40s and 50s Memories
Bulwark, the commando Carrier in the Far East.
I had just completed a Sunday service onboard
HMS Bulwark and as we were alongside in
Singapore one of the lady teachers from the
Services School used to play the portable organ
for us. On leaving the ship she turned and said
(in too loudly a voice) "will you be wanting me
tonight as usual Padre" (for evening Service
let the reader understand) but it was round the
ship in no time!!
I was also Chaplain to four Training
establishments one of which was the Royal
Navy Leadership School, HMS Royal Arthur. It
was during this commission that I married my
wife Joyce, a Matron Tutor in the QARNNS,
the Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing
Service. Incidentally, three of our Chaplains ran
off with senior nursing sisters much to the alarm
of the Matron in Chief!
We spent a short time at the nuclear submarine
base at Faslane and then we were sent out
to Hong Kong in 1980. There I found to my
great delight that my opposite number in our
team was Army Chaplain Graham Roblin OA,
and also of King's College London. For about
6 months we shared an office until he was
posted back to London. This was a particularly
interesting time, and we visited the Vietnamese
refugee camp. The three congregations from
the Service churches took it in turns to visit
the camp to organize play sessions for 100
children at a time over a three hour period in
the blazing heat. It was such a reward to see
their happy faces after their long wait behind
the wire netting of the camp. Hong Kong never
turned any refugee boats away unlike some
of the neighbouring countries. One day, a
very official Army officer came to tell me that a
visiting General was coming round the HQ on
an inspection and would be coming to see our
Chapel. The General duly arrived and to my
great surprise it was General Mike Matthews
OA, and to the consternation of his "entourage"
we spent quite a long time in Chapel talking
over old times. Sad to record, he died in early
retirement, as indeed Graham also has done.
In 1979, the border with China was opened
and Joyce immediately organized family trips
by coach into the border town of Shenzen, then
a very basic and dreary town but now full of high-rise hotels and flats. We were able to go to
Beijing by train where we stayed with the RAF
Nursing Sister at the Embassy.
We ran a tri-service Chaplaincy in Hong Kong
and we took it in turns to visit UK families in
Nepal at the Gurkha Training Base, and also
Brunei, where we had families attached to the
Brunei Navy and Regiment.
As my time for retirement was drawing near
I discovered that two P&O ships were sailing
home via Sydney, the Oriana and the Canberra.
Our friends at the Flying Angels Club in Kowloon
arranged for me to be the cruise Chaplain,
first on the Oriana to Sydney, and then on the
Canberra for the eight week journey home and
retirement from the Royal Navy.
Before leaving Hong Kong I was appointed
a Queen's Honorary Chaplain and required
to wear a red cassock. We had no clerical
outfitters in Hong Kong but our Chinese tailor
in the dockyard said he could copy my black
cassock. When he knew it was going to be red,
the Chinese lucky colour, he asked if it could be
displayed in his window for a few weeks longer!
My full time ministry ended thereafter with seven
very happy years as rector of Bradninch with
Clyst Hydon in the Exeter Diocese. We now live
in Wells enjoying our retirement.
A. M. MONRO
Bishop Fox 1952 and Carpenter
1953
Alastair Monro left King's in 1953 as the first
House Captain of the newly formed Carpenter
House. When he arrived at King's in 1948 he
entered Bishop Fox, one of the four existing
Houses that were plundered in 1952 for prefects
for the new Carpenter House. He played for
the first teams in rugby, hockey, and cricket,
took a keen interest in the outdoor activities
encouraged and led by Julian Pytches and
Boris Wilson, such as the Cairngorm Expedition
of 1953.
Stimulated by the teaching of George Morgan,
he followed the science path in chemistry
through university to a career in this field.
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