13 AUGUST 1948, Page 5

Swimming certificates were to be presented after the prizes, and

during the usual long-drawn-out contest between the speakers on the dais and the infants in arms at the back of the village schoolroom I examined the tastefully coloured cards on which were recorded the various standards of proficiency achieved. Pink, pale blue, primrose-coloured and mauve, they were signed by the County Education Officer and counter-signed by the Physical Training Officer. The mauve card (I think) testified that Timothy Snooks, aged i4, "has shown ability to execute a plain dive." I am sure this is the way to build up our prowess as a nation of sea-faring adventurers. I bet Raleigh never got a mauve card. STRIX.