Ralph Dawson - Aberdovey, Wales, 1961

Having been born in 1941, I am the same vintage as the Outward Bound Sea School at Aberdovey, which I attended in 1961. At 20, I was one of the older people on that course but still found it very stretching and very challenging. I had been very involved in youth work and was sponsored by the National Boy's Club. Having left school at 16, I had been working for more than three years and found the discipline hard to adjust to and quite different from the approach to similar physical activities in the Boy's Club movement.

Highlights for me included:

- Taking the cutter across the bar whilst trying to keep it from turning broadside and getting swamped.

- Managing to hold onto the reins of my pony after I had slipped at a fast canter on Towyn sands.

- Being up in the hills at 6.00am at the start of our expedition and looking down into a mist-filled valley.

Low points:

- Being allocated to a pony watch (probably because of my light weight) when I would have rather been in any of the others.

- Being treated like a schoolboy or army recruit instead of a responsible adult.

- That one minute under the cold shower every morning!

Congratulations on reaching 70. Long may the movement continue.

Photo: Jellicoe Watch

(Note: Ralph kindly emailed us his story and we have published it on the Generations website with his permission.)