NAVY NEWS, MAY 2007 19
in brief
news
■ YOUNG Officers under train-
ing at HMS Raleigh polished
Tasty dishes
up their scrubbing skills with a
charity car-wash at the Cornwall
establishment.
For a minimum charge of £4
the team of 11 polished up 50
cars for a total of £528 for the
Devon Air Ambulance and the
Seafarers UK.
in Cornwall
■ MARINE engineer Lt Cdr
Mark Westwood is one of a group
of fathers from the village of Ayl- BEFORE all the drama of
burton who are part of the Ayl-
HMS Cornwall’s recent high-
burton Hippos’ 100-mile canoe
profile activities in the Gulf,
challenge.
The self-styled Hippos will pad-
the men and women on
dle 100 miles along the River
board the frigate had been
Wye in early May in memory of
putting their energies into
local boy Elliot Cox, an 11-year-
charity fundraising.
old who was involved in a road
The first four weeks of their
accident on his way home from deployment saw the warship raise
school and although taken by Air more than £1,500 for the ship’s
Ambulance to Frenchay Hospital charities that include the Sennen’s
in Bristol he died as a result of his Children Ward at the Royal
injuries. Cornwall Hospital, Truro, and
The fathers, including the Macmillan nurses in the county.
Naval officer based at Leach The transit through the
Building in Fleet HQ, are raising Mediterranean was eventful
● Sailors and civilians from RNAS Culdrose help out Shelterbox
money to build a memorial gar- for visiting officer cadets from
den at Aylburton primary school, Britannia Royal Naval College
support the Gloucestershire Air who took part in an unusual com-
Ambulance and contribute to the petition involving a dining table
No tight squeeze
1st Aylburton and Lydney Scout heaving with food.
Group. Ten brave souls faced a feast
Find out more online at www. of dishes prepared by the frigate’s
aylburtonhippos.co.uk. Chef ‘Piggy’ Davis and his team, at Culdrose
with members of the audience
■ DILIGENT watchkeepers on
RFA Bayleaf in the Gulf spied
bidding up a price on each item
THE LINKS between Cornish humanitarian relief anywhere in
cargo-bales floating past the
eaten.
air station RNAS Culdrose and the world.
starboard side of the ship dur-
The unlucky cadets could either
the nearby Shelterbox charity ■ IN AN unusual move, bikers
ing a recent replenishment with
match the bid and walk away, or
continue to thrive with the Naval from Culdrose helped liberate two
HMS Campbeltown.
eat one of the ‘appetising’ dishes
base playing host to a surfeit of mammals from Newquay Zoo.
Once the RAS was completed
on offer – that included a pig’s
blankets. Fortunately the two were zoo
the auxiliary set off to investi-
snout, raw ginger, and two-week-
When the Commanding Officer, staff Jo Prendergast and Jamie
gate and track down the myste-
old frying oil.
Capt Philip Thicknesse, heard that Strike who were taking part in a
rious bales. A cautious approach
In Crete’s Souda Bay, the POs’
space in the Shelterbox warehouse 72-hour ‘breakout’ from the zoo
to the packages revealed the
mess organised a horseracing night
was running out, he offered tem- to travel as many miles as possible
remarkably innocent contents of
to popular acclaim. And a weekly
porary storage on the air base. in aid of the Eaza Madagascar
plastic flip-flops – some 1,200
tombola run by WO Ray Crockett
Willing volunteers from the Campaign.
pairs in all shapes and sizes.
and CPO Elsie Tanner will keep
Stores Logistics department found The two motorcyclists dropped
This booty of the sea found a
the coins rolling in.
space for the 15,000 blankets, that the escapees at Exeter airport en
new home at a children’s charity
Finally in a determined attempt
await the call from Shelterbox route to the RN Motorbike Club
in Dubai.
to lose their beer bellies, Lt Cdrs
to be made up into boxes for AGM at RNAS Yeovilton.
Phil Coope, Steve Murphy, WO ● A million metres to minimised
■ THE Rowans Hospice has
Ray Crockett and CPO Benny measurements – Lt Cdrs Phil
gained £316 from the Caterers’
Goodman have each committed to Coope, Steve Murphy, WO Ray
Reunion Dinner.
row one million metres each over Crockett and CPO Benny Good-
WO1 Ros Evans and Lt Cdr
the seven-month deployment. man live in hope of slim waists
Melville-Brown presented the
cheque as a token of appreciation
9 O U R F R I E N D L Y A F F O R D A B L E
for the hospice’s care of LCH
Densil Pitt-Redsell.
In good Naval traditions, the
Charity comes
money was made from fines at the , O N D O N # L U B
caterers’ dinner.
■ SERVICE and civilian staff
from the MOD Hospital Unit at
first in Chatham
Derriford Hospital in Plymouth
joined together to raise over £500
DERRIFORD Hospital in Plymouth has been visited by a party of sailors
at the British Heart Foundation’s
from HMS Chatham after the charity efforts of the Devonport frigate.
Hearts First run.
During her deployment last year to West Africa and the South
POMA Liam Crowe said:
Atlantic, the warship collected £2,400 for her affiliated charities – the
“Many of us have seen the
Children’s High Dependency Unit at Derriford and the Oliver Fisher
effects of heart disease, either
Special Care Baby Trust in Medway.
through our work at the hospital
These two new charity affiliations were chosen during the deployment
or closer to home.
at the suggestion of the frigate’s crew.
“All the runners were of vary-
PO Gary Hammell, whose baby daughter had needed special care,
ing ability and the focus was
and LET Steve Durrant suggested that the money be split between the
definitely on the fun rather than
Trust and the Derriford unit.
the run!”
Gary said: “The hospital did such a good job for my daughter that I
just felt I wanted to give something back. What the staff do for children
■ ANOTHER batch of fi nes from
in their care is amazing.”
a mess dinner resulted in the do-
Chatham’s commanding officer, Cdr Martin Connell said: “I am
nation of £117 to the Royal Brit-
delighted to see a gift with such personal meaning.
ish Legion from the Defence Food
“The fact that my ship’s company has found the time to raise this
Services IPT at Ensleigh, headed
money alongside their professional duties speaks volumes for their
by Capt Paul Cunningham.
generosity.”
Since returning to the UK in November, the frigate has completed a
■ INDUSTRIOUS trainees from
Fareham’s HMS Collingwood
maintenance period and is now readying herself for a deployment to the
cleared out an overgrown quad-
Mediterranean later this year.
s # L O S E T O - A R B L E ! R C H A N D / X F O R D 3 T R E E T
rangle at a Stubbington school.
The members of the Phase 2
Balloon bounty
s ! F F O R D A B L E R O O M R A T E S
Training Group knocked down a
greenhouse, moved a shed, and
s # H O I C E O F R E S T A U R A N T S A N D B A R S
ripped out worn decking, before
recreating a scene of gardening
bliss at Crofton Hammond Infant
brought by York
s # O N C E S S I O N A R Y . # 0 # A R 0 A R K R A T E S
School.
s & U N C T I O N R O O M S F O R D I N N E R S R E C E P T I O N S
■ SOME 150 staff at Clyde Naval
Base responded to a nationwide
THE CHILDREN’S Unit at York civilians from Lebanon and pro- R E U N I O N S A N D P R I V A T E P A R T I E S
call for blood donation, including District Hospital was brightened vide protection for NATO heads
the MOD’s own June Rennie, who up by the addition of vibrant red of government at their summit in
was celebrating the donation of balloons on Valentine’s Day, cour- the Latvian capital Riga.
4 H E 6 I C T O R Y 3 E R V I C E S # L U B
her fortieth pint of blood. tesy of the Petty Offi cers’ Mess of The ship’s commanding officer
3 E Y M O U R 3 T R E E T
HMS York. Cdr Tim Cryar led a party from
■ There are some bare chests
in Bristol’s Abbey Wood after
And it wasn’t just balloons that HMS York to the ship’s namesake , O N D O N 7 ( &
six men, including CPO Simon
the matelots bore, but a donation city to visit Applefields School for
Henwood of the MGMS IPT,
towards the unit’s Guardian Angel children with special educational
had their chests waxed to raise
Appeal to create a high depend- needs. 4 E L
money for the Terrence Higgins
ency bay for critically-ill children. The team presented the school
Trust. Original hopes for £1,000
The money was raised when the with a donation of £1,300 as their
& A X
were toppled by the generosity
POs’ Mess on board the destroyer official charity.
% M A I L I N F O V S C C O U K
of Abbey Wood staff and the
hosted a horse-racing night during The money was garnered from
public with a total of more than
their deployment last year to the a range of events, including a 7 E B W W W V S C C O U K
£2,300 collected. Mediterranean. marathon run by CPO ‘Audrey’
It wasn’t just the York hospital Hepburn that raised £700, the
that gained from the fundraising charity chest-waxing of the Flight
- E M B E R S H I P / P E N T O A L L 3 E R V I N G A N D 2 E T I R E D - E M B E R S
in brief
news efforts of that high-profile deploy- Observer Lt Frank Suter which
ment which saw the destroyer raised £200, and the sale of
O F T H E ! R M E D & O R C E S A N D T H E I R F A M I L I E S
involved in the evacuation of Applefields’ Christmas cards.
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