New Chums – HMS Conway – 9/9/69

Exactly 47 years ago today, I arrived at HMS Conway, next to the Menai Strait and close to the infamous village of Lllanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, or Llanfair PG as we preferred to call it.

This was where I completed my final five years of education. There is so much that I could say about my time on board what had become, by then, a concrete frigate, but a lot has been written already by much greater writers than myself, including John Masefield, who also attended the same naval school. Before anybody is cheeky enough to ask, the answer is, “Yes. he was before my time!”

Here I am with four other new chums, on my first day in front of the figurehead, which now stands by the gates of HMS Nelson in Portsmouth, and in front of the main building.

HMS Conway (1969) – L to R: Smith, Greenfield, Lyon, Bell, Cook

L to R: Tony Bell (Hong Kong), George Cook (Buckie), Edwin Lyon (Bournemouth), Lance Greenfield (Perth and Sheffield), Neil Smith (Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain)

 

HMS Conway on the Menai Strait in front of Plas Newydd