Rachel’s story – I was a Navy Baby

In 1960 my mum was working for the Royal Naval Drafting Office in Lythe Hill in Haslemere, Surrey she was a Data Operator and that’s where she met my dad.

My dad had been in the Navy for 5yrs prior to meeting my mum and had already done time at sea on HMS Ark Royal and HMS Saints both ships have now been scrapped.

He was just an ordinary Writer and was 6ft 5 inches tall and everybody called him Lofty obviously due to his height he was known as a joker amongst the lads and had a huge personality these two qualities proved the winning combination in winning my mum over.

After a short engagement they were married at St Christopher’s Church in Hastener in 1961 and both returned to work at Lythe Hill shortly afterwards.

In 1963 my dad was given a NATO Draft to Naples in Italy and very quickly they both settled into Italian life and things ran smoothly for 3yrs, they came home in April 1965 my mum was 3 months pregnant with my sister Fiona.

They lived in a flat in Park Gate in Southampton and my dad was drafted to HMS Daedalus in Gosport, Hampshire by this time he was a Leading Writer.

My sister was born on October 13th 1965 in Southampton General Hospital my dad was at the hospital but didn’t attend the birth as in those days the fathers were not aloud in the delivery rooms until the babies were born and with this happening he managed not to get drafted.

They bought their first house infact a Bungalow and moved in on November 9th 1965 no this even today is still our present home.

Money continued to be tight what with a new house, a new baby and a poodle puppy called Sophie they lived on my dads money he used to pay into what was called a Naval Allotment it was money for my mum sort of housekeeping and it was a green backed book which resembled a Pension book and she could raw £8pw on this incidentally while she was collecting one day she had a week stolen from her in the post office while she had a back turned for a second what an awful thing to happen when you have very little money anyway.

My dad was eventually drafted October 1968 to HMS Bulwark (Now scrapped) for 1yr in which time my mum gave birth to me on June 1st 1969 and dad didn’t see me till I was 4 months old and my mum during that time went and stayed with my Nan & Grandad in Haslemere as it was proving to be a lonely time there were no MSN or Email or Telephone calls like we have now you had to get by on letters and back in the 60’s when the Navy went to see it was never any less than 1yr – 2yrs when he went my mum didn’t see him for a whole year there was no R&R or anything like that hey wrote to each other 4 times a week.

My dad came back October 1969 and returned once again to HMS Daedalus where he stayed till he and my mum split up in March 1971 he married again and had another daughter called Samantha and they also spent 3yrs in Naples yet again on a NATO Draft, he eventually came out of the Navy in 1977 as a Fleet Chief Writer. I managed a small relationship with my dad after he left my mum but never if I’m honest understood what made him tick he remained loyal to his second wife until his death from Cancer on July 10th 1999, and never lost his amazing sense of humour or his zest for life