PORTSMOUTH ROYAL DOCKYARD SCHOOL

4^th YEAR UPPER SCHOOL STUDENTS 1954 to 1955 - Reunion 2015

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Gentlemen and ladies - and from the start I beg forgiveness from the ladies for the torture I am about to put you all through in talking about us. Six decades on we are all old enough to know one thing with certainty - and that is that is absolutely not true to say that it is easier to remember things from the distant past than from yesterday. Admittedly when we climb the stairs we may sometimes have to come down again to work out why we went up in the first place. But that is just par for the course of life and is nothing to worry about.

Knowing this truism to be untrue, I asked for help from everyone else. So, luckily, I hardly need to say anything today. As you have all probably read the answers anyway - I suppose I could just sit down and suggest that you read it up when you get home. But I don't think I would get away with that. And if you really want to catch up - try Keith Hart's website which I discovered 2 days ago. It includes a long article from the School Magazine about our trip to Paris. Apparently it was written by John Williams. I cannot deny it. But I certainly can't remember writing it. A t the end of the piece I recommended that everyone should think of going abroad for a holiday. I think in those distant days it was a rarity.

I think that all of us have memories of the staff - and more of that later. But equally, there was a cohort of dedicated tradesmen instructors - who played a very important part in the tradition of our apprenticeships. Dick Branscombe says that he was actively encouraged, with fellow Pattern-Maker apprentices, to find a corner to study in whenever he wanted - and never once did his instructor say that he should instead learn more about the trade. I can't believe that his instructor was ever told to treat him like that - no more than mine was - but he did exactly the same - and that must be true for most of us.(Later on when Malcolm was speaking he confirmed that the records show that this approach was official policy ) Malcolm Oliver switched from Electrical apprentice to Shipwright to open up the path to Constructor - and soon began to wonder if he had done the right thing - after a baptism of fire in Devonport Dockyard learning a totally new subject. He spent most of his time in his "Afloat Year" in a wireless room doing his school work, but was still included in the gang work-bonus scheme. These instructors and tradesman were all brilliant working men who only wanted us to make the most of an opportunity to which they could not even aspire. I too switched from Electrical to Shipwright. It could be said that it was in the interests of "the System" to allow this to happen. But it was never to our disadvantage.

The staff are all remembered with respect, and not a little fondness, but kept us hard at it. And it is something we can be proud of that Howard George and John Crowder were guests of honour at the 1985 Reunion. Bob Dowdell -kept from being with us today by Parkinsons - reminds us that the syllabus was intense and sometimes stressful - and of once calling out to Stan Kay to slow down when his dictation got way too fast. Bob also mentions that he could never understand how Mike Thompson ever managed to keep up with Mr Kay with his immaculate copper-plate writing. That is an extraordinary memory to have about someone Mike. Is the writing still as good? No one can say that about mine. Of which more later.

But memories are strange things. Dave Byng - who also can't be here today but not for health reasons - remembers our Welsh French tutor Mr Jones for the reason that he always used a neck tie to hold up his trousers - as well as regaling us with "Under Milk Wood". Dave also had strong memories of a holiday several of us shared on the Norfolk Broads one summer. We managed to run aground more than once and were lucky that Dick Branscombe was there with a bit of really useful boating knowledge. For some reason the sight of John Flower in pyjamas sticks in his mind and of me swimming with a hat on.

I remember Mr Shipley's exasperation one day in attempting to have us partake in a debate. He was expecting something to compare with Cambridge University I suppose - even if a bit more home spun. He was somewhat disappointed when it lasted just short of 5 minutes. Gentlemen, sophisticated we were not. They did try though. Jack Goss , Mr Shipley, Mr Grieves and other staff tried introducing a few who might be vaguely interested, to his home to talk about poetry and music and the like. They must have been trying to gear some of us up for the coming University world - of which we were largely ignorant. This was in complete contrast to clambering around the double bottoms of Her Majesty's ships, which, just occasionally, shipwright apprentices could not avoid doing. It seemed to me that this compared with going down the mines. But when I actually tried that, a little later on a day visit to a mine from Kings College Newcastle, I realised just how wrong I was.

Kings College of course is where quite a few of us ended up as a direct result of the Dockyard School and where those of us from Portsmouth met ex apprentices from all over the country. And those friendships have lasted decades and partly explains how it is that we are here today. But I am sure that most credit for that must go to dear Alan Holding - aided and abetted by Keith Hart and his website and now of course Bob Hutchings.

At Kings College it was my misfortune to share digs with Keith Hart - firstly in Whitely Bay. My hand writing, as I said, was never up to much and nearly caught me out when we moved from Whitely Bay to Newcastle. A letter from Portsmouth City Council containing my quarterly lodgings cheque had the address in my own hand writing cut from the letter I sent them stuck on the envelope. They obviously thought that the address was a student joke - because the road name was - correctly of course - "Two Ball Lonnen". I found that amusing and I'm sorry of no one else does.

Keith and I decided to join Kings College Boat Club. Something I would never have thought of doing if Jack Goss had not suggested it the last time we saw him. But not that exactly that. His advice was to take up something totally new in our time at University. It didn't matter what that might be. Wise advice and I hope that a few others did the same. Keith and I were OK rowing in fours and eights together - but, to be honest, we were a bit of an odd couple - size and strength wise I hasten to add. We were fine helping to crew a four or an eight, but in a pair (that's one small pointed boat and just 2 oars) it was almost impossible to keep in a straight line when trying to race. Keith was just too strong for me. It was not a pretty sight. (On the day, when I sat down, Keith reminded me that we had won trophies in pairs as well as fours - so we can't have been that bad after all. My memory is playing strange tricks. And he continued rowing for 10 years or so after University. After a while, Keith spent some much more enjoyable time with a very nice girl called Margaret - who would confirm all this if a back problem had not prevented her from travelling today. As for me - my darling Carol would have loved to be here again. But it was not meant to be. Having shared 54 years of married life, I am grateful for all the joy and children it brought us and I am lucky enough to have hope in the future. I therefore try not to be too sad on occasions like this. I hope that other single husbands and wives here today feel the same.

Malcolm mentions that those in the Core of Constructors were often coming across one another. Again, keeping the links alive. But one bit of information from Bob Hutchings came as a complete surprise to me and may also be to many of you. And that is that Bob Hutchings became the last Principal of the last Royal Dockyard School in the world - in Gibraltar. Which, as he says, brought down the curtain on 144 years of Dockyard apprentice education. That is really quite extraordinary.

(At this point in the talk John Riley got up to speak of the occasion he remembers most strongly during his time in the RDS. This was being on board at the launch of HMS Leopard. He brought along a photograph of the launch which he had found on the web only the day before. Keith added that all available shipwright apprentices were also allowed on board. Somehow I seemed to have missed out as I always remember being sad that I had never experienced a launch anywhere. It was the first launch in Portsmouth dockyard for many years and at one stage it looked possible that the launch wave would sweep some spectators away.)

But we did enjoy being part of the morning and evening flood of men on bicycles to and from the dockyard didn't we? But perhaps not so much the Saturday morning working and 7 am starts of our time. And how did we manage without phones in our homes (let alone mobiles)? And how did we do anything without computers? But we did. Although I never had much chance to develop my Naval Architect skills in my 30 odd years or so in the Army I kept the drawings and evidence of the fact that I actually did do some work while at Kings College. My children and grandchildren came across it all a few weeks ago as I prepared to downsize to a smaller house. Their minds boggled at the primitive nature of what was achieved without all the modern technology and computing power which drives the modern world.

But I could ramble on all day. So, without more ado, I invite you all to rise and toast "The Royal Dockyard School year of1955"

PS One extraordinary coincidental discovery of the day was that Jenny Oliver lived in an adjacent street to mine when we both lived as children in Milton, Portsmouth. She remembers seeing a boy, who was probably me, cycling in the lane which linked our roads and came to discover if I had been the boy who had knocked her down on his bike. Neither of us can quite remember the outcome or if there was actually a meeting. The interest is in the coincidence that we lived so close to one another and met again to confirm it some 70 years or so later.