The Moorings, Issue #69

THE MOORINGS ISSUE 69

SEPTEMBER 2018

Core Values: Unity, Loyalty, Patriotism & Comradeship - Once Navy, always Navy

UP SPIRITS!

Rayleigh Branch guests from across the water in Kent, enjoying pre-dinner drinks and their turn in the limelight at this year’s Annual Mess Dinner.

Incorporated by Royal Charter

Patron: HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

ROYAL NAVAL ASSOCIATION RAYLEIGH BRANCH (No.5 Area)

BRANCH CONTACTS RNArayleigh@outlook.com President:

Bob Hill

01268 780449

Chairman:

Jim Hammond

01268 414616

Vice Chairman:

Terry Barker

01268 456165

Hon. Secretary:

Gary Daisley

01268 555570

Hon. Treasurer:

Joan Crick

01268 741303

Membership Secretary:

Bill Vernon

01268 772775

Standard Bearer:

Dave Bishop

01268 770521

Welfare Officer:

Dave Mead

01702 307922

Social Secretary:

Mike Sandbrook

01702 801103

Padre:

Rev. David Oxtoby

01268 971814

BRANCH DETAILS Bank Details: HSBC Rayleigh

email: RNArayleigh@outlook.com

Royal Naval Association Rayleigh Branch Account number & sort code from Hon. Treasurer.

Meeting Venue: Royal British Legion 2 London Hill, Rayleigh SS6 7HP Tel: 01268 776503 Meeting Dates: Fortnightly (see back cover).

Registered Charity: Registration Number 1069148 2

Crossed the bar: It is with a heavy heart that this month we report the sad loss of one of our own. Shipmate Phil Edwards had been a Rayleigh Branch member of the RNA since 2012 and will be deeply missed. Phil was an active and regular participant at branch meetings and enjoyed nothing better than smashing allcomers off the Uckers board. Phil and his wife Lyne supported and attended Mess Deck Suppers and the very popular visit to HMS Belfast on the Embankment in London.

Phil joined the Royal Navy in 1950-1951 and served as a Steward onboard the Aircraft Carrier HMS Bulwark. He served seven and a half years, leaving the Navy 1958-1959. Phil qualified as a Petty Officer and served onboard HMS Meon, Apollo and Bulwark, visiting Nova Scotia, Aden, Hong Kong, Singapore, Gibraltar, Cyprus and the Caribbean along the way.

Shipmate Phil Edwards passed away on Sunday 5 August. His funeral is to be held on Friday 7 September. It is expected that RNA Standards from local branches will be in attendance in addition to our own.

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The Admiral’s Head: 2018 Garden shed of the year nomination A serving RN Petty Officer ‘Club Swinger’ PTI Lee Carrie from Chelmsford, Essex has spent the last twelve months building and fitting out a garden shed to end all garden sheds!

And to cap it all, this matlow’s efforts have been rewarded with a nomination in the national shed of the year competion. Online voting closed on 28 August, so we should know how the boozybosun faired within the next few weeks.

Lee said of his pint-size boozer “The Pub has taken me just short of a year to build. Due to the size of my garden I was limited in the size of log cabin I could build (4 x 3m), which led to having limited space to work with!

The signs are all handmade (with exception of the external Horatio Nelson pub sign). It has a TV with Sky sports, BT sports, music video and WiFi. Full electrics are installed (outside lamp, internal Victorian dual wall lamps and dual plug sockets) with LED lighting under the bar, all around the back and side of bar.

Also, has a large drinks fridge under the counter with a fire place 4

and electric fire, decorated with beer bottle tops.

The internal walls/ceilings and bar top has been fully stained and protected with boat varnish. The bar top was reclaimed wood from an old Naval nightclub's tables. Eight plaster corbels were hand painted with acrylic gold paint and equally affixed around the front and side of bar.

To further improve the design, eight stair newels were split/cut vertically and also hand painted with acrylic gold paint and placed directly under each plaster corbel to give an Edwardian/Victorian theme.

HMS Victory and three historic Napoleonic Naval Officers are framed on the bar front; Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood and Admiral-of-the-Fleet James Gordon. Red and gold carpet has been fitted with brass trim around the spillage bar area and bar foot stool for added protection.

In addition, there is a side table is next to the Admirals chair with a vintage silver tray, five port glasses and a decanter (with Port in of course)! The two main beams contain pictures of past and present Royal Navy war ships (five of which I have served on).

I spray painted the ceiling Perry Buoy with white gloss paint and applied decals relating to HMS Victory. The 'RUM' sign was originally raw wood - Updated with Cyan paint. Two Victorian stair newels behind bar were taken from an old Victorian Naval ship yard in Plymouth.

Both were stripped down to original wood and restained in accordance with bar colour/theme.

Three brass glass holders were affixed underneath the rear top shelf 5

behind the bar.

The main 'Admirals Head' external sign was hand painted with acrylic paint and sealed with clear lacquer by me. The external chalk boards were hand designed by me with chalk pens and sealed with clear lacquer.�

Who knows, maybe one day we can convince Lee to join Rayleigh RNA and open The Admiral’s Head to a proper naval christening!

No.5 Area Q4 Meeting:

The next meeting of No.5 Area Committee and branch delegates is to be held in Rayleigh at 2pm on Saturday 3 November 2018.

RNA Rayleigh will host the event at the RBL Memorial Hall, London Hill, Rayleigh.

There will be free parking in car parks throughout the town from 1pm. A variety of lunch options will be available to pre-book for anyone interested and of course, the bar will be open!

We would encourage as many RNA members to attend (even if you are not your branch deligate), observers are always welcome.

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Paradise Wildlife Park visit Thursday 13 September 2018 The preparations for our visit to Paradise Wildlife Park is going well and at the moment we have 24 people signed up. On completion of our visit to the Wildlife Park, by popular request we are now going to the Three Horseshoes Public House in Bishop’s Stortford for a meal before heading home.

Paradise Wildlife Park have offered free entry to the park for HM Armed Forces Veterans. As a thank you for their recognition of HM Armed Forces past and present, I think it would be a nice gesture to make a donation to help with the upkeep of the park and animals. Anyone who would like to make a donation please let me know.

Timings for the visit: 08:30 - Coach picks up at Rayleigh Weir - (at the Bus Stop opposite Harvester).

08:40 - Coach picks up at Royal British Legion, Rayleigh.

09:00 - Coach picks up at Trafford house (Basildon).

10:00 - Arrive Paradise Wildlife Park 16:00 - Coach picks up from Paradise Wildlife Park.

16:45 - Arrive Three Horseshoes Public House.

19:30 - Coach picks up for return journey.

Please note times are approximate depending on traffic and how busy the Three Horseshoes restaurant is.

The cost of the visit is ÂŁ25 which includes coach fare and tip for the coach driver. As always, the more members that go on the visit the cheaper the coach will be.

If required, wheelchairs will be provided for the visit for those that require them. Please let S/M Mike Sandbrook (Social Secretary) know if you wish to book one.

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Annual Mess Dinner: 28 July 2018 This year's Annual Mess Dinner was organised by our Chairman Jim Hammond and Social Secretary S/M Mike Sandbrook, assisted by S/M’s Cherry Ablitt and Joan Crick. The very successful event which was attended by a total of 99 of our own members and their guests together with members of RNA Bromley, Maidstone and Southend branches.

The Guests of Honour for the evening were the Rt. Hon. Mark Francois MP, who is also an associate member of our RNA branch and the branch Padre Rev. David Oxtoby and his wife Christina. Also in attendance as our guests, were Peter and Fran Theobald who own ‘The Living Memorial’ at Rettendon, where the Royal Navy and Royal Naval Association Memorials are sited.

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Suffolk’s Maritime Commemoration to mark the 100th Anniversary of the end of World War 1.

On Sunday 7 October Suffolk will be holding a Commemoration in Lowestoft to mark the highly significant effort the County played at sea during WW1. It is hoped to get as many Maritime organisations and school CCFs etc involved as possible, to cement the memory down the generations. This event will be the start of the official Commemorations in Suffolk. The Guest of Honour will be Vice Admiral Sir Jonathan Woodcock KCB OBE, who has just retried as Second Sea Lord and is a Trustee of The Sea Cadets.

The event will consist of a parade, with the standards as appropriate, from the docks area to Belle View Park (a distance of about 1.25 miles), a dedication of a poppy shaped Memorial Garden and a Service of Commemoration at the Memorial to the RN Patrol Service. Two ships of the First Patrol Boat Squadron will be in attendance. It is possible for organisations who do not want to parade all the way from the docks to join in the parade at several points along the route, or even in the Park itself.

We expect the event to start forming up at 13:00 and to be over by about 16:00.

We are also looking for marshals to help on the day, any volunteers would be much appreciated.

Yours sincerely, G.W.Watson Lt RN rtd Secretary, Maritime Commemoration Due to the cancellation of the annual Service at Nelson’s Father’s Church in Burnham Thorpe (Norfolk), both No.5 Area and Rayleigh branch are actively encouraging attendance at the above event. Please contact your Branch Secretary for further information.

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Out and about If you’re out and about over the run-up to remembrance Sunday, you may come across one of our shiny new recruiting posters advertising the Royal Naval Association in Post Officies, Newsagents and Libraries across the region.

If you don’t see them, and you think you can persuade your local shopkeeper to advertise for us, please contact S/M Mike Sandbrook who will only be too happy to supply you with copies for public noticeboards in appropriate locations.

Veterans ID Cards Shipmates will be interested to know that personnel leaving the armed forces will now be able to keep their military ID, Minister for Defence People and Veterans, Tobias Ellwood, has announced.

A decision is still to be reached concerning those who are already outside. Further information available at the web page below. The RNA General Secretary will be pressing the case with ‘Veterans UK’ later this month. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/veterans-to-retain-military-idallowingeasier-access-to-services

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White Ensign at Funerals – Regulations Shipmates should be aware that official confirmation has been received concerning when it is appropriate to dress a coffin with a White Ensign.

Mr Paul Burrows-Gibson who is employed by Veterans Bereavement Support wrote to the MOD requesting clarification of the rules after he recognised that there was a great deal of confusion about this issue amongst Shipmates. The letter providing the response from the MOD can be found at the rear of this edition.

In summary, White Ensigns can be used at any private funeral i.e. not publicly funded (paid) for by the Government. In that case only Union Flags may be used.

Branch Photo Competition: Don’t forget that Rayleigh Branch is running a photo competition (details in the July edition). So if you’re out and about, or attending one of the many branch visits and activities, please remember to take your camera (or smart phone) with you. Entry details and further information available from your Branch Secretary.

There are only four months before the deadline to submit your competition entries, we’ve a good number so far, but there’s always room for a few more. So get snapping and get those entries to your Branch Secretary.

Just like the US photographer Robert Capa seen here enjoying a reflective moment during WW2, keep a camera around your neck and be on the lookout for that prize winning image!

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WRNS in action:

WREN Armourers during WW2 hard at work doing their thing, including cleaning and maintaining anti-aircraft guns, Lewis guns and small arms up to and including the three pounder Hotchkiss for all types of small coastal craft.

Photos courtesy of the IWM

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Diary Dates

Merchant Navy Day Flag Raising Ceremony Monday 3 September 2018 (10am)

Paradise Wildlife Park Thursday 13 September 2018 Broxbourne, Hertfordshire.

S/M Mike Sandbrook for details

Battle of Britain Parade Sunday 16 September 2018 Naval & Military Club, Royal Terrace, Southend-on-Sea. Muster at 10:45am

Uckers Practice Night Wednesday 19 September 2018 Beginners and experienced players welcome.

Training available for novices!

Pub Games & Darts Practice Wednesday 3 October 2018 Get some in before the big match, plus cribbage, table skittles, dominos and more.

RNA vs RBL Darts Match Friday 5 October 2018 First arrows at 8pm - free admission Royal British Legion, London Hill, Rayleigh.

WW1 Armistice Commemoration Sunday 7 October 2018 Lowestoft, Suffolk.

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