March 16, 1915

London Standard

SPORTSMAN’S NEW CAMP.

COMFORT FOR THE SECOND BATTALION.

When the 2nd Sportsman’s Battalion (24th Royal Fusiliers) removes its headquarters tomorrow from London to Romford it will enter into the occupation of the most commodious, up-to-date field barracks ever constructed. The new camp in the grounds of Hare Hall, near Gidea Park station on the Great Eastern Railway, has accommodation for the 900 men already enlisted in this battalion, and there is ample room for the erection of many more huts when they are required.

Lieutenant and Quartermaster Stuart, formerly of the 16th Lancers and the Buffs, showed one of our representatives over the officers’ quarters in Hare Hall and the camp in the grounds yesterday.

The only reason why the Hare Hall camp is the best of its kind yet constructed is that it embodies all the very latest improvements that the experience of War Office experts during the past six months could suggest. There are, for instance, a couple of dozen cubicle shower baths, with hot and cold water laid on; the thirty beds in each dormitory hut, though made of wood, owing to the scarcity of iron bedsteads, turn into the wall in the day time, overlapping each other to form seats, and occupying the minimum of space; each hut is lit by electric light; the bookmaker’s, the post office, the tailor’s, and the barber’s stand in a row, and the wet and dry canteens are spacious and extremely comfortable.

In the hall itself the bedrooms have been neatly and simply furnished to accommodate 36 officers. The subalterns sleep four in a room. The colonel has one of the smallest rooms, looking out over the camp, and as simply fitted as the rest. The canteens and store-rooms yesterday were fully stocked with every possible requirement. A hospital with 24 beds had been provided; the drugs were ready in the doctor’s surgery, and sergeant and five men of the R.A.M.C. from Colchester will form the nursing staff.

Already there is a talk of a 3rd Sportsman’s Battalion being formed, but there are still places to be filled in the 2nd. Four companies of 270 men each will be going to the front in June or thereabouts, and 5th and 6gh depot companies will have to be formed to keep the camp going and fill any gaps that may occur in the other companies.