The members of the Burton Latimer Fire Brigade had their inspection and sports on Saturday. The weather was all that could be desired for such an occasion, and everything passed off very successfully. The idea of a sports day and inspection originated with the captain, Mr. A. C. Harris, who wished to have some inducement held out to the men with the object of maintaining their interest in their drill and making them smart and thorough in their work. He also wished to be inspected by an officer of experience and reputation, so as to know how the brigade compared with others in the district. A subscription list was drawn up, to which the public responded readily, and a sum of six guineas was subscribed for prizes. Capt. W. Riddle, of the Kettering Brigade, and Mr. C. Barlow, C.C., inspected the men and apparatus.
The brigade then turned out and proceeded to the hall field, which was kindly lent for the occasion, and went through the following programme :-One man manual drill: C. Robinson (time, 70 1-5sec., penalty 1sec.), 2 J. Mason (time, 68 2-5sec., penalty 3sec.), 3 equally divided between T. Capps (78 2-5sec.) and F. Gale (78 2-5sec.). Two-men manual drill : 1 C. Robinson and W. J. Rickards (time, 41 2-5sec.), 2 Capt. Harris and T. Capps (time, 43 4-5sec.). Four-men manual drill : Lieut. Ball, G. Barratt, C. Fenton, and W. Whittemore (time, 63sec.) 100 yards dressing race : 1 W. Whittemore, 2 F. Gale, 3 T. Capps. A prize for attendance at drill, given by the captain, was won by C. Fenton, who has attended 27 drills out of a possible 27. The brigade then returned to the fire station, in front of which they were photographed.
An adjournment was made to the Coffee House, where all did justice to an excellent meat tea prepared by Mrs. Nicholls. After tea Capt. Riddle addressed the men. He expressed his pleasure with all he had seen, and complimented Capt. Harris on training such a smart body of men in so short a time. He had not expected to find the brigade in such good form, and was very agreeably surprised to observe the smart and thorough way in which the drills were performed, and said the four-men drill was a credit to any brigade. He advised the men to attend drills regularly and carry out the orders of the officers cheerfully and promptly. A vote of thanks was passed with acclamation to Capt. Riddle for his kindness in coming over to inspect the brigade and judge the sports. The brigade now returned to the fire station, and spent the remainder of the night in music and other forms of amusement.
