Undeterred, our gullible gunner was then enticed across Sydney Harbour to Manly and the delights of the infamous Blow Wave (!) night club, for an evening of alcohol induced social confusement! Getting back though, proved much more hazardous for our gunnery guru, who chose to ignore the tides, the known sharks and set out to swim the seven miles back to Sydney! He didn't get far before being fished out the oggin by a passing cross harbour ferry! That's some run ashore when you loose your ID card and your dosh, and nearly lose your virginity and your life! Now domiciled in Woolloomooloo - trying saying that after a few scoops - near Sydney. Luke is just about to crack a 20 stretch with the RAN and says it's great living in Australia, especially when you support a winning cricket team...England! He heard about the 2nd HMS Manchester Association from another Aussie matelot.
Steve MacMILLAN
Joined 23rd June 2007
Mac packed a great deal into the 6 month period he spent on the "Mighty Manch" - swimming trunks, sunbins, click click bed and bronzy cream to name but a few! A trainee member of "helo's R us" under the wing (?) of the urbane (!) Mick Mortimore, Mac successfully eluded King Neptune's police at the crossing the line ceremony en-route to Mombers only to be subsequently arrested by those with good memories and a hatred of Tiffs in Portland Harbour, 3 months later, where he received the necessary gunking and dunking, and where our hero was quick to notice the 'oggin was close to nought degrees even if he wasn't!! Now shortly to deploy to Auckland to join the Royal New Zealand Air Force - another group of aero enthusiasts - and one that is even smaller than Buster's Fleet Air Arm!!! Good luck Mac!!...but remember you'll still be a Wafoo!!
Darren "Daz" MAJOR
Graham "Pincher" MARTIN
Andy "Dan" MASKILL
(Andrea)
87 - 90
Dan was yet another bunting tosser who enjoyed a three year stint onboard between 87-90. Among his claims to fame is that he was in the party of matelots who got a call round to the Vatican from Pope John Paul II, and he was one of the "lucky" ones who got a "call the hands" from the Prime Minister when Maggie Thatcher visited us in the Gulf. Andy, who lives in Leeds, is a big Leeds United fan, so please, no taking the pxss when they get relegated again this year!!! Heard about the Association via Google.
Steve "Stan" MATTHEWS
Joined 6th September 2008
82 - 85
Steve Matthews joined Pusser UK Ltd as an OD Gunner in 1981, and in the time it takes to spot a 4.5 turret, he was on the Mighty Manch presenting Fire Extinguishers for Evening Rounds and popping down to Kellett's Kave - the Main Naval Store - for such items as long waits, spirit level bubbles and fallopian tubing!!! His most memorable run ashore on D95 was West Palm Beach, Florida, on the way home from "Down South" where he experienced the American phenomena of being grippoed. This caused our hero to be well fed, well watered and well loved too!! A full career Gunner, Steve served 24 years before the breech and also made things go bang on Gloucester and Broadsword. More surprisingly, throughout his career, he never ever once went in the S H one T! On retirement, Gunner Goody Two Shoes got himself a cushy number with Flagship at Collingrad assisting in the training of the sailor of tomorrow - whose name just happens to be...Jack! Steve learned about the Association via Friends Re-united.
Stewart "Booker" MAYBERY
Joined 6th April 2013 (283)
John McGUIRE
Joined 20th April 2018 (330)
Alan McKENDRICK
Joined 4th July 2007
(Carmel)
Aug 85 - Jan 88
Alan was the flight SMR and another Global 86 vet! (Yawn!). A real sea going wafoo - he claims to have bronzied on the flight decks of Brazen, Andromeda, Monmouth and Broadsword - and one who nearly didn't make the run ashore in San Francisco on account of Amazon's pxss poor attempt to berth outboard of the Mighty Manch. More akin to a ramming than a berthing, the impact caused the folded tail of Manchester's Lynx to swing round and would have caught our aeronautical artisan a right unfortunate one had it not been for the swift intervention of one Connie Francis, who saved the day, and the wafoo with a timely shove!! This was much to the chagrin of the entire PO's Mess as Alan was responsible for moving aircraft lashing chains across the flight deck and frequently disturbing the sleep of those below. Now fully recovered and saving hard to buy Connie a beer, Alan lives in Lancashire with his wife Cara - who was a nurse at a certain Manchester Children's Hospital. Heard about the Association from Dave Childs, his predecessor onboard.
Sam McKEOWN
(Maura)
Andy McMAIN
Joined 18th February 2015 (307)
James McOUAT
Joined 02 September 2014 (302)
Dave MERRICK
(Liz)
Paul "Dusty" MILLER
Joined 3rd March 2021 (351)
Stephen MOFFATT
Joined 13th April 2012 (265)
Alan "Rattler" MORGAN
Joined 24th December 2014 (306)
Bill MORGAN
Michael "Mick" MORTIMORE
Re-Joined 26th July 2022 (365)
John "Larry" MOTTON
Joined 18th May 2014 (300)
Steve "Mourbs" MOURBY
Re-Joined 6th September 2022 (366)
John MULLEN
Joined 17th September 2008
82 -84 and 86 - 87
John Mullen - absolutely no relation to Bob / BTC whatsoever - did a ten year stint with Pusser UK Ltd during which time he enjoyed two drafts to the Might Manch - 82 - 84 and early 86 - late 87, which makes him yet another Global 86 veteran!! A member of an elite corps - the white mafia - John rates D95 as his best ship (the competition was Soberton, Coventry and some yacht now tied up in Leith) and Singapore as his best run ashore on account that his wife was with him and the keel was laid for a happy event nine months later! Leaving the mob in 1990, and inspired by his success as a member of the shore patrol in Darwin, John joined Hampshire Old Bill - his local crime fighting agency. Still with the Force 18 years later, our hero how runs a bed an breakfast facility complete with bars - not the type we like - for those who cannot behave themselves! As a respected crime fighter, we are, unfortunately, unable to identify the killick chef who was responsible for covering the front of HMS Mercury's Wardroom with silage in a less than successful major fire exercise 'cos John asked us not to!
Ian "Ned" NAYLOR
Ned Naylor joined Pusser UK in 1982 as a sprog RP and in a pensionable career, sailed the seven seas on Exeter, Jupiter, Montrose and Cardiff - interspersed by two drafts to that graceful greyhound of the globe - the Mighty Manch! (which immediately identifies him as a lucky b@stard!). He also cracked shxtloads of shore time at the Radar Ratings Rest Home, HMS Dryad. Joining D95 for the first time immediately after the infamous cruise of '86, and the subsequent torture of wall to wall global dits, our hero's own good run ashore recollections are naturally less exotic. However, he readily pays tribute to a Mr & Mrs Watson of Doha who grippoed half of Ned's mess and lashed them up an absolute stinker! (What nice folks!). This same mess also descended en-masse on the unsuspecting city of Nottingham en-route to a recording of a popular TV Quiz Show. Such was the fun and frolics of this run ashore, that Ned chose the pool table of the "General Gordon" public house to demonstrate the noble naval art of Zulu Warrior, which drew raptuous applause from an enthralled audience - stand fast the two guys playing pool at the time! Another of our motley band who likes to mingle with the criminal classes, Ned is now a Physical Education Instructor in the Prison Service. Evidently his role as a PTI in civvy deeks is all part of a new Home Office initiative to cut the number of incarcerated people and it works like this:-
PTI's make the prisoners fitter, when they are outside and back to a life of crime, it's easier for them to escape from the old bill! Less captures equals less court cases equals less convictions equals less prisoners equals less haute cuisine victualling, colour TV's, Blu-ray DVD's saunas and other prison creature comforts etc. equals less expense - End Result? Everyone's a winner! How good is that?!
Ned lives somewhere in the home counties - look out for Ned doing star jumps; at the bar at our next re-union - unless of course it's his round! He is chuffed to bits to be a founder member of the 2nd HMS Manchester Association.
Terry "Ernie" NORTHERN
Alison
Joined 30th April 2011 (245)
Barry NURSE
Re-Joined 19th May 2014 (301)
Chris O'DONNELL
Joined 31st May 2012 (275)
Neil "Ozzy" OSBORNE
Joined 16th February 2011 (236)
Dave PALETHORPE
Re-Joined 26th March 2019 (334)
Bob PAPE
Joined 6th July 2021 (360)
Terry PARTINGTON
(Tina)
James PATERSON
Joined 25th February 2021 (342)
Ian PERRYMAN
Adrian "Tom" PETTY
(Julie)
