Having been hosted by HMS Portland during a recent visit to their affiliated port we were able to reciprocate on the 11th of April by having the pleasure of the Commanding Officer Captain Simon Asquithe OBE Royal Navy, accompanied by his wife Jane as our honoured guests.
Captain Asquithe made a presentation of a signed copy of the celebrated reference book "The Royal Navy Day-by-Day" In response the the Captain was given a hand blown whiskey tumbler and single malt, which he was most pleased with.
The event was well attended by over 70 branch members enjoying good food, good company and dancing through to the early hours.Affiliation goes back to 3 May 2001 when we were proud to be invited to attend the ship commissioning ceremony at HM Naval Base Devonport.
Since then we have enjoyed a very close relationship with this fine ship taking advantage of some enjoyable days at sea and capability demonstrations during the frequent ship visits to Portland. Whenever possible members of the ship's company attend our Remembrance Sunday service at the Portland cenotaph and retire for refreshments in true Naval tradition.
Top of our list of invitees for our annual dinners is of course the current Commanding officer, and when ship tasking allows they have never let us down. One such event was on the occasion of our 50th anniversary where we presented the Captain with an endowed silver waiter to reward any member of the crew for outstanding achievement.
This tradition continued through 2015 with the current Commanding Officer Captain Simon Asquith OBE accompanied by his good lady wife Jane attended our annual dinner as our honoured guests, also from the ship was the Executive Warrant Officer Steve Thorpe and his wife Kerry. The dinner was a great success.
In July shipmates from the Portland Branch are invited to spend the day at sea with the ship to experience what the navy gets up to these days.
Our intention is to continue this fine association until the sad day when the ship is decommissioned.
