Prime seats available for Mountbatten Festival


A NUMBER of prime tickets are available


Mountbatten Festival of Music. This will be the 40th consecutive year that the Massed Bands of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines have played to capacity audiences in one of the world’s greatest venues – the Royal Albert Hall in London. The Festival runs for three nights – Thursday April 12 until Saturday


Saturday performance sold out already. However


Planning office has a number of prime ‘Member’s Tickets’ available for the Thursday performance. These are the privately-owned


the RM April 14, with the Event


seats that have been donated back to the Royal Marines and are some of the best seats in the Hall. They are £35 each and can be ordered through WO2 Reg Sheen RM on 93832 7205 or FLEET- MFMWO.


have never seen the world’s finest military band in the world’s finest concert venue, then you have missed out so far. “Put that right and order your tickets now.”


Mystery at the museum


FIRST romance, now death. Following the success of their speed-dating evening last year, the national Museum of


Navy in Portsmouth is staging a murder mystery evening next month.


May 19, between 7.30pm and 10.30pm, using their detective skills to solve a tangled tale of spies, secret codes and a genuine Enigma machine. Fancy dress is optional, but booking essential as spaces are limited – tickets cost £45 per person, including meal and drinks. Email events@nmrn.org.uk for more details of the event, which is part of Culture 24’s Museums at Night programme.


Air heads-up


YEOVILTON has hosted a flight safety evening for local pilots. Under the auspices of the


planning considerations, Olympic


as part of the Royal Navy input S/Lt Nathan Steele of Yeovilton Air Traffic Control spoke of more local issues.


airspace while


General Aviation Safety Council, a sizeable audience of aviators from the South West were briefed on areas of safety awareness including


on Saturday the Royal


Guests will travel back to wartime Britain


As the bandies put it: “If you for this month’s


THE British Services Antarctic Expedition 2012 is over – with “an awesome end to an awesome day to an


Antarctic expedition ends on two highs


the Blue Team. According to Surg Lt Simon


awesome expedition.” The final hours in Antarctica


saw many of the explorers taking a last opportunity to admire the stunning scenery of the frozen continent, including a ski tour by


Hornby’s blog, after negotiating a crevasse field and the Nye Glacier, he and some team mates were looking for a peak to tackle. “After a 4km ski we approached the base of the mountain. “Despite the steep snow slope we began our ascent with Jez (Maj


Justin Stemp RM) leading the way. “After a few difficult moments and some impressive zig-zagging we reached the final rise in good time. At the top we had the most amazing


view across the sea


towards Adelaide Island and back down the glacier. “The ridge line in the distance was being reflected in the mirror


l Gosport (foreground) and Portsmouth from a glider at night


that was Whistling Bay and a humpback whale was feeding in the krill-rich waters hundreds of metres beneath us. “Words cannot really do the view justice.” Back at camp most members


of Blue Team took a (brief) dip in the sea to ease their aching limbs. As the sun set on their final day, Flt Lt Steve Riley RAF summed it up: “That was an awesome end to an awesome day to an awesome expedition. Awesome!” The fact that the expedition


has ended successfully is probably something of a relief for Green Team member Lt Rob Tristram, who was leading a group of five roped together when he fell through a snow bridge into a crevasse in February. His colleagues spent an hour getting him out – and still made it back to base in time for supper. The expedition


set up land


bases and used the yacht Australis as a sea base to achieve its aims – to conduct scientific research, contributing to several key science programmes of major institutions, and to explore remote areas of the Antarctic Peninsula, including ascents of unclimbed mountains. Undertaken in the ‘Spirit of


Stunning sights for soar eyes


WHETHER you want


pastime, or would like to admire Hampshire’s scenery from the air, Portsmouth Naval Gliding Centre (PNGC) at Lee-on-Solent offers fully-qualified instructors that can take you from your first flight through to completing your glider pilot’s licence or national private pilot’s licence and beyond at a fraction of the cost of commercial flying organisations. For


membership is free for the first year, and there are plenty of opportunities to get involved in AT courses.


largest aircraft fleets in the country with nine gliders, a motor-glider and two towing aircraft. Service


employees and contractors, along with accompanying friends and family are all very welcome. Visit www.pngc.co.uk or call our flight bookings team on 0845 600 8518 for more information.


personnel, MOD The centre boasts one of the serving personnel, a new


Scott, and marking the centenary of the fabled explorer’s death, the expedition’s team of 24, including seven from the Naval Service, packed up their equipment and headed back north to the staging post of Puerto Williams in Chile. Deputy expedition leader Lt


Cdr Paul Hart also spoke in his blog about the beauty of the vista from a mountain at the port. “We were treated to the


awesome panorama of Tierra Del Fuego covered in snow while the glassy Beagle Channel reflected much of the mountains of this part of Patagonia,” he said. “It is hard to believe that only


150 years ago Charles Darwin sailed up this passage onboard HMS Beagle while deciphering the mysteries of evolution.” Lt Cdr Hart was one of the last to return home, taking responsibility for a container of kit which was flown back to the UK via Punta Arenas.


Ship reopens l A PNGC glider at Lee-on-Solent at dusk


THE iconic sailing ship Cutty Sark is due to open to the public again at Greenwich on April 26. The clipper, badly damaged by fire during restoration work in May 2007, has been raised three metres above her dry dock to allow visitors to walk underneath, and her history is explained in an exhibition on board.


Butting out...


BIG Cig took a traditional battering around the Royal Navy in the


run-up to national No


Smoking Day last month. At Yeovilton, Big Cig – aka Surg


Cdr (D) Ian James, Senior Dental Surgeon) was snuffed out in the air base’s Underwater Escape Training Unit (UETU) (pictured left by LA(Phot) AJ Macleod). Keeping the bad guy firmly in their grasp are dental nurses, medical assistants and PTIs, all of whom offered advice and support to colleagues who wanted to break the habit. Also pictured are divers from the UETU, making sure that although he is suffering,


the


villain of the piece didn’t actually drown...


Big Cig also turned up at HMS Collingwood, where Dental Hygienist Pip Dredge, working closely with practice nurses, was keen to raise awareness of the availability of smoking cessation clinics. Pip’s main objectives were to highlight the effects that smoking has on the oral cavity, particularly


18 APRIL 2012:


linked with alcohol and oral cancer. A tri-Service lifestyle survey


showed that around a quarter of RN personnel smoke, and that smokers are nearly three times more


likely to be medically


downgraded than non-smokers. And the kicking delivered to Big Cig was not confined to


shore bases – pictured above (by LA(Phot) Dean Nixon) is PTI Roy Michael Cronin booting Cig off the flight deck of HMS Illustrious in Norway as he and his colleagues joined the carrier’s medical department in raising awareness about the help available to those who seek to beat the habit.


Joint Force Command is set to launch


THE new Joint Forces Command was due to be launched as Navy News went to press.


Established to ensure that a range of vital joint enabling capabilities,


organisations are organised and managed effectively and efficiently, the Joint Forces Command will work alongside the single Services to champion and deliver joint enabling capabilities to support success on operations. The capabilities, functions and organisations include medical services, training and education, intelligence, and cyber. Over the next year the Joint


Forces Command will assume the


responsibilities in support of defence objectives for current operations, future contingencies, and for the longer term. It will reach full operating capability by April 2013. The launch ceremony was due to be staged at Northwood HQ, with Defence Secretary Philip Hammond presiding.


Robots fight at Yeovilton


A BUSY programme of events over this month at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton will feature everything from wildlife to robots. On April 2-3 a sponsored


workshop will allow visitors to make and paint an Airfix model to take home. April 4-5 sees the robots take


charge, when there will be chance to build a working robot and join battle in an arena against other first-timers. If you prefer the heavyweights, a second arena – surrounded by bullet-proof glass – will stage mechanical mayhem as stars of the TV show Robot Wars knock lumps out of each other. The natural world takes centre stage on April 9 when RN Air Station’s Bird Control Unit gives a presentation on how they use peregrine falcons to keep the runways free of birds, reducing the risk of a bird strike on an aircraft. From April 10-13 the museum


full range of its planned functions and


stages ‘fun family flying activities’, when visitors will be invited to make an aircraft out of everyday scrap items. And every day from March 31


for two weeks there will be family trails,


completed trail sheet will be awarded a creme egg.


SAR exhibition


A NEW exhibition featuring the work of the Royal Navy’s search and rescue teams has opened at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth.


A retired RN Sea King Helicopter – painted red and grey one side and RAF yellow the other – is a key part of the exhibition, which recounts tales of bravery by all the SAR units around the country, including the RNLI, Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the RAF


Unicorn support


FORTHCOMING talks by the Unicorn Preservation Society on board HM Frigate Unicorn in Dundee include ‘Dry-docking the Royal Yacht Britannia’ on Monday April 2 and ‘The Black Watch’ on Monday May 7.


preservation– Unicorn is one of the six oldest ships in the world.


The talks are in aid of the ship’s www.navynews.co.uk with each successfully-


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