ted for Flying-Officer MacDougall's lessons in the martial arts! That evening there was a drill competition which helped to improve tremendously the Cotton cadets' drill.

We spent the morning of Friday on the range firing .22 rifles. Cadets R Johnson, M Bond and M Wynne were successful in gaining marksmen badges. In the afternoon we went swimming again and visited the hangar where the Hawks and Hunters were serviced. To finish off our activities we were taken round the officers' mess. The evening was taken up by the end-of-camp presentations at a barbecue around the swimming-pool.

Stand by your beds!

On Saturday morning we cleared up and made tracks for home. The camp was great fun for all involved and I should like to thank Flight-Lieutenant Coggan, Flying-Officer MacDougall and Mr Sharpe for their hard work in making it so successful.

Neil Clancy

London art trip

At the end of June Miss P Franklin and her brother, Mr John Franklin, took twelve boys and girls on an Art trip to London. We left the School in the minibus at 7.30pm, only to return half an hour later because a boy had left his contact lenses behind. With a radio to listen to and plenty of things to talk about, we did not notice the long journey. We arrived in North Harrow at the home of the Franklins at 10.30 pm. Everyone was rather tired and, after a cup of tea, we went to bed.

The following day we awoke to a beautiful morning at

8 am. Miss Franklin and the girls had already started to prepare breakfast. After breakfast we made packed lunches and took the tube to the National Gallery. Here we enjoyed a free guided tour by Miss Franklin and saw paintings by such famous artists as Leonardo da Vinci and Rembrandt. At one o'clock we walked over Trafalgar Square, along The Mall and into St James's Park where we ate our lunch. We then walked past Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament to the Tate Gallery where we spent about 2'h hours getting a taste of more modern art and sculpture.

Last on the programme was a visit to Covent Garden, thought of by many strangers to London among us as some sort of park or garden. It is in fact a very busy and popular shopping area, a place where street performers such as

singers, mime actors and break-dancers come. It was most interesting to see such amazingly talented people. At 8.30 pm we arrived back at Harrow and, since it was still warm and sunny, had supper in the garden.

On Sunday morning, after Mass and breakfast, we packed all our things into the minibus and left for the main event of the week-end: a visit to the Royal College of Art. Here there was an exhibition of the MA graduates' finished pieces. These included painting, drawing, photography, animation, fashion design, architecture, glass work and ceramics. There was something of interest for everyone. At three o'clock in the afternoon we set off back to Cotton, arriving at seven o'clock. It was a great week-end and everyone enjoyed it very much.

P Athmer

Sixth form Catholic marriage

guidance council talks

This summer the 2nd year Sixth had two sessions with Catholic Marriage Guidance counsellors. These talks were to form part of our Doctrine course taught by Fr Pargeter. They were held in two 1'h sessions on the 7th and 9th May. Two counsellors came and the form was split into two groups. The group in which I participated was lucky enough to have as group leader/counsellor Mrs Jenny Mercer, a mother of four, and, as we were to find out, an excellent group leader and counsellor.

The theme of the sessions was to enable the group as a unit, and also as individual members, to examine relationships between the sexes. The most significant relationship here was the Sacrament of Marriage; we also discussed reasons for the break-down of marriages. To ease the imbalance of the sexes within the group, and the different opinions that the young ladies had, the four girls in the 2nd year Sixth were divided into two groups. However, this still led to a 6:7 majority in favour of the males. Although the girls participated to the full, their opinions were often totally at odds with the twelve men in the room. Good experience for later life.

At the start of the session we were arranged in a circle with Mrs Mercer at the centre. To break any barriers that were perhaps in the way of the discussion, we formally introduced ourselves with name, `A' Levels being studied and our ambitions, which were often contrary to what we had told our peers. Introductions over, we examined the reasons which caused people to form relationships and the amount the person wanted out of the relationship. It was very enlightening, especially for the girls, to hear six-foot Rugby players suggesting that people needed to feel wanted, loved, or any of many reasons why a relationship occurs. We discussed as a group the suggestions and decided that, although many feelings and reasons could be included in a relationship, usually only a few will be found, the most common being that the couple are in love.

It was a very interesting discussion and took up the whole of the first session as we discussed in some depth the topics that would affect us as Catholics, for example 'Humanae Vitae' and its implications in today's permissive society.

In the second session we discussed marriage in general, in the Catholic context as a sacrament and the sad and frequent breakdown of marriages today. This proved very interesting as several students used examples from their own family life. The discussion went from the beginning of the marital relationship to the reasons for divorce. The