We held our February meeting as a ‘white table’ event where wives, partners and friends were welcome to come along and enjoy a night out at the Tickton Grange Hotel.
The white table event was enjoyed by all those attending, and we received a talk by our own W Bro Tim Haley on his 31 years in the Royal Navy. The talk was very interesting, charting Tim’s career and the various venues and characters that he had met upon the way, noting the discipline instilled in the crew members which was essential for life on board ship. Tim described the development of the facilities on board and the changes since his first ship, commissioned in 1943, to the later bigger ships he served on such as HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible. We all gained an invaluable insight into Tim’s career and service and the foibles of life in the navy and of the great and good, who sometimes should know better! W Bro Tim retired at the rank of Lt Commander.
We also learned at first instance, the bosun’s pipe to get the ratings up in the morning and to lights out at night, and now we know the origin of the phrase ‘pipe down’.
W Bro Lt Commander (Ret’d) Tim Haley piping down!