kindness from them both then and later on
abroad. The men of the battalion, also raw recruits and wounded men
returned from hospital, were quartered in the houses in the town. The
O.C. battalion was Major (afterwards Lieut.-Colonel and Brevet
Colonel) J.J. Gillespie, T.D., and the Adjutant Capt. W.A.C.
Darlington. The C.O. was a man of great personality, so much so that
he is one of the best known and most talked of persons in the
Northumberlands. A great organiser and a hard worker, who generally
got his own way with small and great, he has done much to make the
drafts efficient. I was lucky to find favour in his eyes, and our
relations were always friendly.

We had as near neighbours in Alnwick the Brigade of Tyneside Scottish,
who were encamped in the Pastures near the Castle, as fine a body of
men as you could wish to see. After staying for a while at the Star
our battalion moved out to Moorlaws Camp and we remained there under
canvas till the middle of October. In the meantime I was lent for
about five days to the 21st Provisional Battalion N.F., a home service
battalion, who were encamped at Cambois ('Cammis') on the sea-coast.
This was like a picnic for me, for all the officers there treated me
kindly and did not work me hard. One night I volunteered for night
duty and had the experience of visiting the sentries (all with loaded
rifles) at the various posts along the shore. Shortly after returning
to Alnwick I was sent, on September 2, to the Army School of
Signalling and Bombing at Tynemouth, and went through the Bombing
course, which lasted about a week. So primitive were the arrangements,
even at this date, that we were only taught how to improvise grenades
out of old jam tins, and how to fire them out of iron pipes as
trench-mortar bombs. We were indeed allowed to handle precious
specimens of the famous No. 3 (Hales) and No. 5 (Mills), but there
were not enough available for live practice. The West Spring Thrower
had not arrived, but I saw a trench catapult in action; and some dummy
Stokes bombs were fired off for us to see. At this course there was an
examination, and I got a first-class certificate as a grenade
instructor, an event which had considerable influence on my career in
France, as will appear later on. When I got back to Alnwick I found
the battalion under canvas at Moorlaws. Here I became 'grenadier
officer' to the battalion, and I had daily classes of men who had
volunteered to become bombers,