, Chamonix. Except for a tobacconist who had a few "Souvenirs de Faverges"—chalets, knives, pipes, and the like, all suitably inscribed—there was no shop for the visitor. The cow-bells for sale were real cow-bells for real cows, not painted ones for export. When one member of the party wanted a strap for a broken suitcase, and called on the saddler in the marketplace, the strap was fashioned on the spot from a large piece of hide— ready made ones were not stocked. The hotel, too, was in keeping, and most of us had our coffee at "petit dejeuner" from bowls, and grew accustomed to retaining our cutlery for two courses. Indeed, the hotel was particularly pleasant, and our host was kindness itself. The holiday tried to cater for all tastes. There were walks in the surrounding hills, which were ideal for this, and usually the party split to enable the more energetic to assault some local peak. The higher 36
