Les Cunningham - Moray Sea School, Burghead Scotland, 1973

Attended Moray sea school in January 73 was a 16 year old junior soldier from rugeley Staffordshire , I was stationed in Oswestry , Shropshire. Remember being dropped 0ff at Crewe station on a Sunday evening alone and with a ticket to Elgin , the journey seemed to last forever , can't remember what watch I was in but to this day remember my instructor a ray button , complete psychopath had me doing press ups from day one for small misdemeanors mainly swearing . I remember the harbour and sailing in a old cutter in freezing conditions , canoeing in a cold sea , and at gordonstoun swimming pool , countless trips to the Cairngorms and once being rescued by a ski patrol from Aviemore, remember a guy called Eddie from London a trainie tube driver forever getting stuck halfway up on a climb , remember having to give a lecture on any subject and how stupid I felt and ran out of what to say after a few minutes , I remember a day out to a mental institution and it really opened my eyes to how lucky I was , I remember 24 hours in isolation in some snowy forest but managed to smuggle a transistor radio down my pants and remember listening to Slade , I remember the runs on the beach and moving boulders and those dips in the sea and the cold showers , hate cold water to this day , all this in a beautiful part of the world completely hated it the time but it made me a more confident person and I would love to do it all again , ,18 months later I was patrolling the streets of northern Ireland and went on various adventure's around the world but Moray sea school is somewhere I will always hold close to my heart a brilliant time of my life .