The Second
HMS Manchester Association
The Buzz - (Part 14) continued....
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* Asterisked items will not be re-ordered after stocks exhausted due to minimum numbers required per order or items no longer available.
VISITORS AHOY?
By Our Social Correspondent
We are very fortunate to have a number of artefacts relating to D95, and three months ago we were gifted a most interesting item. It was the Visitors Book from the Petty Officers Mess, 1982 - 1997 which tells an interesting story!
This book had clearly seen much active service, judging by the number of brown stains which suggests it might just have come into contact with CSB! Furthermore, evidence also suggests that many recorded their attendance on departure as opposed to on arrival judging by the comments made!
Obviously, the visits of various Admirals and Commanding Officers are recorded, as are the visits of various Manchester Lord Mayors, and many Manchester male and female Police Officers.
The Chaplain of the Fleet visited his flock on the 10th December 1983, in the South Atlantic, and it must be hoped he didn't turn back a page as a certain young lady? had much to offer! A certain D. J. Hazeldon received his Long Service and Good Conduct medal from Major General Spacie, and a number of christenings are also recorded, as is
the undated visit of several members of the England Cricket Team - most notable was Yorkshire's Martyn Moxon who is one of only eight test match cricketers in the whole history of the game to score 99 runs in an innings but never a test match ton. He is also one of only seven test match cricketers who got a call round to the POs Mess on the Mighty Manch!!
The period late 1986 - 1989 is noteworthy due to the lack of signatories. Just four entries.
This was the time when the specially selected members of the Ships Company were extremely busy returning the ship to the operational role she was built for, and casting off the remnants of that mega jolly, aka Global 86!
One final entry of note - he took up the whole page - was that of the outgoing Chief Bosun's Mate - who in 1989 described his time onboard as a "nightmare"! It certainly was for the two outstanding guys who had to share a cabin with him! The pen is clearly mightier than the marlin spike!
Many thanks are due to Joe Walton who was the last President of the PO's Mess, HMS Manchester for his gift, and also an item that will appear in the next charity raffle.
PS This book will be available for perusal at Re-union 25.
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Who is this year's mystery personality?
A bottle of rum awaits the winner with the first correct answer.
