Visitors to Harrow High School today, formerly Harrow County School for Boys and Gayton High School, on entering the main door in the old entrance at the corner of Gayton and Sheepcote Roads will see a corridor entrance going down to the right. This is the 'A' Corridor, reinforced to provide a bomb shelter during the Second World War. On the left, in a room which once had twin "floppy" doors and was called 'A1' is the office of the current School Administrator. The next room was the famous book room - 'A2' - now restored to being an entrance to the inner quad. However, before these, the first door on the left is locked and made of steel. This was the Armoury, belonging to the school Combined Cadet Force.
CCF - The Armoury 1967-68
At the beginning of the school year the Armoury staff numbered three - Sgt. Dixon i/c, Cpl. Dawson and Cdt Berry. The main task of the Armoury staff is to maintain the Corps weapons, which are:
| 1. | S.M.L.E. No 4 Mk. 1 (.303 inch) | Qty. 131 |
| 2. | S.M.L.E. No 2 | Qty. 1 |
| 3 | Guns Machine Bren (Serviceable) | Qty 2 |
| 4 | Guns Machine Bren (Demonstration) | Qty 6 |
| 5 | S.M.G. Sten Mk.1 | Qty 4 |
| 6 | S.M.G. Sten Mk 2 | Qty 4 |
| 7 | Lee Enfield No.8 (.22 inch) | Qty 8 |
| 8 | Signal Pistol 1 inch | Qty 1 |
| 9 | 2 inch Mortar | Qty 1 |
Approximately half of the No.4 rifles are not used because they are surplus to requirement. The times at which the greater number of No.4's are used are on Field Days, Camps, Drill Practices, Remembrance and Review Days.
Our main problem with the No.4 rifles, once they have been used, is to "maintain" them or prevent the barrels from rusting. The easiest way to do this is by applying to the barrel a mixture of Petroleum Vaseline and Youngs .303" cleaning oil in equal proportions. This mixture is heated until completely liquid and applied in this state.
The junior members of the Corp clean one rifle per week but this still leaves a considerable amount of work to be done by the Armoury staff in their spare time - lunch-time, after school and occasionally at week-ends. Each year the weapons of the Armoury are inspected by the R.E.M.E. In this year we obtained our highest level of efficiency and I hope we can better this, at our next inspection.
Recently we had Parker-knoll "match sights" fitted to 3 of our No.8 rifles. These sights have definitely improved our standard of shooting and I would like to thank Lt. Col. Bigham for supplying these much-needed items.
We hope soon to have the Stens replaced by the modern Regular Army equivalent, the Sterling, but this seems to be a slow process.
Congratulations go to T. S. Berry, who took and passed his Armourer's exam shortly after Christmas. Also at this time, due to the emphasis on the technical side of training, a junior cadet joined the Armoury Staff, to be trained to pass the Armourer's Exam the following Christmas.
Finally, I must thank Capt. D'Arcy and Capt. Millard for their invaluable help and assistance in equipping and administrating the Armoury throughout the year.
G. Dawson (Sgt.)
"Cadet" Magazine, 1968