16. extent of the 2000 floods – many of you will remember the story of the girl who gave birth in H.M.S. Ajax & River Plate Veterans the top of a tree. Association From the capital Maputo we headed into Swaziland before dropping back into South Africa calling in at Richards Bay, Durban and East London on route to see friends at Port Alfred. Following a week in a real bed we headed north for Johannesburg and into the Kruger National Park. We hadn't intended visiting Zimbabwe but our conversations with various NEWSLETTER travellers suggested it was now safe with fuel readily available. Having replaced the Zimbabwean dollar with US dollars had made all the difference. However, this did mean our One Hundred Trillion Dollar note was now obsolete but don't worry, that would have only paid for a loaf of bread! We were really glad we did visit. We travelled to the northern part camping once again on the banks of the Zambezi before heading west to Lake Kariba JUNE 2011 spending a couple of days in a national park there. Across to Hwange Park and then south down through Bulawayo and into the Matopes Park where Cecil Rhodes is buried in the rock on top of a large rock formation. In the park we came across a memorial to the MOTHS which CONTENTS turned out to be in honour of those military personnel who had survived various conflicts. We eventually found out that MOTHS stood for 'Member Of The Tin Hats' and it was quite fitting Chairman/Editor’s Remarks that we by chance were there at 11am on 11th November. River Plate Veterans’ Association 75th River Plate Anniversary Membership Secretary’s Update & Recent Birthdays Overdue Honour for River Plate Veteran Memories of the Battle – Tony Sheridan HMS AJAX – association with Halifax, Yorkshire Pictures of the Cruiser Pictures of the Frigate activities Poster for HMS AJAX visit to Ajax 25th August 1976 African Adventure Rescuing a stuck lorry in Zimbabwe To be continued NEC QUISQUAM NISI AJAX 2. 15. H.M.S. AJAX & RIVER PLATE VETERANS ASSOCIATION. CHAIRMAN/SECRETARY ARCHIVIST NEWSLETTER EDITOR John Hitchen At Bagamoyo we again saw the sea but this time the Indian Ocean. Bagamoyo, now a sleepy Peter Danks 25 Arundel Avenue little town, used to be the main trading port in East Africa with thousands of slaves passing 104 Kelsey Avenue East Ewell through in exchange for spices. We headed to Dar es Saalam with the intention of catching a Southbourne Surrey KT17 2RF ferry across to Zanzibar. The heavens opened as we entered Dar but we soon crossed over the Emsworth Tel: 02082 247757 river by the city ferry to the south side to camp up for a few days before putting the Land Hampshire PO10 8NQ [email protected] Rover in storage and taking the 2 hour catamaran ride to Stone Town, the old port of Zanzibar. Tel: 01243 371947 We stayed for 4 nights hiring a car and touring the island before returning to Dar es Salaam [email protected] and making our way north to the Serengeti Park and on to Lake Victoria, the largest African MEMBERSHIP lake. This was to be the furthest north we would go on this trip as we now intended travelling TREASURER Malcolm Collis south down to Malawi. Alf Larkin ‘Glenmorag’ 5 Cockles Way Little Coxwell Weymouth Faringdon We stopped off at Lake Malawi, the third largest in Africa before crossing into Malawi with a Dorset DT4 9LT Oxfordshire SN7 7LW very easy crossing – through in 10 minutes. Although Malawi is one of the smaller African Tel: 01305 775553 Tel: 01376 240832 countries, dominated by its lake, we spent about 4 weeks there alternating between the lake [email protected] [email protected] and the Highlands before heading west into Mozambique at the end of August. CHAIRMAN’S/EDITOR’S REMARKS I am grateful for those members who have sent me articles for this newsletter. Keep your articles coming. Annual Subscriptions Members who may have overlooked sending their subscriptions through to Malcolm, could they please do so on receipt of this newsletter. A red sticker will indicate those who may be outstanding. Annual Reunion The application form for this year's reunion – 5th and 6th October – is forwarded with this newsletter.Following the procedure which was adopted last year where you can submit your application for accommodation and make payment for dinner on the same form, we are repeating this again for 2011. There is a slight increase in the cost of the meal taking into account the rise in VAT. There will be an “Up Spirits” prior to the Dinner similar to last year's event which proved very popular with those attending. One of the better bridges in Malawi Annual General Meeting We spent the first night at the busy town of Tete once again camping on the banks of the The AGM will be held on Thursday 6th October at the King Charles Hotel after the Church Zambezi before heading down through Mozambique to the coast. We intended visiting Biera Service. It is intended to publish the agenda in the September newsletter – if any member has but having lingered longer than intended at Gorongosa National Park we forgo the detour and any item they wish to be discussed, please forward to me by 1st August with any instead ended up at Inhassora on the coast and made our way south along the coast road to accompanying comment in support of the item. Nomination of officers of the Association Vilancolus. Here we took a dhow (small sailing boat) trip out to the small island of Magarique would also be welcome, with a seconder. Please send your nominations by email to me or by for the day, although they did cheat and use the engine to get us back on time! At one campsite phone. right in the dunes we had brilliant close-up views of humpback whales coming here to give birth and breed. Crossing over the Limpopo River at Xai-Xai we were shocked to see the 3. 14. boats and consequently sea birds. The idea is to sail to the fishing grounds and find a trawler The River Plate Veterans and Families Association with its attendant thousands of albatrosses of many species and the literature says the rougher I am grateful to Jim Smith for the following information. His Association will be holding the weather the better! Unfortunately the skipper couldn't find any trawlers so we didn't their 2011 Reunion over the weekend of 28-30 October in Plymouth and this will coincide witness the spectacle of the thousands of birds picking off the discarded fish offal as they are with their affiliated ship – HMS DIAMOND – visiting Devonport. If you would like to attend cleaned on board. We did put out our own chum, a mash of smelly fish, and pulled in a few please contact him for an application form on [email protected] or 01302 841806. albatrosses of a couple of species but by mid-afternoon we made our way back to shore with Their dinner on the 29th October will be onboard HMS DIAMOND; however numbers are breathtaking views of Cape Point high above us and fur seals all around us. very limited. Please contact Jim by 31st August 2011. Eventually we had our vehicle ready for the expedition and left on 1st March heading north. We cut across to Port Nolloth on the west coast and on up to Alexander Bay right on the 75th River Plate Anniversary Namibian border before camping on the flooded Orange River. From here we headed into Botswana and on up to the north to the, also in flood, Chobe River. A day trip into Zimbabwe Your Committee members met recently and the question of how the Association should to visit the mighty Victoria Falls on the Zambezi saw us getting soaked due to the amount of celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the River Plate in 3 years time was discussed. The spray from the very full Falls. Back into Botswana for another couple of weeks before Committee would be pleased to receive ideas from anyone who has any brilliant ideas. One crossing into Zambia late April; the ferry across the flooded Zambezi at Kazungula was suggestion was to somehow link in with the final Astute Class submarine which is to be called interesting but nothing compared to the actual border crossing. We camped at Livingstone on 'Ajax' in the hope that the Keel Laying ceremony may coincided with 2014. As a result of this the Zambezi before heading north for a few days on the shores of Lake Kariba. Built in 1950's Malcolm Collis emailed the Minister of Defence and received the following response: by damming the Zambezi, the lake is the largest man-made lake in southern Africa; 150 miles long and up to 25 miles wide. We slowly made our way through Zambia, having been joined “Dear Mr Collis by our 13 year old granddaughter for a fortnight, and detoured back down to show her the Your point of contact for future reference is Navy PR. You will be aware that we are not now Victoria Falls and take a helicopter trip over them. In Lusaka we said goodbye to able to actively lead on many of the anniversaries, however we would be very interested to granddaughter & headed up to Lake Tanganyika As part of the Rift Valley this lake is the hear in the future if the Association comes up with a plan, which we can then scope on your second largest in Africa after Lake Victoria & the second deepest in the world after Lake behalf for possible Service involvement.