AGM SATURDAY NOVEMBER 21st 2009
Last year's AGM took place in the Union Jack Club in Waterloo, London on Saturday 21st November. The start of the meeting was delayed because several guests were unavoidably detained and the Chairman showed the DVD produced by John Mizzi which was very moving, particularly for those who had been on the pilgrimage.
The Chairman welcomed everyone to the seventh Annual General Meeting of the Neptune Association. He began his address with an announcement about the President of the Association, Mrs Nixie Taverner, whose health has deteriorated so much that she can no longer live independently and is no longer able to attend functions such as the Annual General Meeting.
He also announced the sudden death in New Zealand of our oldest member Eric King-Turner, who died very suddenly in November, aged 104. After the business of the meeting was over, we adjourned for lunch and then started the afternoon session. Adrian Fewins spoke about the progress of his book, Minefield, 2nd edition, after which John chaired a question and answer session.
Delay in publishing MINEFIELD 2nd edition
Both Adrian Fewins and your Committee are determined that the 2nd edition will be completed this summer, printed this autumn and published in good time for a book launch at the AGM on November 27th at the Union Jack Club. Several members of the Committee are actively helping by writing what detail we have of each casualty and his family. With 369 photos received including 340 casualty photos this is a massive task but very significant progress has been made. By Easter, the largest sections (Seamen, Stokers & Wiremen, Royal Marines and the Kandahar crew) will be ready for the 'proof printing' of the first 180 pages. The sections for Officers, Artificers, Supply and Communications departments will be completed during the summer. There will then be considerable work in setting the pages and proof reading (checking each entry for errors). The eventual size of the book will be approximately 250 pages costing £20 (plus p & p). Many members have paid in advance for the book and we thank you for your patience. Those who have paid in advance will not be affected by the increase in price.
When Nixie’s book Neptune’s Legacy was published in 2003, we had 83 photographs of casualties. All photos were scanned again to produce higher quality images and when the 1st edition of Adrian's book Minefield was published in 2007, this total had risen to 202 photos of casualties. Since 2007, relatives of about 180 more casualties have made contact and 157 have sent photos. The book will also include a number of Group photos and other photos not included in Neptune’s Legacy for lack of space. There will be a greatly enhanced section for those lost in HMS Kandahar and the story of the survivors who swam for it. As before we intend to print and publish the book under the auspices of the Neptune Association.
At the Arboretum on July 9th there will be a display of photographs from the book.
IMPROVEMENTS TO WEBSITE & NEW PAGES ADDED:
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Diaries - the first entry here is the War diary of Ordinary Seaman John Smith.
The Board of Inquiry report held on 24 December 1941 on the Neptune tragedy, which has been available in the National Archives, Kew since1973, has been copied and is now included on a new page.
The Links page has been much improved with many links to RN sites of interest. Footage from the War in the Mediterranean has been included.
For modellers, a Neptune and Kandahar Models page has been added.
An interview with Norman Walton, the one survivor was made in 2002 and has been added to the page on him.
Plymouth Meeting 2009
A members' meeting took place in Plymouth on Sunday 10th May 2009
MEMBERS of the Neptune Association held a short service at the war memorial on Plymouth Hoe in conjuction with the Gloucester Asssociation. The service started at 11am on Sunday May 10th. Afterwards there was a members meeting at the nearby Astor Holel in Elliott Street. A talk was given by the Chairman John McGregor mainly about the casualties whose relatives have recently made contact. Each new contact is much valued and each has their own story of how they found the Neptune Association and how their particular relative is remembered.
HMS Neptune, HMS Kandahar and HMS Gloucester were all Devonport-manned ships. A total of 489 Neptune and 59 Kandahar casualties are commemorated on the Plymouth Hoe war memorial. About 70 Members, relatives and friends of both ships attended and paid their respects.
HMS Neptune lost 763 men (with just one survivor) including 150 New Zealanders (their greatest naval loss in World War Two) and 37 South Africans. HMS Kandahar had her stern blown off and she lost 73 men. The total lost at sea, 836, in this little known tragedy was the Royal Navy's fifth worst loss of life in the conflict.
PORTSMOUTH MEETING -14TH MARCH 2009
Saturday, March 14th 2009 dawned with a brilliantly blue sky and a bitingly cold wind. At approx 1030 hrs small groups of Neptune Association members and their guests began to arrive at Portsmouth War Memorial for a service of remembrance for those who lost their lives when HMS Neptune sank and HMS Kandahar attempted to rescue the men on board, in the early hours of December 19th 1941.
At 1100 hrs, we all moved to the relative shelter of the lower level of the War Memorial, where those men of the home port (Portsmouth) who served in WW2 are commemorated, for the service of remembrance.
The Reverend Paul Miles-Knight led the service and welcomed everyone. After the opening prayer and the reading (Psalm 107: v 23 -30) wreaths were laid and the Last Post was sounded. The Silence followed and then Reveille was played. The service concluded with the Lord's Prayer and the Naval Prayer. We then made our way to the D Day Museum for coffee.
Nigel Haines, media supervisor of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission talked about the work of the CWGC and showed a DVD of some of the cemeteries cared for by them.. He talked of the history of the commission, and how it came about as a result of the work done by Sir Fabian Ware, Commander of a mobile unit of the Red Cross, who led the work of recovering and re-burying those who had fallen in WW! (See CWGC web page for greater detail).
The afternoon session began with Adrian Fewins updating everyone on the progress of his book 'Minefield 2' which will be launched at the AGM of the Association to be held at the Union Jack Club on November 21st 2009.
John McGregor talked about the finding of HMS Sydney in Feb 2008 and showed a DVD of the work done by David Mearns and his team who located the ship. John also thanked Christine Pittman-Corner for finding such a prestigious venue for this meeting and for her brilliant and painstaking organisation of the day
After the close of the meeting every one had the chance to wander around the museum and to view the spectacular D-Day embroidery, which is longer than the Bayeux tapestry in Normandy.
Following the meeting, there was good coverage in the Portsmouth News and as a result another relative of a Neptune casualty made contact - Mrs Robina Patrick, daughter of Bandmaster Donald Joyce, Royal Marines.
DVD OF PILGRIMAGE TO MALTA AND TRIPOLI
It has taken a long time but the DVD produced by John Mizzi and his Maltese documentary team is available at last. It is of a high quality and is deeply moving. Most of the video footage is taken in Malta and includes a speech by the President of Malta when he unveiled a commemorative plaque for Neptune and Kandahar in the Malta Maritime Museum; a joint service with the George Cross Island Association; visits to the Siege Bell memorial, the War Museum and to the Naval War cemetery. There are 14 interviews with relatives of casualties who describe their personal Neptune connections and these are beautifully woven into the story of the pilgrimage.
The Libyan journey relies on video footage of the boat journey in the Libyan dredger Jarif, taken by Janet Edwards (niece of Able Seaman Alfred Woodward - Neptune casualty). The ceremony at the Commonwealth war graves cemetery in Tripoli was filmed by Robin Clayton. The final interview is with Vi Cornish, widow of Corporal James Auchinlech, the one widow able to make the pilgrimage. The DVD ends most movingly with Captain Rory O'Conor speaking. It came from New Zealand radio archives and was the Christmas 1941 message to the New Zealand families but never broadcast after the ship was sunk.
DVD of PILGRIMAGE - still photographs
A DVD has been assembled by Robin Clayton (son-in-law of Sergeant William Crocker RM - Neptune casualty), containing 150 still photos of the remembrance journey submitted by members. It was shown at the Plymouth meeting in May to general acclaim. It has not got a sound track but the photos show the whole remembrance journey - the three days in Malta; the three days in Tripoli with the visit to the War graves cemetery, the boat journey to the wreck site, and the visits to Leptis Magna and Sabratha; and finally the return to Malta with the ceremony in the Malta Maritime Museum. A chart is included showing Force K's passage into the minefield and the wreck site where Neptune is believed to lie.
The two DVD's are available as a pair for £15. All those wishing to buy should write to Robin Clayton, 5 Hadfield Cross, Hadfield, Glossop, Derbyshire SK13 1NT
DUNEDIN MEMORIAL
A new Neptune memorial in New Zealand, was unveiled on December 12th 2008
Due to the combined efforts of Royden Thomson (son of Paymaster Lieut Bruce Thomson, RNZNVR) and Nigel McPherson (brother of Midshipman Brian McPherson, RNZN), supported by the Dunedin Returned and Services Assn, a memorial to those who perished in HMS Neptune was erected on the Dunedin waterfront, and unveiled on Friday 12th December 2008. This was the culmination of several years of effort, as there is no public memorial to this event which claimed the lives of 30 local men out of the 150 New Zealanders involved in the Neptune tragedy.
Situated on a prime waterfront site, visitors are able to read the inscriptions on the inclined top, and look over the memorial to the upper harbour where many of the victims received their basic training. In fact Royden Thomson has a photograph taken in about 1938 which shows his father as an RNVR Officer, standing in the stern of a naval cutter which is being rowed by a group of RNVR trainees.
The unveiling featured a strong naval presence headed by Chief of Navy, Rear Admiral David Ledson, the British High Commissioner together with relatives and friends of the victims including Norma Hudson (daughter of the one survivor) and her husband from England.
Before concluding the service, the President of the Returned and Services Assn. gifted the memorial to the city. A DVD of proceedings is being made, and orders taken when completed
The memorial is made of hand selected, locally quarried basalt. This stone features in many of the historic buildings in Dunedin. The top is a one piece basalt slab, and incorporates two bronze plaques. One, with the account of the engagement, and features the HMS Neptune Crest, specially cast by Manor Foundry in England. The other bears the names of the 30 local sailors who perished, beneath which is the epitaph,
There are no flowers on a sailors grave
No lilies on an ocean wave
The only tribute is the seagulls sweep
And the teardrop on a loved one cheek.
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The Neptune Association visit to Malta and Tripoli in April 2007 has now taken place and was very successful. There were 64 members in the group. See MALTA/TRIPOLI for full details of key events and participants' comments.
SEE ALSO THE NEPTUNE NEWS ARCHIVE
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