Towards the end of the month an exceptionally hard frost began. Quickly, all the mud and water froze hard, and sheets of ice covered the bottoms of many trenches. Snow fell and the ground became white. It froze on the trench grids, making them so slippery that it was almost impossible to walk without sandbags tied over the boots. The change in the weather had its advantages as well as its disadvantages, and probably the former outweighed the latter. Iron-hard ground was a great improvement on the awful mud; ice was better than water; and the weather was dry. But the lot of the sentry was most unenviable. To stand on the fire-step, in the face of a biting north-easterly wind, with the thermometer registering as much as 28 degrees of frost, was a terrible task. Everything possible was done. Hot drink and rum were provided. Section commanders actually put their men through some of the exercises in bayonet fighting and physical drill in the front line. But the weather of early 1917 will not be forgotten by those who were in the trenches at that time. During the earlier part of the month patrolling had been very active, in spite of the bad condition of No Man’s Land. Little had been possible on the right company front, where the lines were so near together; but, further north, they were as much as five hundred yards apart in places. Sergt. J. Bancroft, of C Company, was particularly energetic. Twice he reached the enemy wire, reconnoitred it for several hundred yards, and brought back very valuable information as to its strength, the enemy dispositions, defences and working parties. On one occasion, finding his men rather “windy,” he fell them in in No Man’s Land, put them through some bayonet fighting drill, and then proceeded with the patrol. But the deed for which he won the Military Medal happened after the cold weather had set in, when the snow-covered ground shone white in the rays of the moon. Sec.-Lieut. G. Rawnsley, with Bancroft and two men, was out on patrol. He had reached a point about thirty yards from the enemy line when a flare revealed his presence, and he was shot through the head. In spite of the heavy fire maintained by the enemy, Bancroft remained with the body for some time, trying to get it back. Finding the task beyond his power, he returned to his own line, collected and led a party to the spot, and succeeded in bringing the body in. All this was done in the face of heavy fire, and his coolness and daring thoroughly merited the decoration which he received.