27th Reunion Report - May 2009
On a superb May bank holiday weekend the 27th Ardent reunion got underway. Some had traveled down on Thursday and were able to attend the memorial on the Hoe for the customary wreath laying and words of remembrance said by John Foster.
Friday was the day most arrived and started to meet up in various locations in town. The "Clipper" this year was the main focus during the day and Tom the Landlord looked after us by providing a good array of sandwiches. He also donated 2 limited edition prints for our raffle, which were very welcome. Those that stayed a little longer even got a free drink - so many thanks to Tom for his contributions.
Later in the evening we met up in the St Levan Inn as usual and Paul again was the perfect mien host. He has commissioned a large print of the Ardent that many of you will have seen in the pub that he had done for the 25th with 2 poems - one for 1982 and the other for 2007. He has had it framed and encased in Perspex with a plaque saying "Donated by the HMS Ardent Association and St Levan Inn". This will be presented to HMS Raleigh to be permanently displayed in the new "Ardent" accommodation block, which we expect to be completed in October 2009. He also provided chip butties that were devoured by hungry Ardents! A new(ish) face that turned up was Brian Gowland who only contacted me a few days before and decided to come down from Bude to see who remembered him. Hopefully he had a good evening of reminiscing.
Saturday morning as usual saw the merry band of helpers rig the mess and the church ready for the main service of remembrance and the reunion. Lord and Lady West were unfortunately delayed by massive traffic jams and missed both lunch with Admiral Snow (FOST) and the service. They did, however, make the reunion and were duly reported to the MAA for defaulters (the punishment has yet to be announced). 150 attended the service, which was conducted by Rev. Mike Brotherton who gave a dramatic account of the time line of the Falklands conflict and his theme was based on "greater love hath no man than to lay his life down for others". He did this by relating his visits to the Islands and demonstrating the improvements to the lives and fortunes of the Islanders because of the sacrifices of our men. This did cause a few tears in the congregation but was a powerful reminder of why we hold our reunions and focus on the service of remembrance so much. David Searle read the gospel and I stood in for the Admiral to read the Roll of Honour. T.S. Ardent led by Lt. David Thickett were as smart and cheerful as ever and again provided a guard of honour to welcome us in to church. They also acted as ushers and collected the money for our charity.
Download a full size copy of this photograph in the members area
The evening social got off to a cracking start with many donations for the 2 raffles that were held this year. I gave my usual address to welcome the families of the fallen which included the Hansons, Armstrongs and McAulays. We also had Martin Jones from America and surprise visitors from Australia of Tony and Maureen Collyer. Tony was supposed to relieve Tony Ray, this was obviously postponed but Tony Collyer wants to know what happened to the PLR (Permanent Loan Record!!). Lord West gave his welcome address and related a story of when he was asked to become a Lord; he said to Lady West that she was now 3 times a Lady! Her reply was that she was a lady before she met him! Richie did a group photo of all the Ardents attending and this is on the web site and can be downloaded if anyone wants a copy. Tot time went down very well with many ladies having their first ever tot. Some did proclaim that it tasted like lavatory cleaner - how do they know?? Jan Joyce donated a bottle of rum and overall £200.00 was collected by him and Dave Serrell to give £80.00 towards the funds.
The food was next and I am glad to say was complimented on by several people. It was lovely and hot, fresh and tasty and a credit to the mess chefs. The cheese boards seemed to go down especially well although the profiteroles looked superb. This was followed by the raffles. Theresa did a great job collecting £557.00 from our generous members. The usual raffle went smoothly and the prizes were nicely spread around. Our special raffle was because Steve Jackson had donated a decanter engraved with the Ardent crest and a plinth inscribed with the names of the fallen plus a message of remembrance. We also had an anonymous donation of a freshly painted crest, which arrived in the post and an Ardent Zippo lighter from the Gulf trip of 1980/81. Yorky Cunningham won the lighter drawn by Lady West, Yorky drew out Steve Jacksons ticket for the crest which was exactly what he wanted and just reward for his donation. John Singleton won the decanter and he presented it to the Johnsons who were over the moon. As a reward they bought the lighter from Yorky for John who collects them, so all in all everyone was happy! The disco was again good and there was plenty of time to shake a wicked hoof with many of the ladies pleased to dance with the Admiral. The bar stayed open until 1 a.m. and it was 2 a.m. before Frank Walmsley was poured in to a taxi!
A glorious Sunday morning welcomed the boat trip aficionados; T.S. Ardent almost missed the boat due to the traffic diversions caused by the Plymouth half marathon. The boat this year was managed by Kim Johnson and Pete Cooper as Jon Major was unable to attend. They managed to collect enough money to pay for the boat and donate £150.00 for the funds. It was then off to the St Levan Inn for the lunchtime get together, I must say there were a few baggy heads (Nigel Woods seemed the worst) and the chatter was subdued but another great meal from Paul and his team set everyone up again. Richie had managed to get to Boots and had a small album of photos to show from the weekend and can be seen on the web site. Tim Sumner managed to turn up after many years working weekends on the railways so it was good to see him. A couple of hours later and T.S. Ardent started to make their way back to Macclesfield sent of by 3 cheers from the Ardents. As we started to drift away, some to stay for a week others for the rest of the day it was the end of another successful reunion. Please share your own photographs of the weekend in the members gallery area.
