32 NAVY NEWS, DECEMBER 2010


A good spot in


Heroine laid to rest Cartagena


THE USA Division of the HMS Ganges Association operates a long way from Shotley. In truth, they actually operate a long way from the UK, so their events tend to sound a little exotic to our ears. Take their fourth bi-annual reunion, which they just celebrated by taking a 17-day cruise on the 78,000-ton Celebrity Mercury. They


headed down the west coast of Mexico and Costa Rica, nipped through the Panama Canal, into Cartagena, Colombia,


Bahamas before disembarking at Baltimore.


US Naval Academy at Annapolis, and visited the Pussers waterfront restaurant and store. All pretty exciting stuff –but the highlight? For the Ganges boys, it surely had to be the moment they spotted HMS Portland, dressed overall, in Cartagena for Columbus Day. Once Navy,


wherever you are... always Navy –


President’s verdict


RNA National President Vice Admiral John has laid out his views on the recent Government Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR). On the RNA website, S/M McAnally explained that other commitments had prevented him from stating his views immediately, and that he had hoped the delay would let him “simmer down”. “But the more I think about it the more wound up I get,” said the Admiral. Even the context – the Main


Effort in Afghanistan – means that in trying to avoid being accused of under-funding the conflict the Government is


“drawing a very


great chunk from the existing Defence Budget at the expense of all other operations and of future capability,” said S/M McAnally. “The Coalition has thereby institutionalised preparing for the last war


“I am indebted to Sir Jeremy Blackham for pointing out that we now plan approximately to halve the Navy considered necessary by the 1998 Strategic Defence Review despite a world of growing maritime significance and danger not least to our energy supplies.” For the full article, see www.


royal-naval-association.co.uk/ prespulpit.html


Whilst there they toured the and the left San Diego and


● Eileen Nearne’s ashes are consigned to the sea from one of BRNC’s picket boats off Torquay


A WORLD War 2 Resistance heroine who survived capture and torture by the Nazis has been laid to rest at sea with the help of Britannia Royal Naval College.


Eileen Nearne died in Torquay in the summer at the age of 89, and was living alone at the time. When council workers searched her


flat in a bid to contact relatives, they found papers relating to her wartime role, over which she had kept quiet. It turns out the quiet old lady had been ‘Rose’, a member of the British Special Operations Executive who had been thrown into the world of espionage and sabotage in occupied France at the age of 22 in 1944. A fluent French speaker, she worked as a radio operator, helping set up the Wizard fundraising network in Paris.


But a series of narrow escapes from


the Germans ended after almost five weeks when she was arrested and tortured, though she revealed no information, claiming to be a simple French girl out of her depth. She survived concentration camps, making two escapes, finally returning to London when Europe was liberated. Miss Nearne’s wish was that her ashes should be laid to rest at sea, so two picket boats from the College sailed early one autumn morning for Torquay to receive the casket and take on board a small family party. BRNC chaplain the Rev Andrew Hillier conducted the service, held near Thatcher Rock which, according to her niece, was a favourite spot for Miss Nearne as she tried to exorcise the lifelong ghosts of her wartime travails.


Cherry commended for Ajax civic links


A CANADIAN local government official at the heart of the link between her town and a Royal Navy association has been recognised by the British veterans. Around 60 members


HMS Ajax and River Plate Veterans Association and their guests gathered at the 45th annual reunion, held at the King Charles Hotel in Gillingham. The guest speaker was Capt Stephen Harwood, whose father was in command at the Battle of the River Plate in 1939, who gave a most informative and interesting insight into the engagement. Four members of the association who fought at the battle – John Garrard, Sam Shale


of and Ted


Wicks from HMS Ajax and Basil Trott from HMS Exeter – were able to join the event.


And amongst those who


attended was Mrs Cherry Sevigny, the Executive Assistant to the Mayor of Ajax in Toronto, who retired from her job this month.


Association members were the


delighted Cherry could attend the reunion with her husband Reid, and presentations were made in recognition of her outstanding work in developing and maintaining the close links between the town of Ajax and the association. This was further endorsed


shortly after the reunion when Capt Harry Harsch


of the


Canadian Navy, acting on behalf of the Canadian High Commission in London, presented Cherry with a Bravo Zulu certificate signed by the Commander-in- Chief of the Canadian Navy, to show their appreciation and acknowledgement of her work over the past 23 years. Cherry has co-ordinated almost 100 street dedications – many of the towns streets are named after sailors from HMS Ajax – as well as numerous tree-plantings, and she also helped with arrangements for visits to Canada by Association veterans.


● Capt Harry Harsch, of the Canadian Navy and acting on behalf of the Canadian High Commission in London, presents a certifi cate of appreciation to Cherry Sevigny


Warwick ‘moved’ by gesture


BACK in May the chairman of Padstow Royal British Legion, Alan Veck, along with branch and county members, laid a poppy wreath at the tree planted in memory of HMS Warwick at the National Memorial Arboretum. The tree had been planted by


Warwick branch in conjunction with Warwick Town Council a year earlier,


realising a brainchild of


the late S/M John Coles, a past chairman of Warwick. HMS Warwick was sunk off


Trevose Head, near Padstow, in February 1944 by a U-boat. Some of the members of the


ship’s company are buried in the churchyard at St Merryn, near Padstow, and the sinking is also commemorated on a plaque on Padstow Quay.


The same U-boat, U-413,


commanded by Kapitänleutnant Gustav Poel, had also sunk the troopship SS Warwick Castle in November 1942, killing almost 100 of her complement of 462 in an attack 200 miles off Portugal. U-413 met her fate six months after she sank HMS Warwick – the submarine was sunk in the Channel


one survivor from her crew of 46. Alan and S/M David Butler,


chairman of Warwick branch, were messmates on board HMS Londonderry in 1960-62, on its first commission, serving in the West Indies Squadron. A picture of Alan laying the poppy wreath was recently passed to David by a shipmate at the 50th anniversary of the commissioning of the Londonderry, which Alan was unable to attend. Warwick branch members were deeply moved and grateful for the gesture by the Cornwall Legion, and a letter of appreciation was duly sent to Alan. The late John Coles was also


south of Brighton on August 20 1944 by depth charges from HM ships Wensleydale, Forester and Vidette, with only


● Some of the standards on display at the annual national Submarine Association memorial parade on the Thames Embankment


Picture: PO(Phot) Amanda Reynolds Deeps on parade


SUBMARINERS past and present gathered on the Thames Embankment for a parade in honour of the Silent Service. The annual national Submarine


Association memorial parade started at HMS President, on Victoria Embankment, and headed west for a couple of hundred metres to the Submariners Memorial. The Royal Marines Band the


played, out in force, accompanied by


150 uniformed submariners ranging from a teenaged trainee to Rear Admiral Submarines, Rear Admiral Mark Anderson, along with Association president Admiral Sir James Perowne, Lady Fieldhouse and Admiral The Lord Boyce, who all laid wreaths. Personnel


from Association was Faslane,


Devonport, Portsmouth, Bristol and London all attended to pay their respects.


involved in the planting of two trees with the help of Warwick Town Council, the Court Leet, King Henry Warwick


Castle


VIII Trust and Management,


who grew the trees. They were planted on the


grounds of the castle in April 2008 in remembrance of both ships.


Newark pair bid farewell


LONG-standing members Ken and Coleen Bramley were given a fond farewell by Newark branch shortly before they departed for Australia.


Ken has been a member of the branch for more than 20 years, holding various


posts including


secretary and social secretary, while Coleen has provided whole- hearted support to the branch – including the provision of wonderful buffets at social events over the years.


Both will be missed for the


support they have given. In recognition of this, and to


provide a lasting reminder of their shipmates in the UK, branch president S/M George Woodward presented Ken with an inscribed tankard and Coleen with an inscribed trinket box.


The couple head Down Under to join their children and grandchildren.


● S/M Jan King


Respects are paid to stalwart


MEMBERS from across the country gathered to pay their last respects to one of the Association’s true stalwarts. S/M Jan King died on September 26 at the age of 83 after a life dedicated to the Royal Navy and the RNA. Janet joined the Service towards


the end of World War 2 as a Jack Dusty, but soon transferred to the Regulating Branch. There, through the course of


a 32-year career, she rose to the highest rank of Fleet Chief Petty Officer Wren Regulator – one of only six, and gaining the MBE in the process.


A keen supporter of the Scouts and Girl Guides, Jan also found that she needed to maintain her support for the Navy, so founded the Clacton branch of the RNA, where


until her death, and was a member of the Association of Wrens. She also served as Area 5 and


secretary


and moved up from deputy to National Council member when her predecessor became unwell. Jan maintained her enthusiasm


until the end; even as her health started to deteriorate this year, she still talked about getting the annual conference back to Clacton – she had been instrumental in getting the event to Essex in 2001. National President Vice Admiral John McAnally spoke


funeral of the comradeship of the Association and the fact that Jan embodied the principle of ‘Once Navy, Always Navy’. She was also, he noted, obviously


very good at her job. Demonstrating the respect Jan commanded, mourners included the National


near Birmingham, his immediate predecessor from Weymouth, the National Vice Chairman from Lincoln, the General Secretary and National Welfare Officer from Portsmouth, and many others. Her own branch and Area 5


were well represented, and 14 standards were on parade.


Greenies gather


A REUNION of the RN Electrical Branch Association in Stafford brought two former shipmates together for the first time in 40 years.


Sean Hagger and Stephen Smith served together in HMS Hermes from 1968-70, so there was plenty of lamp-swinging to be done – a regular feature of such reunions.


wreath at the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas in memory of those Greenies who have crossed the bar over the years.


Chairman from at Jan’s later she remained secretary chairman,


Sean and Stephen laid a


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