- CONFERENCES
A Leavers' Conference
It is some years since the magazine contained a report of a leavers' conference. I think this article should remedy that and perhaps encourage more enthusiasm for future conferences. The conference was organised by the Inter-Schools Christian Fellowship and was held in the Central Grammar School, Manchester, one Friday afternoon after school. The speakers had been very carefully selected to represent a wide cross-section of the sorts of work or study that pupils from surrounding schools are likely to enter.
The first speaker was Sister M. Lomas, a nurse at Manchester Infirmary. She explained firstly the cost of training which a girl going into nursing would have to undergo; she then briefly explained the sort of conditions a trained nurse would meet.
The next speaker was Mr. P. Finney, and he spoke about the life of a student going into further education. It is enlightening to hear about the pursuits of the Christian groups in places of further education; they tend to make our own group seem rather dull.
We then had a short break in which we had a chance to look at the large selection of books on sale at the bookstall and to meet the pupils from other schools, an enjoyable and worthwhile pursuit.
Mr. W. Dixon then spoke on shop life. His talk I found most stimulating for he spoke of the challenge of the Christian in a non-Christian environment. This speech was illustrated by his ready and rather dry humour.
An engineer, Mr. H. Carmichael, told the female members of the audience of the part that they could play in industry.
Then followed a lively discussion between the speakers and the audience. Topics were varied but, as one might expect, pop music and the clothes and appearance of several groups came under fire and in for praise. After a short prayer the organised part of the evening closed.
There was then a chance for the audience to talk with the speakers individually. I found the evening a worthwhile one and hope that others may also profit by attending similar meetings in the future.
EDMUND SHAW.
S.C.M.S. Conference
The S.C.M.S. Conference was held at Birkenhead Technical College on Monday, 13th July. Greenhill was represented by eight sixth formers and Miss Gough.
At the Conference there were 1,000 students representing 92 different schools. At the morning session Tim Driberg, M.P., gave a talk on "Is Christianity relevant to Modern Life?". The presiding Chairman was David Mahlowe, the well-known television personality. A lively discussion followed this.
After lunch we split up to go to different lectures. Edmund Shaw was chosen to be Chairman at the lecture on Industry. The rest of us went to lectures on Sexual Morality, Racial Interference and Industry. Again lively discussions followed.
A short act of worship concluded the conference. As we were going out a collection was taken for aid to refugee boys in Hongkong.