Designed by Proctor + Stevenson, this unique symbol of affiliation will be printed on the ship’s Flag Suite crockery. The liver bird on the left represents Liverpool, with Bristol represented by the unicorn on the right.
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inaugural ‘Affiliates Day’ celebrations. Groom, who eventually handed over command of the ship in September 2018, went on to thank the affiliates for attending, saying, ’These affiliations signify a major milestone in the life of the ship and mark the beginning of what will be long and fruitful relationships for the next 50 years’.
HMS PRINCE OF WALES AFFILIATES The mutual benefits of the Royal Navy’s ship affiliation tradition are many and varied. Simon Michell reveals the network of affiliates that HMS Prince of Wales has already established.
‘I
am delighted to announce that HMS Prince of Wales is now formally affiliated with the cities of Bristol and Liverpool, Greenwich Hospital, the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, the Welsh Guards, the Royal Lancers and 27 Squadron Royal Air Force’. This official announcement of the first seven affiliates was made by the Ship’s Senior Officer, Capt Ian Groom, as the initial group was hosted by the Royal Navy (RN) at Rosyth dockyard in September 2016 on the ship’s
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HMS Prince of Wales
All major RN ships have affiliations as part of a long tradition that binds their crews to the land via a network of relationships whose tentacles spread across the United Kingdom from shore to shore. The first seven affiliates, selected for the second-in-class aircraft carrier, highlight the range of organisations and establishments that are invited to become part of a ship’s extended family. They can encompass cities, hospital trusts, cadet units, army regiments and air force squadrons, as well as venerable city institutions such as the aforementioned Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths. This 700-year old institution was, according to its Prime Warden, Mrs Judith Cobham-Lowe, incredibly honoured to be invited to become an affiliate. ’For us, it is a way of showing our support and gives us a connection with the great service which the armed forces provide. It also links us with a much larger world beyond the Square Mile. With over 90 percent of the nation’s trade coming and going by sea, this connection is important’. Affiliation is clearly not a one-way street, as the prime warden points out: ’The benefits are mutual. Such an affiliation gives the ship and its crew a link to an ancient guild, steeped in an industry which still thrives today, in one of the great financial capitals in the world. It allows the RN’s purpose to be communicated to a wide-ranging and influential group of our members who come from all walks of life’. And, from the other perspective, the Lord Mayor of Bristol highlights one of the benefits he envisages: ‘By affiliating ourselves with this ship we are also helping to boost Bristol’s image around the world, and confirm our status as a city of international importance’.
PROCTOR + STEVENSON
The Affiliate Tradition
