Buzz No 6 - and feedback suggests that we are starting to get the hang of this re-union skylark. We sold 96 tickets despite a £2.50 ticket price increase and we were particularly pleased to welcome new joiners, Nick Athawes, Bill Churchley, Jonathan Day, Andy Green, Steve Henshaw, Whisky Haigh, Ken Hinchliffe, J.J. Lloyd, Barry Lucas, Andy Rafferty, Ted Weager, Bungy Mark Williams and soon to be New Zealand bound, Steve MacMillan.
We experimented with a little light entertainment in the shape of nautical raconteur Shep Woolley. Good as he was it didn't really work. There was too much serious dit spinning to be had!
In 2007 that we were contacted by a lady called Susie Dixon. Susie was the daughter of Lt Cdr Bryce Clinkard who just happened to be the OOW on the cruiser when it was torpedoed off the coast of Tunisia which led to the ships eventual sinking. The ship was part of Operation Pedestal.
Her father died in 2007 and his wishes were for his ashes to be placed in the wreck. Could we help? We gave Susie a list of our contacts who may have been able to help and she furnished us with progress reports until just after it was mission accomplished and her father was in his final resting place. Susie wrote a very nice letter thanking us for our help and support. Enclosed was a cheque for £250.00
We also featured a dit about two of our new joiners who quickly enhanced their reputation. Bungy Mark Williams (Cheshire) and Whisky Haigh (Dumbarton)…..Having arrived in Nelson in the early part of the afternoon before the Re-union, and having got their passes, parking and pits sorted, they decided to go for a bimble in the Dockyard. Suddenly as if by magic, a familiar shape appeared before them…the "Mighty Manch"! In no time at all our two heroes were up the gangway and in no time at all plus 2, had secured themselves a call round in the PO's Mess! Well done fellas, that's just the initiative we expect our shipmates to display!
And, to prove the jokes don't get any better!......
Tiffy Torment
The voluptuous young instructor at the Engineering Artificers' School at HMS Sultan reminded the Tiffy trainees of tomorrow's final exam.
"Now listen to me, I won't tolerate any excuses for you not being here tomorrow. I might consider a nuclear attack or a serious personal injury, but that's it, no other excuses whatsoever!"
A smart-arsed Tiff (is there such a thing!) at the back of the room raised his hand and asked, "What would happen if I came in tomorrow suffering from complete and utter sexual exhaustion?"
The entire class was reduced to laughter and sniggering. When silence was restored, the instructor smiled knowingly at the student, shook her head and sweetly said, "Well, I suppose you'd have to write the exam with your other hand!"
Buzz No 7 - hit the streets at the end of September 2008, at the end of a year that was for 2MA very successful. Our membership had increased to 178, with 25 new joiners in the last year. We attributed this to the website, which included an article of the cruiser Manchester which was well received by the boys in the original Manchester Association, and strengthened our common bond with them.
Talking of the cruiser and somewhat interestingly, readers of said last years' Buzz may recall we did an article on Bryce Clinkard who was the OOW when the cruiser was torpedoed on the 13th August 1942. As is being revealed, there is more to old Clinkers than meets the eye. Evidently, he was also heavily into driving racing cars as well as warships, so much so he actually owned a racing car back in the days when the average matelot didn't even own a bike! The car in question was, and still is, a green 1950s 4.5 litre Alvis. Evidently it has been on display in Stuttgart for the last 10 years (must have run out of fuel on the Nurburgring!) but has recently been brought back to the UK and is now on display at Brooklands Motor Museum at Weybridge, Surrey. The intention is to restore the car to racing condition and race it at a future Goodwood Festival of Speed - an annual event for pedigree vintage racing machines. How do we know all this? The current owners contacted 2MA - who else? - to see if we had any info on the descendants of Bryce Clinkard. We duly put them in contact with Susie Dixon, who so generously donated to our cause last year.
