be inventive with tinned bacon and dehydrated veg. A favourite tipple was Bergy Bits, made with National Health concentrated orange juice, honey that had crystallised, hot water and rum. But he baked fresh bread every day and no-one ever went hungry, even though the stores were only replenished once a year!
“I absolutely loved it – I had the time of my life,” Clive said.
By 1960 he had arrived back
in Dartmouth. Taking a break from catering he worked in the building trade and remembers refurbishing the Mariners’ Homes in Victoria Road, and working an excavator at projects all over Dartmouth. Building flats behind the old Townstal Post Office, he was given the job of lagging floors. But his building career was cut short by an explosion.
in Dartmouth who has ever been a Scout or a Guide.
Clive said: “My father was a scout as a boy and encouraged me to join. His friend Bob Middleton was the scout leader. I loved it – being outdoors with all my mates, going to camps all over the place, learning about leadership and survival skills.”
He wears this same hat today!
When he was too old to be a scout himself, Clive stayed on as a leader. Between them Clive and Laurie helped shape the lives of nearly all the children in Dartmouth! He helped build the scout hut in Broadpark and became District Commissioner, only retiring in 2000 when the organisation’s strict rules on age prevented him from carrying on.
“I missed it terribly,” Clive said. “So Laurie and I took off round the world again. We had a big send off down in the town.”
“The propane cylinder had been leaking and there was an explosion. I lost the skin off my face, the back of my hands, my ears and my hair. I couldn’t work for some time.”
Once back to full health, Clive joined the maintenance team at the Naval College like his father before him, and enjoyed the camaraderie of the his workmates. However he now had a reputation for adventure, and was suggested for a job in Ascension Island. “In all I did three years – it was a brilliant life. We were working in a power station, increasing the number of engines, which were each the size of my sitting room. When I got there they were still building our barracks, so for a while I lived in a tent, then in one of the boxes the engines arrived in. But when we moved into the barracks it was great – some men brought their families with them so we were a proper community, although people came and went. When I left I was the longest serving resident!” Back at the Naval College, Clive still had his eyes on the horizon and had no hesitation in applying for another job in Cyprus. He was interviewed – and offered a job in Ghan.
“Ghan is a tropical island in the Indian Ocean and a big military base. I was a shift engineer and was there for 19 months living the high life. Again we did amateur dramatics, and there was an active church. I did a lot of diving and it was all great fun.”
By this time Clive had met Laurie, who had transferred to Lloyds Bank in Dartmouth as part of a staff reshuffle, and was lodging with an aunt in Fairview. Clive had always been involved with Scouts, and Laurie was a leader with the Guides. While Clive was in Ghan, Laurie embarked on a round-the-world trip. The pair arrived back in Dartmouth within days of each other, and have been together ever since. They married in 1976 and are known by everyone
Between them Clive and Laurie helped shape the lives of nearly all the children in Dartmouth!
Clive is still involved with the Royal Naval College. Having finished his working life there with spells in the stores and the swimming pool, finally winding up as verger in the chapel, he became a tour guide, a job he enjoys to this day. With a life that’s seen him travel so far from home, has Clive ever been tempted to leave Dartmouth behind for good?
“The thought never crossed my mind,” Clive said. “I love it here. It is difficult to explain without appearing corny. I am prepared to go away and try all sorts of new things, but when I am here I am completely at ease. This is my home town, where I was born, where I played with my friends as a child, where we made dens in Dyers Wood and Old Mill, and where we set up camp in an American tent left over from the D-Day preparations which we pitched in the field between Waterpool and Victoria Road, just over the road from where I live now.
“I grew up swimming in the Boat Float, playing in the fields, and going to church and Sunday school every week (I’ve been an alter boy since 1944 – although you’d call me a server now!)
“What we have here is a real bona fide community. We might not know every person in every house as we used to, but the fact is that Dartmouth is still a community. “I love the Regatta and I have been on the organising committee for many years. As a young lad I used to work in the printers where Kendricks is now, printing the Chronicle through the night. I ring the bells in St Saviours and St Clements and have done for years. I love the river, the view from Yorke Road and the walk up through Ditcham’s Field, off Jawbones.
“It has never entered my head to live anywhere else. If you are from Dartmouth you feel part of it, and it feels part of you.”u
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