Guest Book

I was on Met course at Kete in 1958 and there I met Cathy Roberts. After Met course I spemt 2 1/2 years at Culdrose and then on to Yeovilton. I left the service in 1962 as a Leading Wrem. I now live in Seattle, USA

HI
Just came across Cloudobservers Newsletter 2005 (don't remember who sent it to me)with this Web site address. I joined the WRNS in 1958 until 1961 as a Met Wren. Started out at Abbotsinch, then off to Malta for 18 months (Birzebuggia), and finally Culdrose. I'm currently a realtor in Maryland, U.S., just outside Washington D.C.. Still in touch with some former colleagues, although I recognize a couple of names on the fallen shipmates list. Loved being a Met Wren.

I recently discovered the Cloud Observers web site which was a wonderfully revealing find. Sadly I cannot find any reference to the Kete class of May/June 1950. As a National Service rating I only served for two years and was an observer at HMS Blackcap near Warrington then finished my service on HMS Vanguard (the last of the battleships)
I am now 85 so there are probably few of my generation still around but if anyone remembers me it would be great to make contact.
I note that Jim Warren features prominently in the Society. We worked together for a while at HMS Blackcap. The last time we met was at Ginger Harrop`s wedding.

Hello I'm searching for information and people who may of served and known my grandmother miss Molly Atkin in the early 1950s I know she was at und sanderling, lossiemouth and culdrose in 1953 when she became pregnant. Any information would be greatly accepted. You can contact me at
Dannyp844@hotmail.com thank you Daniel pollard

Eldred, I will answer some of Ray's questions to, hopefully, ....be helpful.
When I joined HMS RALEIGH at age 16 in 1861 or was it 1961, I was given a mini-'janes warships' book (published circa 1952) which I kept. It included the two ships you served in. Sadly it is one of the very few things I have from my time in RN.
As an aside in 1961 I was issued with 'evening' shoes, black with a two inch wide silver buckle, a kit bag and a small attache case to keep my belongings in. I wish I had kept the shoes, they seem to appear in every swashbuckling pirate film I have watched.
I wonder what meager items of 'uniform' you were issued (apart from Gas mask and Lifebelt) ?

Anyway - herewith the info from my "mini Jane's and other sources:

HMS Kenya was a Crown Colony-class cruiser.
Research into declassified State Department records on the Soviet Union has revealed that on 19 March 1942, Kenya transported 10 tons of gold from the Soviet Union to the United States as payment for loans and war materials.[1]

Kenya also avoided damage in air attacks by the Germans on 27–28 March. She had by now received the nickname "The Pink Lady", due to her Mountbatten Pink camouflage paint, during the commando raid against installations on Vågsøy Island off the Norwegian coast. This was attributed to her Mountbatten Pink camouflage blending in with the pink marker dye the Germans were using in their shells, preventing German spotters from distinguishing between shell splashes and the ship. The force returned to Scapa Flow in early January 1942. Kenya returned to escorting Arctic convoys between March and May 1942. On 22 March after escorting PQ12 to Murmansk Kenya was loaded with 10 tonnes of Russian bullion and took it back to Britain for safe keeping.

HMS Activity was an escort carrier that served with the Royal Navy during the Second World War. After the war, she was sold into merchant service as the MV Breconshire, serving for over 20 years until scrapped in 1967.

Operation Pedestal (referenced in Italian sources as the Battaglia di Mezzo Agosto) was a British operation to get desperately needed supplies to the island of Malta in August 1942.

Eldred, I wish you good health and hope you can find the time to enlighten us with your experiences in the Met branch, - what Met data was available at sea, how it was transmitted and received (was it coded, other than SYNOP?) did you have radio-sonde etc.
Would also be very interested in your career paths after your RN service.
With very best wishes - SPUD

Mrt Clark Sir - it is a great privilege to hear from such a senior ex-Member of the Met Branch. You were 'on course' the year that I was born (1942) so I am guessing you are nearer 90 than 80 and still fully up with all these modern ways of communicating. Can you tell us all what exactly were Kenya, Activity and Pedestal - all ships? You might be inundated with requests for knowledge by various people, as mentioned in the last message from Spud. He was in the Met branch and ended up as a helicopter pilot and a Lt.Cdr I think. Of course, he is but a youngster!
Please tell us more of your exploits whilst serving in the Royal Navy (when we actually had one) Good health to you, Sir, and best wishes for a long(er) life!
Ray Brooker

Mr Clark –
- you have my admiration.
I'm sure our members and non member readers, are reminded of the reality of the past by your 'ordinary' service which by contemporary definition was 'extra-ordinary'.
I wonder if you have scrolled back to a valued and recently lost member, Peter Claridge? - You would have been his perfect ‘cloudobs’ mate – more so than all the current youngsters, like myself (70).
I hope we will hear more from you and I’m sure our 'Senior Forecaster', Arthur. and his ‘mission controller’ (“she who knows all - GILL, the secretary bird") will,in due course be able to co-operate with you to add to our (RN Met) history.

For everyone else, including the very many non members who access the site ............
I wish you all a ‘head above water’ and prosperous New Year.

I came across your site by sheer chance and was delighted! If you are interested I did the Met course at Greenwich from January to March 1942 and joined Kenya more or less immediately. Went to Activity after Pedestal later in that year and to C in C East Indies when Activity became too small for anything except ferrying aircraft; mostly working in the Joint Met Centre in Colombo with one operation in Emperor. In RNVR while a dental student in Liverpool and turned over when I qualified to the dental branch. Retired in 1960 on age as Surg.Lt.Cdr(D). As an aside I saw the earlier Eagle sunk and our first captain in Activity, Guy Willoughby, was the first captain of the one in the videos. I hope to join you.

Happy days eh Ray?
I believe these days our role is undertaken entirely by computers.
Whilst the boffins may pat themselves on the back,they still haven't created a computer which can produce a chart, then go ashore, drink 12 pints in numerous dens of ill repute, stagger back to the dockyard to consume fish, chips and a pint of milk and still be able to produce a chart the next day.
Happy Christmas!!
PS - Pussers Rum Gunpowder Proof (found on Amazon) is a much nicer way to warm up than a Polo mint.

Very jocular, Steve! I remember another Steve on the Happy Hermes, who solved a problem whenever they showed a film in the galley, because there wasn't a bulkhead large enough to show it on. They had to pay him, of course, because even though the projector belonged to the ship, it was Steve Enson's screen.