PECULIAR PRIZES AND MISCELLANEOUS MEDALS
In previous articles we have examined medals awarded as prizes for attending school on a regular basis, and for academic and sporting prowess. These have commemorated an achievement by the recipients, acted as an incentive to perform well (particularly if made of precious metal), and been a permanent record of youthful endeavour to be treasured, periodically marvelled over, or, more likely, discovered at the back of a drawer decades later in a house clearance following the awardee’s death. (Until recently my only sporting achievement was to swim the length of the local swimming baths at the age of seven; my ‘Learner’s Certificate’ was amongst my late mother’s treasures).
By its very nature, sport is a competitive activity and
