NEWSLETTER No. 3/2004 – SEPTEMBER
OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION
President Admiral Sir James Eberle, GCB
Vice President Mr. A. Edinborough
32 Warborough Avenue, Tilehurst, Reading, Berks. RG31 5LA (0118 9429425)
Chairman Shipmate G.W. Toomey
95 Wilton Avenue, Chapel St. Leonards, Skegness, Lincs. PE24 5YN (01754 872116)
Secretary Shipmate E.P. Harrison,
(Membership Records 31 Wood Lane, Fleet, Hants GU51 3EA
Accounts & Newsletter) (01252 613052)
Slops Organisers Shipmate L. & Mrs J. Taylor
3 Willow Avenue, Swanley, Kent BR8 8AS
(01322 663661)
Archivist Lt.Cdr. K. Batchelor (SCC) RNR
10 Beacon Road, Ware, Herts. SG12 7HY
Bosun Shipmate P. Marchant
Parade Marshal Shipmate K. Satterthwaite
Web Master Shipmate F. W. Bartholomew
Standard Bearers Shipmate B. Hibbert
Shipmate C.M. Allwood
Eastbourne Co-ordinator Mrs J.M. Grist
Australian Co-ordinator Mrs. J. Hennell
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The Chairman’s Message
Sorry there isn’t one this time. He has been rather overwhelmingly busy. The Chairman has moved again! Yes, his threatened 23rd, or is it 28th, move has recently occurred and, as you can imagine, things at Chez Toomey are in a bit of a muddle. They say that moving house is one of the most stressful things one can do so it’s not surprising George looks the way he does! At nearly 76 years of age it’s about time he settled down.
His new address is given in the panel on page 1, as you can see, it’s still in the same postcode area as before and, according to George is only about two miles away from his old address. His telephone number remains the same. I expect George will tell us all about it in due course.
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Membership Matters
Obituaries
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM
Donations
As was mentioned in the last newsletter, donations of £300.00 were given to our Association by the friends and relatives of the late Eddie Dove. Since then we have received a further £30.00. Our thanks go to these very generous people.
We have also received another very generous donation, of £250.00, from Mike Forder son of Ted. Mike is now an Associate Member, as is Ted’s widow Alma, and we hope to see them both at our next reunion. Thank you Mike.
Membership
Since our last newsletter there have been a few changes to our membership. As well as sadly having lost another three shipmates who have passed over the bar, we’ve also lost three shipmates and three Associate members who have not renewed their membership and who have not replied to our letters, plus one shipmate and three Associate members who have decided not to retain their memberships. During the same period we have gained one new D57 shipmate and three Associate members.
Our total membership now stands as follows (figures in brackets were those at the end of June):
D57 Full Members 161 (166)
L03 Full Members 23 ( 24)
Associate Members 92 ( 96)
Honorary Members 6 ( 6)
Total 283 (292)
The new members are:
S/M H.B. Dowsett Boy/Ord. Seaman D57 1954-55
Mr. G. Porteous Associate Member Son of Ord. Sea. G.C. Porteous L03 1939-41 (died 1967)
Mrs. A. Forder Associate Member Widow of the late S/M Ted Forder
Mr. M.E. Forder Associate Member Son of the late S/M Ted Forder
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Parade Marshal
S/M Alan Quartermaine has been our Parade Marshal for many years. During much of that time his wife has suffered from a debilitating condition and needed almost constant help. Alan has always attended our reunions and, as Parade Marshal, has organised our Sunday morning parade along the Eastbourne promenade. In order to get back home to help his wife he has always left immediately after the parade was over.
Sad to say, his wife’s condition has deteriorated further and he now feels that he must leave for home first thing on the Sunday morning and will therefore be unable to take the Parade. He has therefore asked to stand down as Parade Marshal.
Our thanks to Alan for all his years of dedication to the task and his help has been very much appreciated.
S/M Ken Satterthwaite, who has been Deputy Parade Marshal, has agreed to step up to the Parade Marshal’s post but we need to have a new Deputy. Names of volunteers to the Secretary please.
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Reunion 2005
Despite having given the dates for the next reunion in the last newsletter, we have several times been asked for them since. For the benefit of the newly joined, and anyone else, the dates are 15th, 16th and 17th April 2005.
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Help & Advice
One of the sad things to come out from Ron Poole’s illness was our inability to get help and advice for Carole when she needed it. When Ron was discharged from hospital, Carole who is in her 80’s and only partially sighted was given a multi-page form which she had to complete in order to get some home help. She said that the form was impossible to understand and asked whether we could get anyone to help her. The Secretary, Peter Harrison, got in touch with SSAFA who promised to get someone to go to the house to give help and advice. At the same time, the Chairman George Toomey telephoned first the RNA (Ron had been a member for years) but found that Ron’s local Croydon branch had closed down but said that they would see what they could do. Next he phoned the British Legion who eventually came back to him to say that they would get SSAFA on to it.
Unfortunately, no one from SSAFA, the British Legion or the RNA either telephoned or visited Carole when it was needed and, soon after, Ron died. S/M Geoff Scarlett who is involved with the SSAFA branch at Waterlooville is trying to find out what went wrong so that if the need arises again we can ensure that something actually gets done.
The considered view is that if anyone has trouble filling in these complicated forms, and this current Government seems to think that more and more of them are necessary, e.g. Pension Tax Credit, they should be taken to the local Citizens Advice Bureau for help in completing them. Your local one will be in the phone book and they may be able to get one of their advisors to visit you.
If any of our members have any other advice to offer, please put it down on paper and send it to the Secretary.
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Books
Geoff Scarlett, whilst browsing in a charity shop, came across a book titled “Our Navy” which had been published in 1941. There was no author’s name on it but it was published by Ward-Lock and had a foreword by Admiral Sir E.R.G.R. Evans, KCB, DSO, LlD. It contains over 100 photographs of British warships and Naval activities. There are several pieces in the book about HMS Cossack. Having read it, Geoff sent it on to me, the Secretary, to be held in our archive.
Over the years we have accumulated quite a few books and it seems a shame that they should just be sitting around. They are available for any member to borrow but we shall have to charge for postage to the borrower and the borrower would also have to send the book back and pay that postage too. The postage will of course vary with the size of book. As we are all aware, postal charges are not cheap but, if members are willing to cover the cost, please tell the Secretary.
The books available are:
NARVIK by Captain Donald MacIntyre
THE NAVY’S HERE - The Altmark Affair by Frischauer & Jackson
HUNT THE ALTMARK by Richard Wiggan
THE BISMARCK AFFAIR by Russell Grenfell
PURSUIT - The sinking of the Bismarck by Ludovic Kennedy
BRITAIN’S SEA WAR - A diary of ship losses 1939-45 by John M. Young
HMS BRILLIANT by Christopher Terrill
DESTROYER CAPTAIN by Roger Hill
THE GUINNESS BOOK OF NAVAL BLUNDERS by Geoffrey Regan
HERO OF THE UPHOLDER - The story of Lt. Cdr. M.D. Wanklyn, VC, DSO by Jim Allaway
THE TRIBALS by Martin H. Brice
THE IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM BOOK OF THE WAR AT SEA by Julian Thompson
YANKEE R.N. by Commander A.H. Cherry, OBE, RNVR
RED DUSTER, WHITE ENSIGN by Ian Cameron
NAVAL WARFARE by Captain Tom Crichton
U-BOAT - The Secret Menace by David Mason
THE WONDER BOOK OF THE NAVY probably an updated version of OUR NAVY
EAST OF MALTA, WEST OF SUEZ - The Admiralty account of Naval War in the Eastern Mediterranean: September 1939 to March 1941 (HMSO)
THE AIR BATTLE OF MALTA (HMSO)
THE MEDITERRANEAN FLEET - GREECE TO TRIPOLI - The Admiralty Account of Naval Operations: April 1941 to January 1943 (HMSO)
MERCHANTMEN AT WAR (HMSO)
SEVEN CENTURIES OF SEA TRAVEL - From the Crusaders to Cruises by B.W. Bathe
JANE’S FIGHTING SHIPS OF WORLD WAR II
WARSHIPS OF THE 20TH CENTURY by ChristopherChant
THE ROYAL NAVY IN FOCUS 1960-69 - A collection of 158 photographs of RN ships in commission during the 60’s.
ADMIRALTY MANUAL OF SEAMANSHIP - Volume 1 (1964)
There you are - a little light reading for the Winter!
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You have helped
Just before the last newsletter went to print Bill Bartholomew got a message on the web site from a Joyce Taylor. She was trying to find anything about her brother, Gilbert Jowett, who had been adopted before she was born. She had finally traced him and his family - just after he died. She knew that he had joined the Royal Navy, in about 1948, and had served in Cossack during the Korean War. It was just in time to get into that newsletter.
S/M Alan Quartermaine was very much able to help. He had known ‘Joe’ very well, both of them being Leading Seamen in D57 in 1950/51, Alan being in No. 2 Mess and Joe in No. 4. Joe was an RP (Radar Plot) rating, in the Ops Room at sea but was Coxswain of one of the 25ft motor cutters when in harbour.
Joe left the service and emigrated to Australia with his family. He died there in 1995 and a little while after his wife wrote to George Toomey asking much the same question as Joyce. Alan wrote to her and sent a photograph of Joe sorting out some ropes in the motorboat after it had been hoisted. She replied and sent a photograph of Joe, taken with his grand-daughter Rebecca not long before he died in 1995 and is shown below. We sent a copy of the photograph (a colour one) to Joyce and she was most appreciative.
Thanks for all your help Alan. If anyone else knows any more about Joe Jowett or has got any photographs of him during his Cossack service, please let the Secretary know.
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Can you help?
Do any of you old salts know why a destroyer in 1936 would have a broad white band round the funnel, almost at the top? This question has been asked by our Archivist, Keith Batchelor. Any answers direct to him please - address and telephone no. given on page 1, or his e-mail address on the back page.
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We have always encouraged members to write about their experiences in the RN and have had several which we have serialised. Most of the stories have been by those who were in the Seaman Branch so it is a change to have one from the Engineering side. Alec Kellaway joined up in 1936 and did his twelve before making the move back to civilian life. As you will see, in that 12 years he moved about a bit .
I was THERE, WHERE?
By Alec Kellaway
Chapter One - My Early Navy Days
In 1935 I decided that I would like to join the Royal Navy and on January 20th 1936 I attended the recruiting office in Queen’s Park Terrace, Southampton.
Early on that Monday morning I went by train to Southampton, travelling in the carriage was a Police Officer and during conversation it came out where I was going, this Officer said to me that I should try to go to the toilet before entering into the exam, I am still not sure if this helped or not but I took his advice.
From the station it was only a short walk to the recruiting office but I did have varied thoughts on what might happen, several of my friends had applied and failed the test, it was over four years since my last school exams. Anyhow I duly arrived at the office presented myself to the man in charge, gave him my details and he took me to a room were there were other candidates to take the test but there was no time to get acquainted. .
On my application form, I had stated that I would like to enter the Royal Navy as a second class Stoker and on being interviewed that day the recruiting officer tried to get me to join the Royal Marines but, following my step-fathers advice to avoid soldiering, I remained adamant to being a stoker.
I was then given a personal interview as to my reason for wanting to join the navy. I cannot remember what answer I gave but I was then sent to another room where other youngsters sat waiting to take the entrance exam.
The first steps were to sit the education exam and then when finished we were taken to the sailors mission for lunch. I was very surprised at the attitude of some of the other candidates in that they threw food at each other. This was something I had not encountered before. After lunch we returned to the recruiting office to see if we had failed or passed the exam. One or two had not achieved the standard required and were given leave to depart and the rest of us were then given a medical. This was very thorough and at the end of the day all but one taking the medical passed. Those of us who had passed were told that we would be sent for at a later date and were sent home.