Page 224 - Demo

220There was no radio at Guildford and so I took a very pistol and a couple of red cartridges. If I did not want Chris to display I would fire a red and he would return to wherever he was operating from. It was a bit difficult for him as he was operating under the London Control Zone but this had all been cleared. I was not sure what to do with the pistol while we were in London as leaving it in a tent seemed unwise. Gabby had a fairly big bag and so we decided that she would just carry it. There were no bag searches or anything like that in those days. On the day, the Guildford event was running late and the organisers asked me if I could delay Chris for a few minutes as they were judging the sheep dogs. I said he would arrive smack on time and all I could do was cancel his whole performance by firing a flare. They paused the sheep dog bit and he flew his display. We had wondered around the show ground and realised that there was an RAF recruiting caravan there. I went up to it and introduced myself to the flying officer WRAF who was manning it. I asked if they could look after the very pistol for me for the night. The poor girl was very confused about this and checked my ID card very carefully. After much discussion she finally agreed but wanted to take no responsibility for its safe keeping. I think she was incredibly relieved when I came back on Sunday and took it away. It was just as well we did not carry it to London. I had not realised where Horse Guards parade was and that it was a sensitive area. Everyone%u2019s bags were searched on arrival and I expect I would have spent the night in a cell somewhere if we were found to be carrying a gun. I later organised the next two Air Days but this was a little easier as the ground rules stayed the same. At some point I arranged for some of our scouts to help at the Air Day and as a result was able to take Tom Thompson for a ride in a JP.So, supervising Chris together with organising the Air Day was stressful and I felt that once the Air Day was over, I needed a break. I applied for and got a place on the Joint Services Expedition Leaders Course