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Summer Camps were resumed
under camouflaged canvas, military supervision and the almost
impossible food rationing conditions. For many years the Company
cycled all the way to camp at Kinlochard and one year the Boys
had to endure a mass smallpox vaccination. As life returned to
normal, the activities and programme expanded. Company Camps
were held each summer in places such as Tayvallich, Tighnabruich,
Kinlochard, Southend, Morar and Loch Striven.
The Company won the coveted
Garroway Drill Cup of the Glasgow Battalion in the years 1942,
1943 and 1945 and, at many civic receptions of the time, Boys of
the 130th were continually in demand as Colour
Escorts of Guards of Honour.
Sports were always popular
too and some of the Boys took part in Inter-City Rugby matches
in Ireland. At Battalion Sports, our tug-of-war team managed to
out-pull all others for a number of years.
In 1952, when my father,
James Cubie, became Captain, the Company had only 12 Boys but
when he stepped down in 1960, the Roll was over 50 Boys. As new
houses were built and more families moved into the area, the
Company and the Lifeboys section grew in size. The post-war
“baby boom” saw the strength increase in the 1960’s and 70’s,
when Watson McKinnon and Gordon Smith were Captains, to almost
70 Boys.
With the large numbers, the
Company could compete against the other companies in the Partick
District and the Glasgow Battalion and in the 1970’s, the
Company enjoyed much success in Drill, bands, sports, swimming,
table tennis and football. BB was not just a Friday evening
event because, on every night of the week, there were classes in
First Aid or expedition planning, band practices, badge tests
and District competitions.
Encouraged by Officers who
enjoyed the “great outdoors”, the Company did a lot of
hill-walking, expeditions and went for week-end camps. The
“Winter Expeditions” gave Boys the chance to go hill-walking in
the depths of winter. They stayed in a specially opened Youth
Hostel and did their own cooking and walked in some spectacular
scenery. This was held annually from Boxing Day, for four days,
and the joke at the time was that every Boy turned up on the 26th
with turkey sandwiches for their packed lunch.
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