Social scene at camp

Thanks to Robert Atkins who sent in this fabulous photo of a soldier's picnic at Blackboy Hill, 1914. Robert adds these notes: Group at Blackboy Hill, 1914 (male goaty beard seated centre is my grandfather Leo Frederick "King" Atkins; woman in white to his left my Grandmother Winsome (nee Castilla) Atkins; to her left seated in uniform her brother Frederick Slade Castilla. Woman standing probably one of Leo F Atkins sisters.)

Frederick Castilla was so desperate to join the war effort and fight for his country that he fudged his age to be accepted. He was just 17 when he volunteered: “The battery was in camp at Blackboy Hill and I slipped off up there whenever I could, waiting and watching. I bought a pair of long pants and asked Col. Hobbs for an interview. Col. Hobbs told me I would have to wait a couple of years. However I continued to visit Blackboy Hill and one day I had a break. Two new Lieutenants joined the battery, Vowles and Clowes; Vowles was a Claremont boy. I told Vowles my troubles and he was amused but sympathetic. He told me to come to up to camp in uniform in the morning."