Thanks Arachne, and Eileen, for explaining all the unsolved clues.

Yes, quite obvious really. I could only think of a money float or a carnival float. Indeed Paul B, whatever happened to the Boys’ Brigade
and why are they no longer marching our streets ?. When I was little, a float was a big chunk of rectangular polystyrene which one clung
onto with outstretched hands. The local baths (now long gone) was presided over by a ferocious woman called Mrs Dent who frightened the
bejesus out of us all and yes there were quite a few sadists around in those days.

By the way Arachne, you said 4eva but who is Eva ?. Only joking, you’ll be pleased to know.

Eileen : I only looked in dictionary.com and did a ‘find’ for float in the definition of armband and vice versa. You can rap my knuckles
if you like.

I don’t know where you were looking up ‘armband’ but Chambers has ‘an inflatable plastic cuff worn on the upper arm as a buoyancy aid’.

As I said on the blog, I don’t know why I didn’t immediately think of those objects of Arachne’s humiliation. [There's a wider variety available these days. ]

http://www.onlyswim.com/category/40/arm-bands-learn-to-swim.aspx

When I was little (which is a long time ago)the first thing we were always asked by the sadist who ran the dreaded school swimming lessons was: “Which of you pathetic little minnows still needs armbands?” As someone more intimately acquainted with the bottom of the pool than the surface I was always rather grateful for them, despite the resounding blow to my already minimal street cred of having orange inflatables wrapped round my biceps every week. So in my book armbands=floats 4eva, and long may they prosper.

Arachne

I found this very difficult and failed on just ARMBAND which I still don’t understand.
I’ve looked up both float and armband and can see no connection between the two words.
I understand the wordplay but why does float equate to armband. Cheers.