Pete CURTIS
(Laura)
Barry CUTHBERT
Joined 25th February 2021 (343)
Dan DALY
(Sally)
John DARBY
Re-Joined 01 March 2016 (315)
Kim DARKER
Joined 24th June 2007
(Susan)
82 - 84
POWEA / CPOWEA - Kim joined the ship in Barrow where he was immediately assigned to the After 909 and an intensive training routine which involved attending the Bluey and 99 clubs every Tuesday and Thursday - with Wednesday reserved for make and mends and DTS's, etc.. Very much a club man, it was whilst visiting a similar establishment in West Palm Beach, Florida, that his attention was drawn to a distressed group of young delectables whose male stripper had failed to show. Quick as a flash our hero leapt into action and onto the stage and did the full Monty!! (Please, no jokes about the Dark(er) side of the moon!!) So good was our muscular maintainer of feminine morale, he proffed 75 bucks, (yes Bucks!) in the bargain!! Obviously there were no flies on Kim!
Neil "Taff" DAVID
Joined 24th February 2021 (340)
Craig "Jack" DAWES
Joined 15th May 2017 (324)
Chris "Happy" DAY
84 - 87
"Happy" was a killick Greenie - LWEM 84 - 87 in the Close Range Weapons team and another of the lucky few who cracked Global 86. Among the highlights of his time onboard was playing New Zealand at Rugby in Perth - the antipodean one - and getting well and truly stuffed by the Kiwis on the pitch, and proving in the bar afterwards that there is more to Rugby than passing an odd-shaped ball!!! Chris lives in Hull, and works for Pusser (UK) Limited as a recruiter.
Jonathan "Happy" DAY
94 - 95
"Happy" was a Pinky faggot and mattress tester onboard 94 -95 which included a Gulf Patrol. Highlights of his time onboard included a beach party in Rhodes, and he was another witness to the torpedo trials in Singers. Left the mob in 95 and is now residing in Bedfordshire (pinkies cannot get away from Beds!) with wife Samantha and son Thomas.
Alan DENHAM
92 - 94
Al Denham joined Pusser UK in 1975, and not wanting anything too strenuous he was immediately classed as suitable for training as a lamp tramp! and as a consequence in a pensionable career he tended the gangway lighting on Ark Royal, Tiger, Norfolk, Illustrious, (twice), Berwick, RFA Reliant, Shetland and his best ship....The Mighty Manch (92-94).
An expert at flooding ships without anyone getting wet, Al rates Sydney as his best D95 run ashore, with an honourable mention for the Ark's '76 States trip thrown in for good measure. A most charitable man, Al remembers the cycle ride from Campbeltown to Liverpool with Mick Whitehouse, Ian Sheridan, JC, Eddie Over and Brian Logan-Bridge - a relatively short distance by sea - 175 miles - but a hoofing 358 by road with a fist full of big hills thrown in for good measure?
Outside since 99, Al is an electrical contractor in the country of Cornwall, and lists among his hobbies rugby refereeing - an astute choice on account the players tend not to fall over in the slightest gust of wind, nor do they insist on refereeing the match for him! (How did that creep in!) Al is a founder member of 2MA, and treks up from the West Country for every re-union. Good man!
Jim DENNESS
Joined 7th January 2011 (234)
Stephen "Paddy" DERWIN
Joined 13th November 2009 (209)
86 - 88
Paddy Derwin joined "Ships R Us" at Ganges in 74 as a young sender of signals and in a 14 year career with the Pusser he drank coffee in the MCOs of Rhyl, Brighton and ye olde Rusty B, where he particularly enjoyed being detailed for Stores Party as the Stores Chief, was without doubt, an extremely fine fellow! Drafts to Hubberston and Napoli followed before he hit the jackpot with a draft to the Mighty Manch....and Global 86!! (Editorial note:- The b@stards are everywhere!) He fondly recalls a pacific island where he danced the hula hula in a grass skirt, whilst displaying his coconuts to an enthralled audience!, the delights of Singapore, and the sods opera in the Med. Outside since 88, he subsequently joined Avon and Somerset Police, where in a longer career, he managed to get and keep three stripes on his uniform, which is three more than he managed in the mob! Now working as a civvy with the Old Bill - ironically at a location known for it's world wide communicators - Portishead - Paddy learned about the 2nd HMS Manchester Association from surfing the web, and all about crime from visiting Scousers! He promises to bring a host of global dits to the next re-union!
John DIXON
Joined 2006
Ian DODD
(Rosie)
Joined 6th May 2012 (268)
Nigel DOWLAND
Joined 17th July 2017 (326)
Andy "Dutchy" DUCHESNE
Joined 3rd March 2021 (350)
Gary "Duds" DUDLEY
Michael "Cliff" EDGE
Joined 25th February 2021 (345)
Russell "Eppy" EPTON
Joined 4th July 2021 (359)
Craig "Crash" EVANS
Joined 20th June 2009 (203)
90 - 92
"Crash" Evans joined Pusser UK Limited for a nocturnal lifestyle in the gloom room and dormitories of Dark Royal, York and Invincibubble before Drafty saw the light and rewarded our hero with a draft to a real warship - the Mighty Manch, before Crash concluded his nine year wave topping career. A member of that infamous messdeck which included Joe Cocker, Tom Petty, Steve Mourby and Skid Wroe to name but a few, Crash was quick to nominate Singapore as his best run ashore, but could not remember why!! Fortunately, informed sources were able to shed light on a run ashore featuring Crash, two anonymous oppos, and a tri-shaw plus driver at said location. After a leisurely preamble from bar to bar in true colonial style, our ocean going ambassadors decided on a visit to a certain very famous hotel synonymous with fund raising tickets. Unfortunately, and this is the sad part of the dit, the word hotel was lost in translation and our trio found themselves at a somewhere less salubrious establishment featuring a red light and ladies wearing a smile and not a lot else! Not wanting to disappoint the local population or damage their own reputations, cock tales were soon the order of the day...allegedly! Now fully recovered from the various rides our hero embarked on that night, Crash is a Civil Engineer with interests in martial arts, and reminiscent of his exploits in the far flung - fly fishing too! Crash heard about the 2nd HMS Manchester Association from a guy he met in a pub. We heard all about Crash from.....that would be telling!
Jon "Jonny E" EVANS
Joined 25th February 2011 (240)
Matthew "Foggy" FAIRWEATHER
Joined 10th May 2016 (322)
Mick FARROW
Joined 23rd June 2007
March 86 - April 87
Mick was another holiday maker who travelled 3Q (Stoker) class as an LMEA on Global 86 (pause for yawn!) until such time as his social and professional skills had developed and he made it into the PO's Mess!! During the fourteen months he was onboard, he particularly recalls sitting at a beach bar in Tonga surrounded by wild boars - the four legged variety - watching the 'Mighty Manch' sail out to sea due to an incoming storm (you really know your worth when the ship pxsses off without you!!). He also remembers meeting up with a street fighter called Fijian Joe (you'll never guess where!), who was offering appendage operations which involved the insertion of pearls!!, and Yorkie Frain swimming back to the ship in an area known to be frequented by Australian salt water crocodiles!!! (Yorkie was of course perfectly safe, no self respecting "salty" was going to gobble up a dit spinning Global 86 sailor...that would be just too much to stomach!!). Mick also informs us that he got married one week before Global 86 and nearly divorced one week after!!! It was a good trip then?!
Jervis "J J" FIAHLO
Joined 20th June 2009 (204)
81 - 87
J.J. Fiahlo - Jervis to his intimate friends - joined Pusser UK Limited in the late 70's, and not wanting to be bothered with the rigours of working his way up to killick and beyond, he joined as a Direct Entry Tiff, and had to endure a whole 3 months as a killick before achieving automatic senior rate status! It was during this time that he quickly grasped that a Direct Entry Tiff is in fact the lowest form of life on the planet - standfast those creatures at the bottom of the Marianas Trench - However, in an act of kindness, Drafty then sent him to the Mighty Manch in build, a draft he enjoyed so much that he stayed till 1987, which makes him yet another Global 86 dit spinning specialist!! (Pause for yawn!) Furthermore, by this time, J.J. was an accomplished wearer of fancy dress and was often seen masquerading as a proper Chief Petty Officer! (Any doubts readers may have that the author of this dit may in fact be a retired B Thirteeneeny should now have evaporated!!) In a pensionable career J.J. played games on Achilles, Southampton, Chatham (4 years), Somerset (3 years) and Albion (another 3), proving, if nothing else, that he wasn't exactly ship shy! Among his nautical memories were Fiji, Tonga and Sydney (1986 naturally!) and also the realisation that he didn't like the sight of blood - particularly his own! Outside since 2006, and wanting a total career change, J.J. trained to be a paramedic, so if any 2nd HMS Manchester Association member cops an unfortunate one in the West Country your trauma could be further enhanced by the arrival of J.J....!! If proof be needed that he hasn't fully grasped all the rudiments of first aid, guess who was scrambling around bumming paracetamol the morning after the last Re-union? Yep J.J!! J.J. heard about the 2nd HMS Manchester Association from Whisky Haigh, and brain pains from Stella Artois!
Paul "Geordie" FIDLER
Joined 27th November 2020 (337)
Steve "Fletch" FLETCHER
Joined 19th February 2008
86 - 88
Steve "Fletch" Fletcher was a gallivanting gourmet and cruising cuisine consultant onboard the Mighty Manch during the period of the world cruise (1986 in case you have forgotten!) and beyond! Not surprisingly, Fletch's most memorable run ashore was far flung Sydney, Australia, where he managed to get himself an invite to a chicken farm!! The experience greatly enhanced his social skills and he is now able to detect a firm breasted bird ready for plucking by touch and smell alone! Having been a galley slave onboard Intrepid, Invincible, Southampton, Exeter, Brazen and Jupiter, Fletch was pensioned off from Pusser UK Ltd., in 2001, and sidestepping KFC, found employment at his favourite football club - West Ham United - catering for those who insist on feasting on small edible marine decapod crustaceans! Yep, he feeds the prawn sandwich brigade! Promotion was swift for Fletch if not West Ham United, and he was subsequently drafted to Tottenham Hotspur - bigger prawns there by all accounts! - before accepting a position at a large unnamed sporting venue adjacent to Wembley Park tube station! Fletch heard about the Association from Pete Burnett, and about Prawns from Iceland!!
Dave FORSHAW
Re-joined 4th June 2015 (311)
