Musketry was now resumed at Sandwich in intensely hot weather, the march--some sixteen miles--proving too much for some of the men who had not experienced that training in march discipline with which the older members of the battalion were acquainted. The balance of the battalion not so employed were inspected, with the rest of the 57th Division (we had ceased to be the 2/1st West Lancashire Division and 2/1st Liverpool Infantry Brigade, the latter now being designated the 171st Infantry Brigade), at Westbere by Sir John French, who had recently been appointed Commander-in-Chief Home Forces. He endeavoured to explain our continued presence in England, which was in no way connected with inefficiency, but was due to the lack at the moment of any adequate force of trained troops for Home Defence. The continued rumours of early foreign service, however, still buoyed us up, in spite of their failure to materialize, and it speaks wonders for the battalion that they endured two and a half years of training in England, with every kind of alteration in policy, without losing to any extent their cheerfulness and their keenness. Canterbury, with its church parades in the Cathedral, with its general training at the Parsonage Farm, its company training and battalion operations, its company concerts and its comfortable billets, was now about to join Blackpool and Margate among the memories of the past. Advanced parties were now at Gore Street, where a joint camp was being constructed for the 2/5th K.L.R. and ourselves. Excellently situated on a branch from the main road between Monkton and Minster, it was only some four miles from our old camp at Upstreet. Standing, however, on higher ground, it looked over the Thanet Marshes, and so escaped the disadvantages of damp and mist which belong to such low-lying ground. The tents were also particularly good. The only disadvantage was a lack of space, the area, limited as it was, being further cramped by the presence of the Wessex Field Ambulance, a pleasant party though they were. Digging operations now recommenced, in addition to the usual round of general and specialist training. A visit by Sir Francis Howard with an Ordnance inspector who murmured of "foreign service" filled us with the highest hopes. Our equipment was condemned, and likewise our rifles, which had replaced the Japanese weapons some months previously. Apparently we were to have everything we wanted, proceed to Aldershot for final training, and then to France. Before we left Gore Street some very successful sports were organized in conjunction with the 2/5th K.L.R. and many amusing sideshows were added. A practice night alarm for hostile aircraft caused some merriment when Captain Moon was seen hurrying to report attired in a service cap, nightshirt, British warm, and a pair of gum-boots. One memorable field day must be recorded, which was known for long after as the Battle of Pluck's Gutter, the scene of operations.