Quimper (1957)

The first School trip abroad (by a short neck) was to Quimper, in Brittany, in 1956 - and I was on board. We stayed at the "Ecole Normale d'Instituteurs',   which we were told was a boarding school for those training to be teachers,   and among the staff in charge was Fred Lee,  the first Head of Geography.   His allegation that I mistook my camera for a compass was a little mischeivous:  I knew perfectly well what a camera was,  and spent far too much time taking photographs,  which made me late returning to the 'bus.   I still have the photos and slides somewhere,  but I haven't been able to dig them out just yet.   

What stays strongest in my memory,  though,   happened on the first day in France,   when we were drenched in a sudden downpour of rain.   The girls sitting opposite me found it necessary to remove their soaking summer dresses,  and we travelled all the way from St. Malo like that,  I and the boy sitting next to me enjoying the amazing sight of two lovely girls in their underwear,  and the girls enjoying our embarrassment.

The 1957 magazine also includes a photo of one of the places we visited.    I think the figure on the right is an indigenous Breton,  rather than Fred Lee.