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Day
One - Friday DTS |
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A good Kick start to the weekend
began in the bar of The Invincible with Tom Temple
lying in wait for other shipmates to arrive, Tom being
almost a
local and one of our more senior members is well
practiced in the art the DTS was in full throttle mode by
the time us youngsters arrived and
attempted to catch up. Where I personally found it quite
difficult many from both Yarmouth and
Danae crews seemed well adapted for the task, the wife,
having grabbed a few rabbits from the Gun Wharf Quays
Complex, came into The Invincible and quickly realised that
for the greater good I was to be rescued from the clutches
of what was by now a full on run ashore. So it was a quick
nose bag, nip to the hotel for a shower and make ready for
the evening sesh, due to start at 1900, being a late arrival
at 1930 ish I was again in a position of having to catch up,
although this time I found the task relatively
easy. |
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Friday Evening |
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Another very
successful evening
got off to a good start and many turned up wearing Polo Shirts
with either Yarmouth or Dane Ships Crest over the the left
breast, the Loud shirt contest was a sole effort by Martin
Lowry and I think this was mainly due to another of my 'cock
ups' by calling for a Load shirt rather than a
Loud one (must be the Gunner in me) this was
pointed out by Martin, to whom I must apologise and need to at least
buy him a wet for his efforts ......... .Again everyone got on extremely
well and I, as well as others met new friends and rekindled
old friendships that could have easily gone by if it wasn't
for occasions like this............... |
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A conversion with Diane,
Gwen and Kitty dwelled on the computy stuff and
in particular Facebook, now whether you think it good
or bad that's up to you as individuals, where Diane and I
added each other as Friends a little while ago, we explained
the benefits to Gwen and Kitty, both of us giving incidences
where we had contacted people that we might other wise not
have, me in particular regained contact with close family
friends having lost contact 25 years ago, and we have
now regained that friendship and are going to visit them in
Plymouth this May when my lost Goddaughter is being sworn in
as the Deputy Lady Mayor of Plymouth, so there you go, get on
Facebook and type in a friends name. |
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There were quite a few more here this
time so it was difficult to get round to everyone for a chat but I
think I managed to at least welcome everyone. It was really good to
meet and chat to two more senior shipmates from the the first crew
from when the Yarmouth was at John Brown's ship yard in 1959 and
they first took her to sea - Bob Birchenall and John
Parker I had previously met Keith James from the same era and I
hoped they would all catch up over the weekend. Just think it's
highly likely some of the younger Falklands Crew members were not
even born, and many of you just toddlers when these guys joined the
Yarmouth, so I for one made it a point to have a chat with them. |
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On returning to our hotel in a
fast black Tommo had made it very easy for me and
Julia to vacate the the said carriage, although it was none
to pleasant for Elaine and the Driver to continue on to
their hotel......... (foul arse b****** comes to mind) |
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Sooty Sutcliffe (bless
him) created a storm after the hotel bar had closed and
stopped serving more drinks, Sooty assumed it was ok to
retrieve a bottle of wine from behind the bar, the staff
took offence and wanted to put him out on the street until
the security chappy calmed the situation and helped the duty
manager see the situation for what it was. |
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Day Two - Saturday Evening |
The venue at the WO & SR's Mess
was ideal for the Saturday evening and even though some,
including Taxi Drivers,
had difficulty finding the Mess
 once on Whale Island, this
being due to the old Mess
having been demolished and a new one now built alongside the
Whaley Club. The Mess Manager Bob Mullen and his Staff did us
proud, tables, dance floor, stage and bar was well laid out
and once the need for more chairs was sorted by opening up
the partitioned off Mess members area was opened up to
accommodate, the celebrations went on. Perry Buoy covers on
the crucifixes displayed and George Hubbard in his
roll of Commissionaire, crew members were duly greeted and
'Tagged' for the purpose of recognition, so that those
that thought they hadn't aged a day since leaving the mob
could have a reality check, apart from me of course. |
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Raffle prizes were donated by
many members and I thank you all, it was really a
magnanimous effort which
you should all be extremely proud. Dave McMahon did
it again with his 'Monkeys Shoulder' and raised very
healthy £68. Dave also donated Four bottles of single malt
whiskey and this is not the first time that he has been
forthright in donations, all this and a £13
donation on the night from his table's kitty, a Bravo Zulu at the very least goes to
Dave for all his continued efforts. The
raffle was conducted by our Master of Ceremonies a very shy
and reserved George Hubbard raising £303 from sale of
tickets by Julia and Elaine. An auction was
also forthcoming and a bottle of Pussers Rum was won
with a bid of £102 by the same winner at the previous
Bristol bash,
Andy 'Buck' Rodgers of the Danae, the second auction a
Bottle of Woods Rum was almost won by Sooty Sutcliffe
another previous winner
for £56,
but fearing another monopoly Yours truly bumped him and won
with a bid of £60, I'll not tell you what the misses called
me. Again a big BZ to all those that made it possible and to
Buck especially who passed me back his bottle of Pussers to be put in
at the next reunion raffle / auction. |
The Birthday cake was on display for all to see and lived up
to all expectations a big
BZ goes to
 Dallas and Chris Hurbert for their
fine efforts of making and getting it to us from Leeds, and
for George Hubbard for organizing it. The Cutting of the
cake was performed in true Naval Tradition of the youngest
rating being given the honours Ian 'Tommo' Thomas
rose to the occasion and was chuffed to bits to be
considered for the honour. The cake was of chocolate sponge
laced with oodles of rum, marzipan and icing, I understand
to help hold the colours of the ships crest together Gin was
used, a large amount of the cake was eaten and / or pieces
taken for later ,
I saw that the ships crest was untouched at the point of
leaving so we cut it out and brought it home.......The Food - A finger Buffet
was excellent and plentiful and was duly troffed by all, the
remnants at the end of the evening were finished off by two
Warrant Officer Royal Marines returning from a function
fully booted and spurred and gagging for a wet and big eats,
I thought it only right and proper that they should 'fill
their boots'........... Nigel Davis the DJ was brilliant
and made sure the night was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone,
especially those that took part in the games, the wigs, the
antics with the microphone changing the way Mitch and
Sooty sounded during there renditions of what ever it
was they were singing, had us all in fits of laughter, the
range of music was spot on and the dance floor was
throbbing............ |
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During the evening I met up with
Pat Strout and her party, Pat is the widow of
shipmate Bob Strout who unfortunately Crossed the Bar
last year but served onboard HMS Yarmouth
71 - 74, she was made very welcome from all those she met
and chatted with and had a very enjoyable night, it turn out
that her brother-in-law John Allison that came with
her is also a Yarmouth shipmate from 1964. |
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The end of the evening came and
farewells were said and cry's of "when's the next one" were
ringing out - well that is now being looked into and as I
said it hoped for something slightly different, once I can
put things together and I'll let you know what the plans
are, until then thank you all again for your continued
support. |
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THANK YOU TO ALL OF
YOU |
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