Another upload to the "Your Shipmates" page. Good dit regarding beret on divisions!  I bet Mr Greenaway was well impressed.

As and when you are updating content on the site, please sign into the guestbook and leave a brief post here  updating us all on any changes. Cheers.

Tim/David - cbh here, greetings and glad to see there are other Holdover chaps lurking in the dark depths of the internet.

If there is going to b a Holdover presence at the weekend I may well be tempted to join in the revelry.

Operation HOLDOVER 1985 was the brain-child of Adm Mike Gretton, in a bid to keep us interested in joining up while waiting to start training at Dartmouth on Jan 86. Having joined BRNC  on 23 Sep 85 to collect our uniform and complete the joining admin, living in C Block, we were bussed to HMS DOLPHIN to be made "fit for sea". Living in ARROGANT Block, we were cared for by Lt Cdr Dansen-Hatcher RN and Lt MacIntosh  RN (the former on holdover before navigating ex-HERMES to India; the latter on holdover before training fixed-wing). The PTIs seemed to have stopped listening at "made fit", so there was plenty of exercise, with a nod towards being prepared to go to sea with some seamanship lessons over in HMS VERNON.  We also completed dunker training at HMS VERNON, Light Rescue training and Basic Sea Survival  at HMS PHOENIX before joining HMS INTREPID in the Solent for a 4-week  "deployment" to Gib, Cadiz and Lisbon. On return to the UK, we were sent to RNAS YEOVIL for 2 weeks of extended "air acquaint", accommodated in an empty WRNS block and eating in JRDH, wearing officers uniform without rank , all very fit a mysteriously going off flying each day, a number of sailors thought we were special forces - we weren't about to correct them! Finally back to HMS DOLPHIN for a mini-Passing Out Parade, with Captain SM1 as the inspecting officer, then to Christmas Leave before starting our training at BRNC in Jan 86 - no wonder we weren't the most compliant OUTs!  We met up with the rest of the Sep 85 entry on their return from DTS.

Testing Comms from the Port Bridge Wing?

The Website is emerging from a period of "extended readiness" and we are working to bring the content up to date. 

We have established comms with a number of the BRNC Sep 85 Holdover crowd who were detailed off to HMS Dolphin because of pressures on numbers at BRNC itself, so, chaps, please feel free to start populating the website with entries in the "Your Shipmates" and "Spin a Dit" Sections or even better, add some phots. 

Carry On.

Some photo's added from the usual Blake Beer Ensemble at Twickenham for the Centenary Match. Bowley, Davis, Powell, Seakins, Waugh, Grice, Woodley (Jnr) Humphreys (Jnr), Ashcroft  and Al Young of Hawke making his first ever appearance having followed the Grice career plan of exit at Term4!! Once we found the bus, hidden away from the ground this year due to restrictive parking policy, it was, as ever, a great day out.

Good job TC and thanks for the spelndid arterial blood red Hawke T-shirt, it was an absolute bargain - the black stain has indeed washed out.   Also thanks once again to Seawolf, Wiggy Bennett, Lance Bachaelor, Davey Jones and to all the organisers of a tip top 30th Reunion Weekend. It was very slick and thoroughly enjoyable, well worth the journey back from the Kingdom of Tonga. It was especially worth seeing Mid Nelson off his much coveted 'I travelled the furthest' medal.  All I can say to Pete is "us ex kellicks do the hard yards" ;) Bravo Zulu and Splice the Mainbrace one and all!

A/S/Lt Wells - your round of drinks went down well - how do we send the bill to Karachi?  FYI Dave, Blake Division put money behind the bar in memory of Andy Barber, Paul Whitehead and Andy Humphreys -  so your wish was granted in a round about way. Anyone who saw the stylish Divisional T Shirts (standfast Cunningham Lurid Yellow) and feels they have missed out or simply wishes to ride the wave of nostalgia as far as they can, I will be able to back order these if required.  Send me a message via the site if you want one, I have one aditional order so far.  Price depends on numbers. Carry On!

Well shippers that is where you all are !!  TC mentioned that I should send you all a message but cannot for the life of me remember ATP 1C Vol 1 except.  ED 44-1 - TA98- 1-2 but there you go !!!

Hope you all have a great reunion tried to get there last year and will miss this year as currently in Pakistan, bit of a trek for a "Run Ashore".

Still will book the next one for sure.

Enjoy and have one on me TC said he would pay.

Yours Aye

Dave

Capt Hall RM getting several Cunningham inmates to crawl down the upper Sandquay steps and recover their 'empty' (at least to him) water bottles, prior to PLX. Why always Cunningham? Was it Soapy's thing? Keith having to fill in the holes in his chivvy brown brogues and then bull them!  Must have been. 

Here's one of the many dits generated in the Blake Dorm.....We were all very confident and experienced in preparing for evening rounds as we had 30 minutes extra notice, being located so far away from the main Div block. Our postcode was the same as Totnes. Anyway, it was second term(?) when Mid Bay from Singapore stood very relaxed one evening next to his bunk, with the only stiff thing being his collar. However a particularly vigilant inspecting officer returned to his side for some reason and placed his finger under Mid B's stiff collar. The edge was the same colour as a pint of Websters. "That's disgusting Midshipman Bay! When was the last time you changed your stiff collar?" Mid Bay was a very kind and honest young officer and replied straight away "I have never changed my collar Sir". Much laughter and Charlies followed. Happy days!

Gas, Gas, Gas!!   Mid Ince – thanks for getting the ball rolling, classic mix of current affairs and naval history.  So with the latter in mind here is a legendary dit from Term 1 – NBCD Training – the names have been changed to protect the guilty!    The class are all mustered somewhere in the grounds of the college, wearing full NBC kit and AGR’s.  We have just been given a talk on NBC warfare and what we are required to do in the event of various forms of attack.   We may have been through the gas chamber too; didn’t we do some tear gas training to demonstrate the value of our trusty AGR?   Anyway, a demonstration of the combopen follows.  It’s that enormous syringe thing that would be kept in ones AGR bag.  We all take terms with the dummy injector firing a plastic tube into our legs, ouch.  Then there is practice flipping up the AGR and popping one of those tablets you found in the end of the combopen into our mouths.  AGR back on.   CPO is explaining that the injection itself is poisonous and if administered when particular nerve agents are not present, it can prove deadly….. Stunned silence from the class.  All of this sounds distinctly unpleasant; we quietly contemplate our own mortality in any future NBC conflict.   Then Midshipman X pipes up and breaks the silence…..   “Chief, if you accidentally inject yourself and you think you might be dying, can you take a whiff of nerve agent, just a quick sniff though, just to counteract the combopen injection?”   The sound of an entire class in hysterics behind AGR’s is a perfect simulation of an NBC attack, much coughing, wheezing, mucus, eyes watering, difficulty breathing etc. It doesn’t get much closer to reality.   The CPO instructor looks somewhat bemused and shakes his head slowly……   “No sir - that would not be recommended”.   You cannot fault the logic in the question though. After all, every action has an equal and opposite reaction.   The difference is, while many of us may have been thinking about it, there was only one of us brave enough to ask   Midshipman  X, we salute you.  But with a full NBC suit on, to be honest it probably just looks like a limp wave…..   So, is NBC training going to be one of the activities next month or do we draw the line at refreshing our parade ground skills?

Safely tucked away on my desert island in a quiet corner of the South Pacific I thought it was fairly unlikely that I would get too many visitors, especially any folk from my previous incarnation as one of the Royal Navy's finest MCDOs ;)  Not so.  A few months ago Midshipman Beach Seakins turned up here in the Kingdom of Tonga with his partner Gemma  and two year old daughter Viola in tow.  Has Beach changed?  Has he bollocks!  He is still the irreverent fun seeking Beach we all know and love.  Many great capers followed, liberally sprinkled with Beach initiated practical jokes and larks.  Julie and I were generally on the receiving end.  As revenge I had made arrangements with the local Police to have him arrested for not wearing his shirt as we entered the Tongan Navy Base.  Going bare chested in Tonga is an arrestable offence.  Sadly that didn't quite come off even though his t-shirt and shorts always did.   To be honest it was Beach's second visit to me down here in the Southern Hemisphere.  He had previously dropped in whilst I was CO of one of the RAN's Armidale Class Patrol boats running out of Cairns (yep the RAN gave me my own drive, I was as shocked as anyone).  He was easy to spot as I came back in from patrol, standing on the commercial wharf waving his Union Jack boxers as we cruised past at Specials.  Fortunately he was also fully clothed.  Anyway, after I took him for a spin in my 57m aluminium tinny he graciously offered to be the Captain's Driver. He did an excellent job too, right up until the point he drove my car solo, got a speeding ticket and then promptly left the country!  He has never been forgotten by my old ship's company either.  At the crew's Xmas social Beach disappeared after a suspicious looking whispered conversation with one of my sailor's wife.  He soon reappeared wearing her dress - well she was a rather large unit.  My crew loved it.  Utter chaos reigned thereafter as an open season clothes swap session commenced.  I stood at the exit at the end of the night, inspecting images on digital cameras and phones as the motley crew departed. I managed to delete most of the dodgy ones...most of them.  A few days later Beach and I gatecrashed an auspicious event hosted by none other than Midshipman Paul Furse - Furzy has been living and working in Far North Queensland, Australia for many years as CEO of a Solicitors firm.  My reconnection with him after 20 years is another good dit.  But I digress, Paul's auspicious annual event was a shirt and tie do, but we fronted up in shorts and t-shirts like the SL shags us GL master race always aspired to be.  Mid Furse didn't bat an eyelid and we had an excellent night as Furzy (disguised as Santa) chaired a comedy debate between various locals dressed up as Aussie celebs.  Beach fell in love with the MILF playing Julia Gillard, our then Prime Minister.  I have an excellent photo of him biting her ample bottom.  It is a great shame I can't upload photos to this dit page! We can all look forward to some more epic capers from Mid Seakins in a just over a month. Has Beach changed?  Has he bollocks!

As requested by TC, here's another little ditty. It was late on a Friday night and the usual curfew was in place to ensure that all the O.U.T.s were tucked up in bed to get a good night's sleep before Divisions on Saturday morning. Once more Midshipmen Hood and Ince had left it too late to get back into the College unclocked or unnoticed.  However, staggering back after their salacious antics at the Queen Victoria Public House they weren't particularly worried.  They both knew that despite the Bikini Amber heightened security status, there was an easy 'in' to the College grounds, namely via the married patch at the bottom of the hill.  A closed unguarded gate.  Having enjoyed themselves mightily at the Queen Vic it was now 2 AM.  As expected the gate was no barrier to the inebriated pair, and with what they probably thought was agility and aplomb they clambered over noisily, giggling and farting around like....well just like Midshipmen really.  Now inside the grounds they started hiking up the hill towards the main building.  Just then there was a shout "WHO GOES THERE?" They spot two torches coming down the hill towards them.  It was the Duty Watch Patrol.  Two exceptionally keen Middies out scoring the real estate for miscreant curfew breakers.  The chase was on.  The errant pair took off across the hill heading towards the bushes and scrub that flanked the steps down to Sandquay.  Utterly shit faced they weaved around obstacles and stumbled though long grass as dancing torch light followed close behind.  "STOP STOP, I'M ORDERING YOU TO STOP" The Middies shrilly cried. It wasn't going to happen.  They just managed to stay ahead of the waving beams, being the skilled furtive fugitives that they were.  Then Ince rounded a shrub under a concrete platform and fell arse over tit.  Hot on his heels Hood immediately tripped over his prostrate form and they both sprawled in to the undergrowth.  They were screwed, the sound of their determined pursuers was almost upon them.  They both laid still, suppressing giggles and catching their breath with enormous difficulty.  The shore patrolling Middies soon appeared on the concrete platform above them.  Hood and Ince were hidden in the shadows at their feet, a mere metre or two away.  They were both shaking with suppressed laughter and trying not piss themselves as their chasers argued which way the intruders had gone.  After a few minutes of this the pair split up and headed off in different directions and down hill.  Drunk or not, the tactical advantage was now Ince's and Hood's.  They broke cover and ran uphill, their little legs a blur. All too late they were seen by Mid Patrol, but darting into the main College building the pair were soon lost in the labyrinth of corridors and were safe.  High fiving their successful escape, Hood and Ince returned to their respective cabins.  The following morning the Senior Sub and Divisional Subs were standing in front of the Training Commander for their usual weekly brief before Divisions.  The Commander turned to the Senior Sub ...... "Midshipman Ince, I had a report that two O.U.T.s broke curfew last night and scaled the fence down by the MQs.  This has got to stop!"  Ince glanced at Hood, St Vincent's Div Sub, he was staring stoically out of the Commander's window, studiously avoiding his oppo's eyes. Ince could see his shoulders shaking slightly as the mirth built.  "Er yes Sir, I think I have an idea who the culprits might be...leave it with me......."  They should have gotten medals that day for managing to contain their laughter until just outside of the Commander's office. :)  

Relive those DTS memories...... Do you remember where you were on 11 Feb 1986?  No, me neither, but with the help of renowned maritime author Neil McCart you can plot our time on DTS with his book Harrier Carriers Vol 1 HMS INVINCIBLE.  It has several photos of the DTS cruise and some narrative to help  revive those distant memories of where we went and what we did when we got there.  Available through Maritime Books at a very reasonable £2.20!! And no, I am not on commission.  You can have hours of fun peering at the photographs of procedure Alpha entries into Barbados and The Bahamas and then try to point out to the kids which small white blob on the flightdeck you are. http://www.navybooks.com/ShowDetails.asp?id=1386 Enjoy. TC  

I was on Holdover in 1985 at Dolphin/BRNC. Did any of the attendees in 2010 do the same? It all seems a rather long time ago...

Here we go  again. Have just shelled out lots of money for tickets to  New Zealand V Argentina in Rugby World Cup the Saturday of the re union. Bollocks to that. I will be there. Tickets to game now available at a very reasonable mark up!

Cannot wait. Blake boys promise I will I not stick another £100 behind the Wardroom bar on your behalf this time.

Hope you all had a great 25th anniversary, finding this website has brought back many memories of my time at BRNC.

Although being unable to get over to make the reunion and represent the old St Vincent boys, am closely following the action from afar. Reminded of the comments from Petty Officer Charlie Nunn, St Vincents finest parade ground instructor - who I will always remember for such epithets as....\'You, Sah, are a c*nt\'..... to name but one of many such classics ....the closest I\'ve seen to mass hysteria. 
Have a ball, cheers Mike G. 

 Ladies and GentsMet young David Noyes by chance, would love to have joined you this week end, just to see if you can still all march.  But alas Cinc Nag Home has other things for me to do.  Remember Divisions is the most exciting thing you can do with your clothes on.  Take care all and have a great weekendCharlie Nunn St Vincent Div Parade Instructor. 

For all from Cunningham who wondered "Whatever became of old Soapy?", scroll down to the bottom of this page I came across the other day - gave me quite a shock. Clearly Pewtering should be taken very seriously too!

 http://www.pewterers.org.uk/the_company/officers_company.html

Great to see the numbers up to 50! Good effort ladies and gentlemen!

Nice to be able to confirm my attendance and really looking forward to seeing some old faces from the past.

 Good to see a message from Paul Sterriker.  I found him on Facebook a couple of days ago whilst Googling various names.  May I suggest we all spend a little time doing some detective work to track down the missing OUTs?  I'm sure there are lots out there who would love to join the reunion but just don't know about it.  I think a bit of effort from those of us fortunate enough to have been 'found' already will produce results.   Looking forward to seeing you all at BRNC and some at the Army/Navy at Twickers earlier on in May. BZ to the team for getting this thing off the ground.  We owe it to them to make it the biggest success it can be by attending in large numbers. Simon

Just got the call to arms days after finding an old photo of Dennis Brown, myself and an un-named Wren at the "What were you doing when the boat went down?" fancy dress party in our senior term at BRNC - spookey!
Banged out of the mob in early '88 after a car crash whilst on OW course, so very limited time served, but BRNC was a special year and it'll be great to turn the clock back 25 years. Won't have many salty stories to tell though.
I'll be signing up and look forward to seeing you all along with the 70 others who don't know they're about to get press-ganged!

Happy days!  As usual Chief Jesse Sproule's boys are leading the way.
The funniest bits of the weekend are going to be the blatant lies, starting, "Oh, you haven't changed at all"!!!
Well done the 'management' for pulling it all together.
R

If I can fly over from New Zealand for this booze-up, I mean reunion, the scranbags who have yet to sign up have no excuse for being adrift.  Charlies for life for the lo of 'em!

The chaps who have already signed up are demonstrably the highest calibre, best organised and charismatic pick of the 1985 entry (standfast Mid Grice).  The remaining 97% are hopeless and clearly require serious encouragement to spend a summer stag weekend at Dartmouth.  What is wrong with you all???  This is not Cranwell85....

Strongly suggest that Blake are asked to turn up and drink and nothing else. We are very very good at that. Can someone tell the Cunningham boys that the war is over!  and killing maining and destroying are so very 1980's

C'mon everyone, lets get 100 shipmates there in May! Take Charge!

Come on Blake!