Portsmouth Royal Dockyard

This web site is dedicated to the Dockyard School staff, the January 1951 Entry Shipwrights and the IV^th year upper-school students during their period 1954 to 1955.

Although it contains content with some photographs to jog memories it goes further by giving a background to the birth and death of the dockyard schools, that became a beacon for educational excellence at home and abroad. And as added interest, there are links to the history of Portsmouth Royal Dockyard and the support given to the Royal Navy over the centuries.

The original purpose of the site was to provide a focus for the IV^th year upper-school students , spread far and wide, during the countdown to their 50^th reunion planned for Friday 8^th July 2005 in Portsmouth. It was also an opportunity to celebrate the 200^th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar when Lord Nelson lost his life on board HMS Victory; now a permanent memorial in Portsmouth Dockyard.

The 2005 reunion dinner is now a continuation of our history. Thus these pages now include memorable moments from that occasion when the years rolled back and our lady guests added to a most enjoyable evening. It was unanimous that we should meet again in 2010.

And so we did. The 55^th anniversary reunion lunch was on Friday 16^th July 2010 in Southsea to renew friendships that started nearly six decades ago. Details of the event can be seen from the above link Upper School. Another 5 years before the next reunion was initially thought to be too long with the passing of the years. Not so, the diamond reunion was held in July 2015 which is likely to be the last.

Over the years the site has since grown to include the parting dinner in 1956 of the January 1951 shipwright apprentices and their reunion lunch in 2009 and their 60^th anniversary reunion in January 2011.

Although this personal web site is assembled for a particular group of 1951 apprentices, should other viewers come across these pages it is hoped that they will find them of interest and perhaps find some common ground. Finally as this is likely to be the last major event of our history, the opportunity has been taken to include the life of the author in his village of Westbourne that may also be of interest to readers.To all readers should there be errors or material that may be relevant to this group then the author Keith Hart would be pleased to receive them.