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NAVY NKWS, FEBRUARY 1997

Helping Hands

Round-Britain riders raise

over £15,000

NAVY MOTORCYLE fanatics raised more than £15,000 for the BBC's Children in Need appeal with a round-Britain ride that took them to dozens of Naval and

MOD establishments. Thirty one members of the RN Motor Cycle Club took part in the event and the final amount raised through sponsorship and collections outstrips the previous year's total by over £5,000. Since the first RNMC'C roundBritain ride in 1 990. the Club has raised £h3.SOO for the charity. The team's journey took them to HMS Sultan, Centurion, Dryad, Excellent, Nelson. Dolphin, RH Haslar, Portland, Culdrose, Yeovilton. Dartmouth. HMS Raleigh. Drake and HM Naval Bases Portsmouth. Devonport and Clyde. And there was also time to call in at the Hydrographic Office in Taunton. RM bases at Lympstone and Norton Manor and Ministry of

Defence sites Ensleigh, Quay House and Abbey Wood. At the end of their marathon journey the team arrived cold and tired at the Bournemouth International Centre were a BBC film crew were waiting.

Live television RNMCC Patron. Rear Admiral Terry Loughran (FONA), was on hand to present a cheque for the proceeds of their epic ride on live television. Four riders, RNMCC Secretary

CPO Mark Stidever, Chairman, CPO Pete Gushing, Portsmouth Vice Chairman, George Bunkin and Portsmouth's Martin Sand completed the entire tour. The rest were volunteers from establishments throughout Britain who gave up their spare time to complete as much of the route as work allowed. This year, six motorcyles were supplied by Honda UK - two STllOO Pan Europeans, a CBR 1000, a VFR 750, a VF 750 Custom and an African Twin.

Greenwich team ALL IN A GOOD tackle 88-miler CAUSE A DINNER to celebrate CPO Paul Dunn's 35 years service in the RN raised over £2,000 for the Marie Curie cancer charity. The event at RNAS Yeovilton was attended by 235 guests including Admiral Sir Ted Horliek and the air station's Commanding Officer, Commodore Scot Lidbetter.

FOUR officers from the RN Staff College at Greenwich completed the gruelling 88mile Lympstone to Poole race organised by the Royal Marines. Lt Cdr Martin Croft, Lt Cdr Mike Farrage, Captain Simon Pritchard RM and Cdr Campbell Christie ran the race in 22-mile legs, each carrying 12 Ibs of emergency equipment. The race involves climbing 6,600ft along Dorset's rugged coastal paths but the team completed the course and

raised more than £600 for Greenwich Hospital's Special Care Baby Unit. The total was boosted by 69 students students on the Royal Naval Staff Course who agreed on a self imposed fine of £5 if they returned from a working trip to the USA weighing more than they did when they started the course. The men believe they are the first Greenwich team to complete the 88-miler and will certainly be the last with the transfer of training to a new joint services college at Bracknell.

WELL MATCHED i

CPO Paul Dunn, BEM MSM.

Oar-some effort... WEAPONS Engineers from HMS Invincible helped to repay Durham's hospitality last year by raising £600 for the Mayor's Charity Appeal. The WE Department organised a non-stop 'rowathon' and 52 sailors volunteered to take a half hour slot.

Affiliation The 'journey' ended after 20.5 hours when the team had clocked up 340 miles - the distance between Portsmouth and D u r h a m -- HMS Invincible's affiliated city. • Right: POWEA Mark Collins and CPO WE A Neil Apps taking their turn on HMS Invincible's rowing machines on their 'journey' to Durham.

STAR players from Portsmouth Football Club turned out for a match at HMS Collingwood to help raise cash for the BBC Children In Need Appeal. Veteran goalkeeper Alan Knight, manager Terry Fenwick and past and present players including Paul Walsh, Vince Hilaire, Andy Awford, Jason Reece, Martin Allen and Lee Bradbury, helped to make the 90-minute contest a memorable one. At the end of the evening Pompey had beaten the home side 22-2 but HMS Collingwood succeeded in raising £500.

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The bikers roar down the runway at RN Air Station Culdrose, led by RN Motor Cycle Club

Chairman CPO Pete CUShing. Picture: RNAS Culdrose Photographic Unit

In brief a

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HMS FEARLESS staged a sponsored rowing event to help raise cash for the Mayoress of Scarborough's Community Fund. A 12-man team led by POPT Ian Binks kept the ship's Concept II rowing machines going for over 12 hours. They clocked up 118 miles and collected £1,020 for the appeal in their affiliated town.

Q • Event organiser, Royal Marines Cpl Martin Edwards

Dartmoor cash dash ROYAL MARINES from Stonehouse Barracks raced across Dartmoor to raise cash for Plymouth Deaf Society. The 32km cycle and 8km run from Letaford to Bickleigh Barracks raised £500 for the charity which is close to the heart of event organiser Cpl M a r t i n Edwards.

Sign language Cpl Edwards' two-year-old son Jack is deaf and the Society has been teaching both he and his wife Jane to use sign language. Mrs Sue Tuck of Plymouth Deaf Society said: "Apart from a small grant, all contributions to our income are voluntary so support such as this from the Royal Marines is greatly appreciated."

SADDLE-WEARY cyclists from HMS Beaver pedalled 300 miles from Plymouth to the ship's affiliated town of Bolton to raise £1,300 for local charities. Bolton Multiple Sclerosis, Green Fold Special School and the town's Hospice were the beneficiaries and the money was presented to the Deputy Mayor of Bolton by Beaver's CO, Captain David Lewis, at a civic reception.

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COMMUNICATIONS experts from Special Communications Unit Leydene used the Great South Run to help a children's charity get their message across. Ten staff entered the ten-mile Portsmouth road race to raise the profile of 'Children In Hospital' and earned more than £500 in sponsorship to boost the organisation's funds. SICK BAY staff at HMS Sultan made no bones about asking their colleagues to cough up for the BBC's Children In Need Appeal. MAs Dez Corker, Brian Southen and Crash Evans donned fancy dress and pressed the medical centre's skeleton into service for a collection round which produced £280. A FAMILIES day organised by members of the Devonport-based Second Submarine Squadron raised £400 for local children's charities. The day out at Keyham sports ground benefited the Dame Hannah Rogers School at Ivybridge, which looks after disabled youngsters, and the Wrangaton branch of Riding for the Disabled.

FLOODS and storm force winds made life even more difficult for runners from HMS Excellent who competed in the National Trust Snowdon Marathon. Cpl Graeme Taylor and WO Eddie Seaborne, backed up by CPO Andrew Martin, POPT Brad Hogg and CPO John Bearman, battled through and raised £250 for Portsmouth's Special Olympics for the mentally handicapped.

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ENGINEERS from HMS Cumberland paved the way for a happy new year for guests at the Calvert Trust Adventure Holiday Centre at Barnstaple. LMEM Timmy Timmins, PO Sedge Sedgewick, LMEM Chatts Harris and PO Taff Lewis spent a week laying paths at the centre for disabled people and their friends, getting through 16 tons of gravel in the process.

SAILORS on X40 course at HMS Dryad stepped in to help staff at Portsmouth's Sarah Duffen Centre for children with Downs Syndrome. They spent a day at the centre filling skips with cast offs, cleaning rooms and rearranging furniture to help the staff who have little or no spare time to undertake such tasks.

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A WEATHER vane first presented to St Nicholas Church, Henstridge, by HMS Dipper in 1946 has been restored to its former glory by CPOAEA Edward King at RN air station Yeovilton and replaced on the spire by a team led by CAEM Steve Round.