HMS Ajax RPVA for £20 Per Person Or Through the "Donate" Button on June Newsletter

H.M.S. Ajax & River Plate Veterans Association NEWSLETTER

MARCH 2016 CONTENTS Chairman's Remarks Newsletter Editor's Remarks Membership Secretary's Report Battle of Cape Matapan 75th Anniversary – Clive Sharplin Uncle Pat – Stuart Birrell Captain Mackenzie - Obituary Gordon Humpleby – Peter Danks 25th Anniversary River Plate – Vic Wilson Eric Maycock Papers Car Sticker & Pens – Mike Fox Archivist Update News from Town of Ajax – Colleen Jordan Memories - Dave Forrest Ireland's Own – Malcolm Collis More Memories – John Hitchen River Plate FAQs

NEC QUISQUAM NISI AJAX 2. 3. H.M.S. AJAX & RIVER PLATE VETERANS ASSOCIATION. CHAIRMAN/SECRETARY ARCHIVIST/WEBMASTER/ Peter Danks NEWSLETTER EDITOR 104 Kelsey Avenue Malcolm Collis Southbourne The Bewicks, Station Road Emsworth Ten Mile Bank, Hampshire PO10 8NQ Norfolk PE38 0EU Tel: 01243 371947 Tel: 01366 377945 [email protected] [email protected] The congregation MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE TREASURER/ SECRETARY STANDARD BEARER included the First Sea MEMBER Lord, 2 Admirals of Mrs Judi Collis John (Vic) Wilson Alf Larkin Lime Kiln Cottage the Fleet, 8 Admirals, The Bewicks, Station Road 9 Ashleigh Avenue Ten Mile Bank 2 Easton Lane 40 Vice Admirals, 9 Norfolk PE38 0EU Egham Portland Commodores, 15 Tel: 01366 377945 Surrey TW20 8LB Dorset DT5 1BW Captains and 7 Mobile: 07736 929641 Tel: 01784 439630 Tel: 01305 457259 Commanders, all [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] serving or retired. Peter and Alan are top www.hmsajax.org left. CHAIRMAN'S REMARKS I hope all our members had a most enjoyable and illness free Christmas and New Year holiday. Certainly in the South we have enjoyed a pretty mild winter but I am sure some of you will have NEWSLETTER EDITOR’S REMARKS enjoyed the winter snow. A huge thank you to all the contributors – without the material there would be no Newsletter. A plea to you all, if 2016 will see the Association changing its annual format and I do hope the change will enable you to you have something interesting to share please put pen to paper and send it in. get to as many of the events as possible. Holding an event in Staffordshire will allow members living The NMA event will be upon us very soon – if you haven't let me know you are coming please do so urgently as in the North to join us for one of our events. I need to book with the NMA. Herewith a copy of the email I sent out earlier: On April 9th we will be holding a Remembrance Service followed by lunch at the National Memorial “Dear All Arboretum near Lichfield, with the Service around the Association Memorial starting at 1200. Lunch Regarding the Memorial event at the National Memorial Arboretum in April and my earlier circulations on this will then follow at 1300 in one of the marquees on site. This will provide an opportunity for those subject. Thank you to those who did respond - the numbers are not great but we have decided to continue with members who were unable to attend the Dedication two years ago to see the wonderful memorial the day. which has been created next to the Falklands Islands Memorial in the Royal Navy area of the site. The Memorial event will be held on Saturday 9th April 2016 at the NMA (Croxall Road, Alrewas, Staffordshire There will be time either before the service or after the lunch to look around the wonderful arboretum. DE13 7AR Tele. 01283 245100 www.thenma.org.uk) If you have not yet been in touch with Malcolm, please do so as soon as possible as he needs to submit The site is open from 9am until 5pm - no admission fee but £3 for the car park including disabled spaces. numbers for the lunch. A memorial service will be held around The Battle of the River Plate Memorial at 1200hrs before making our way back to the Rose Room (now moved to one of the pods) for 1300hrs for luncheon (2 course). The cost will Later in the summer, Malcolm and Nigel Masters are co-ordinating the visit to Canada to mark the 40th be £20. anniversary of the frigate visit to the town. This will allow time either before or afterwards, or both, to visit the rest of the site - well worth a visit. The On Saturday 1st October, the annual dinner will be held at the Royal Beach Hotel at Southsea – a very centre provides, at a cost, a land train (£4.50) or buggy tour (£5) and I can probably arrange a guided walking popular venue for the 75th anniversary lunch held in 2014. The AGM will be held at the hotel at 1630, tour if there was enough interest - please let me know. The NMA also hire mobility scooters that should be pre- with Up Spirits at 1830 and dinner at 1900. booked. There will be a 4 course meal, with tea/coffee There are various accommodation nearby - Judi & I have booked the Friday & Saturday night at the Premier and mints and the cost will be £35 which will Inn Lichfield North East A38 Hotel which is attached to the Fradley Arms with bar & restaurant and is close to include a drink for the loyal toast. the NMA. Application forms for the Dinner and If you wish to attend please send me a cheque (Malcolm Collis The Bewicks, Station Road, Ten Mile Bank, Accommodation will be published with the Norfolk PE38 0EU) made payable to HMS Ajax RPVA for £20 per person or through the "donate" button on June newsletter. Please put this date in your our web page. diary. Please let me have the following details: On the 20th January, Alan Phillips and I Attendee full name attended a Service of Thanksgiving for the Guests full name and relationship life and work of Admiral Sir Peter Charles Any dietary requirements for the above Abbot GBE KCB, who had been Captain of the frigate, at the Portsmouth Cathedral. The Assistance to/from memorial Yes/No - a distance of approx 300 metres. service was very well attended with many I shall circulate further details nearer the time senior Royal Navy Officers, past and present Regards” in attendance. Numbers are so far disappointing so if you can make it please support your Association. 2. 3. H.M.S. AJAX & RIVER PLATE VETERANS ASSOCIATION. CHAIRMAN/SECRETARY ARCHIVIST/WEBMASTER/ Peter Danks NEWSLETTER EDITOR 104 Kelsey Avenue Malcolm Collis Southbourne The Bewicks, Station Road Emsworth Ten Mile Bank, Hampshire PO10 8NQ Norfolk PE38 0EU Tel: 01243 371947 Tel: 01366 377945 [email protected] [email protected] The congregation MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE TREASURER/ SECRETARY STANDARD BEARER included the First Sea MEMBER Lord, 2 Admirals of Mrs Judi Collis John (Vic) Wilson Alf Larkin Lime Kiln Cottage the Fleet, 8 Admirals, The Bewicks, Station Road 9 Ashleigh Avenue Ten Mile Bank 2 Easton Lane 40 Vice Admirals, 9 Norfolk PE38 0EU Egham Portland Commodores, 15 Tel: 01366 377945 Surrey TW20 8LB Dorset DT5 1BW Captains and 7 Mobile: 07736 929641 Tel: 01784 439630 Tel: 01305 457259 Commanders, all [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] serving or retired. Peter and Alan are top www.hmsajax.org left. CHAIRMAN'S REMARKS I hope all our members had a most enjoyable and illness free Christmas and New Year holiday. Certainly in the South we have enjoyed a pretty mild winter but I am sure some of you will have NEWSLETTER EDITOR’S REMARKS enjoyed the winter snow. A huge thank you to all the contributors – without the material there would be no Newsletter. A plea to you all, if 2016 will see the Association changing its annual format and I do hope the change will enable you to you have something interesting to share please put pen to paper and send it in. get to as many of the events as possible. Holding an event in Staffordshire will allow members living The NMA event will be upon us very soon – if you haven't let me know you are coming please do so urgently as in the North to join us for one of our events. I need to book with the NMA. Herewith a copy of the email I sent out earlier: On April 9th we will be holding a Remembrance Service followed by lunch at the National Memorial “Dear All Arboretum near Lichfield, with the Service around the Association Memorial starting at 1200. Lunch Regarding the Memorial event at the National Memorial Arboretum in April and my earlier circulations on this will then follow at 1300 in one of the marquees on site. This will provide an opportunity for those subject. Thank you to those who did respond - the numbers are not great but we have decided to continue with members who were unable to attend the Dedication two years ago to see the wonderful memorial the day. which has been created next to the Falklands Islands Memorial in the Royal Navy area of the site. The Memorial event will be held on Saturday 9th April 2016 at the NMA (Croxall Road, Alrewas, Staffordshire There will be time either before the service or after the lunch to look around the wonderful arboretum. DE13 7AR Tele. 01283 245100 www.thenma.org.uk) If you have not yet been in touch with Malcolm, please do so as soon as possible as he needs to submit The site is open from 9am until 5pm - no admission fee but £3 for the car park including disabled spaces. numbers for the lunch. A memorial service will be held around The Battle of the River Plate Memorial at 1200hrs before making our way back to the Rose Room (now moved to one of the pods) for 1300hrs for luncheon (2 course). The cost will Later in the summer, Malcolm and Nigel Masters are co-ordinating the visit to Canada to mark the 40th be £20. anniversary of the frigate visit to the town. This will allow time either before or afterwards, or both, to visit the rest of the site - well worth a visit. The On Saturday 1st October, the annual dinner will be held at the Royal Beach Hotel at Southsea – a very centre provides, at a cost, a land train (£4.50) or buggy tour (£5) and I can probably arrange a guided walking popular venue for the 75th anniversary lunch held in 2014. The AGM will be held at the hotel at 1630, tour if there was enough interest - please let me know. The NMA also hire mobility scooters that should be pre- with Up Spirits at 1830 and dinner at 1900. booked. There will be a 4 course meal, with tea/coffee There are various accommodation nearby - Judi & I have booked the Friday & Saturday night at the Premier and mints and the cost will be £35 which will Inn Lichfield North East A38 Hotel which is attached to the Fradley Arms with bar & restaurant and is close to include a drink for the loyal toast. the NMA. Application forms for the Dinner and If you wish to attend please send me a cheque (Malcolm Collis The Bewicks, Station Road, Ten Mile Bank, Accommodation will be published with the Norfolk PE38 0EU) made payable to HMS Ajax RPVA for £20 per person or through the "donate" button on June newsletter. Please put this date in your our web page. diary. Please let me have the following details: On the 20th January, Alan Phillips and I Attendee full name attended a Service of Thanksgiving for the Guests full name and relationship life and work of Admiral Sir Peter Charles Any dietary requirements for the above Abbot GBE KCB, who had been Captain of the frigate, at the Portsmouth Cathedral. The Assistance to/from memorial Yes/No - a distance of approx 300 metres. service was very well attended with many I shall circulate further details nearer the time senior Royal Navy Officers, past and present Regards” in attendance. Numbers are so far disappointing so if you can make it please support your Association. 4. 5.

Likewise, arrangements for the Canada trip in 'No ship other than Ajax' August to mark the 40th anniversary of the After leaving the Royal Navy, he joined The City of Bradford Police where he met his wife Betty, a Frigate's visit are progressing and if you are fellow police officer. They married in 1960 and had two sons, Philip and Peter. Ken retired from the thinking of going please contact me or Nigel Police Force after 30 years of service at age 53. He then took a post with the National Health Services Masters for details of flights and the hotel deal. and worked for another 12 years before finally retiring. Debbie Steer in Ajax is putting together a fun- Byram Downs Street in Ajax was dedicated on 9th September 2010. packed itinerary around the planned Town of Ajax The donations at Betty's funeral went to NARPO (Police charity) and Ken's to The HMS Ajax events over the weekend of 26th – 28th. Again, Association. We have received a generous cheque. Many thanks to all the Byram family. numbers are low so please support your This picture of Ken and Betty was taken by Cliff Hoppe at our reunion in 2011. Association if you can. Dr George Jefferson Ajax visits Toronto 1976 (Alan Phillips) George lived with his wife Sylvia in Rotherhithe London. He served on board Ajax from 1946-47. I received his subs in January 2014 but not heard from him in 2015 – following some internet 'research' before Christmas I came across an item and have confirmed that he crossed the bar on 15th January MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY'S UPDATE 2014 followed by Sylvia on 16th February a month later.

Sadly I have to report upon the death of four members and one associate member. Our thoughts and Lawrence “Lawrie” William John Harper prayers are with them and their families. Please let us know if you are aware of any member crossing Lawrie served on board Ajax from 1937-40 and so was one of our 'Plate Veterans'. Harper Hill Drive the bar and we will do our best to represent the Association in order to pay our respects. This year our in the town of Ajax honours this. I reported at the reunion that I hadn't had any contact with him for a annual memorial service is going to be held at the NMA around our memorial on 9th April. The names few years but believed him to be still with us, which was true at the time but sadly he crossed the bar on of our members that have crossed the bar, since our service in October, will be read out. We hope many 27th November. Cliff Hoppe, Malcolm and I attended his funeral. Cliff had met up with Lawrie in of you will be able to attend to pay your respects to them and all our other veterans from previous years 2011 and he wrote an article entitled “A Small World” for the newsletter. Lawrie told him about his two commissions on board Ajax including Matapan and Dunkirk, although my records only show the Crossed the Bar first commission leading up to The Battle of The River Plate. Cliff remembers him being amazing for his age (then 92) and really enjoyed their chat. Wally Freer Lawrie has three sons and lived with his Wally was an Able Seaman on board Ajax from 1942 to 1943. He has a street named after him in the namesake Lawrie and Daughter-in-law Monica. Town of Ajax, Freer Crescent. I have been sending newsletters to him and his wife Romayne by email to Monica said she enjoyed the newsletters. Son the Isle of Anglesey but hadn't had any contact lately. In December I came across this obituary on the Neville said there is a bit of an 'enigma' about his internet: dad's war years and he often had dark moments Defence Police Federation - Retired member Wally Freer died on 14th March 2015 and his funeral when he didn't want to remember those times, so service was held on Wednesday 8th April at Park Crematorium, Aldershot, Hampshire GU12 4BP. very rarely spoke to his family about them. For many years Wally served at Farnborough as a Control Room Operator and was a member of the Neville has now joined us as an Associate DPF Southern Region Committee and later represented Southern Region on the Management member and has applied for his father's service Committee. history and hopes to fill in some of the gaps. When During the Farnborough Air shows Wally helped with the welfare arrangements for the large number of we chatted to the family after the service, Cliff officers deployed on detached duty from around the Country. was able to show one of the granddaughters a map Wally was a founder member of the Retired Officers Association serving as Secretary from 1989 to showing Harper Hill Drive, she was unaware of 1992. In retirement he moved to the Isle of Anglesey but upon being diagnosed with cancer in our link with the Town of Ajax. September 2014 he returned to the Aldershot area and passed away peacefully in a local Hospice. Wally is survived by his wife Romayne. New members Kenneth and Betty Byram We have two new Frigate members and one Associate member to welcome aboard. Kenneth (Yorky), Betty and son Philip have been regular attendees at our reunions. Betty and Philip have been Michael Charles Barclay lives in New Deer in Aberdeenshire Scotland. He served on board the Associate members since before Malcolm and I became frigate from March 1975 to August 77, so is one of the 76 group that visited the Town of Ajax forty membership secretary. I reported in October that they years ago. From his service record below it looks like Michael was fairly busy. were unable to attend due to ill health but Ken was HMS Ganges September - October 74 looking forward to being mobile again in 2016 and able HMS Mercury October 74 - March 75 to join us. Sadly this was not to be; Betty passed away on HMS Ajax March 75 - August 77 September 16th and Kenneth joined her on November HMS Cochrane August 77 - August 79 20th. Pitreavie FOSNI August 77 - August 79 Ken joined the Royal Navy on 1st July 1942 and went to HMS Kingfisher August 79 - April 81 HMS Raleigh for training and then was drafted to Ajax on HMS Cochrane April 81 - April 82 21st September, making Leading Seaman in February 44. Pitreavie FOSNI April 81 - April 82 He served as the Quartermaster under the Officer of the Watch and he greatly enjoyed that part of his HMS Guernsey April 82 - September 83 duties. He returned to Chatham in July 45 and was demobbed on 7th September 1946. His motto was HMS Neptune - Faslane September 83 - April 85 4. 5.