NAVY NEWS, FEBRUARY 2008 19
Dress up to splash down
Twenty-four divers from the ful costumes all the team have
Southern Diving Unit 1 dropped entered into the spirit of the
their usual dark rig in favour thing.
of a colourful array of fancy “Business went well and we
dress costumes for an all-day have had a lot of satisfied cus-
car wash at HMS Drake. tomers from across the Naval
Dracula, Little Red Riding Base.
Hood, Batman and Superman “We are a busy operational
all got hard to work with their unit and it is great that we have
buckets and sponges, encour- been able to find the time to
aging drivers to stop and make a raise money for such a worthy
donation of £3 for Breast Cancer cause.”
Research. The local Tesco in Plymouth
WO Robin Rickard said: “This donated wares to tempt more
has been a great success and drivers into clean cars with a
as you can see by the colour- slice of cake...
Picture: LA(Phot) Dave Sterratt
Gannet bridges
Lusty looks
to Life
THE TYNEMOUTH Volunteer
Life Brigade have benefited by
over the gap
£1,000 after a visit by HMS
Illustrious’ then CO Capt Tim
Fraser.
The carrier’s crew raised the
money through weightliftathons,
fun runs and auctions among
other activities. The brigade is a
voluntary shore-based coastal res-
A SEARCH and Rescue Sea
cue service, and is one of the last
King from HMS Gannet was
trained teams for ship-to-shore
called in to a different type breeches buoy rescue.
of rescue when it came to Brigade chairman William
the aid of some old timber
Hogg said: “Receiving this dona-
bridges in Ayrshire.
tion is a great help. We have had
The two bridges on the Fairy
a very busy year and this money
Knowe trail near Barr village were
will be used to fund our Land
suffering from wear and tear and
Rover which has all the equip-
in need of repair.
ment, including medical supplies,
Working with the Forestry
on board for cliff rescues.”
● (Left to right) Rich and Will celebrate at the end of the marathon
Commission Scotland and South
Ayrshire Council, the Naval
helicopter lifted and shifted two
Web bumps
tonnes of steel beams and timber
That’s another
to one of the bridges which was
isolated in some difficult terrain
for SSAFA
far from a road.
WEBSITE Forces Reunited are
Forestry Commission Scotland’s
selling ‘Support our troops’ bump-
fine Ness you’ve
recreation manager Sandy White
er-stickers, with ten per cent of the
said: “Transporting this heavy
cost going to SSAFA Forces Help.
steel work and timber over rough
Each sticker costs just 69p, with
terrain from the forest road to
22p post and packing on top.
gotten me into...
the bridge site would have been
The stickers were inspired by a
extremely difficult – and taken
recent visit to the US by manager
LT WILL Wernham of Clyde informing us of a ‘bloody hill’ at
forever.
Justin Turner. He said: “Although
Naval Base tackled his fi rst 18 miles – they weren’t wrong.
“What we needed to complete
the United States are a flag-waving marathon, the Loch Ness
“We climbed up from Loch
the job quickly was a helicopter
country in every sense, they really Marathon, under the guiding eye Ness for about two miles where a
and a skilled crew who were used
get behind their troops whether of Lt Cdr Rich New of HMS St welcome jellybaby or two boosted
to transporting heavy materials
they believe in the latest conflict Albans, a veteran long-distance our morale.”
– this is where HMS Gannet came
or not. runner. The two raised over £500 for
to the rescue.
“Driving around the States The two decided to cover the Scottish Veterans’ Residences
“They were keen and willing to
recently it was amazing to see how the distance dressed as pirates that support independent living
help which was great.”
many cars had some sort of sup- in a light-hearted nod to their for ex-Servicemen and women in
For the Gannet team, this was
port out troops bumper sticker.” maritime lives. Scotland.
a useful exercise for training pur-
Find out more at www. Together they completed the
poses.
forcesreunited.org.uk
course in three hours 51 minutes.
Angela Lewis said: “We were
delighted to help Sandy and his
team. South Run
“It was a lovely day weatherwise,”
Bear bike
said Will. “The course was rather
undulating for the first third, with
SIX Physical Training Instructors
“We use their land for valuable
FOUR offi cers on the Principal some cheeky hills to negotiate,
from HMS Temeraire got on
helicopter training, but load-lifting
● HMS Gannet’s Sea King lowers the bridge into place
Warfare Offi cers course at HMS but we were rewarded at regular
their bikes for Pudsey Bear,
is also something we are required
Collingwood successfully com- intervals with some brilliant
cycling from the Army’s school
to keep current in.
able to help out on this project.” dropped at the site, then the heli-
pleted the Great South Run.
“Using these bridges for train-
Safety and load-rigging was in copter made several visits, bring-
scenery.”
of Physical Training in Aldershot
Between them, Lt Cdr Matt
ing purposes made things more
the charge of a team from the Joint ing in nets of timber, lifting out the
Rich added: “Nessie remained
down to their home base of
challenging than moving drums, Air Delivery Test and Evaluation old timber bridge and dropping in
Dodds, Lt Rob Pearce, Lt Cdr in her slumber for the second Portsmouth.
which is our usual training load. Unit based at RAF Brize Norton. the 12m-long steel framework on
Andy Mason and Lt Carlos third, as the course flattened out Rattling buckets along the way,
“We were very pleased to be Two groundcrew were initially to the concrete abutments.
Garreta raised more than £1,500 during our run along the side of the novice cyclists covered 45
for Cancer Research and the Loch Ness. miles and raised £300 for the
Christmas cheer
NSPCC. “Several people delighted in BBC’s Children in Need.
L/Cpl Sean Keeling RM of 40
Commando was snowed under
with thousands of parcels sent
by family, friends, members of
the Royal Marines Association,
ex-Servicemen and well-
wishers from across the UK for
Christmas.
Sean said: “The support from
home has been unbelievable.
Parcels contain everything imagi-
nable – toiletries, socks, confec-
tionery, magazines and playing
cards – are among the contents.
“All these items are much
appreciated and give the Marines
a treat at Christmas time.”
The boxes and bundles were
distributed throughout the forward
operating bases in Northern
Helmand, and efforts are made
to reply to as many well-wishers
as possible.
Major Alex Murray RM,
second-in-command of 40 Cdo,
said: “The public support this ● L/Cpl Sean Keeling with a selection of the Christmas parcels
Christmas has been fantastic.
Picture: LA(Phot) A J MacLeod
“We have received parcels from connection to the Royal Marines. ex-para. Keep up the good work.’
all sorts of people connected To all of them we are incredibly “I could just imagine this old
with the Royal Marines, such grateful. veteran shelling out his pension
as our fabulous Royal Marines “I personally received a box money on what he saw as a decent
Association, as well as members of Harrod’s teabags which had a cup of tea after a lifetime of
of the public with little or no note saying ‘From an 80-year-old drinking military tea.”
018-019_NN_feb08.indd 2 18/1/08 16:08:56
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