Double Celebration

Arctic Star Medal Ceremony and 90th Birthday Party By John Newlands (58-69)

My father James ‘Jimmy’ Newlands (33-39) was born in 1924 and attended RGS, but left early to serve in the Second World War. As a young Hostilities Only (HO) rating he served in HMS Kent on the Russian Arctic convoys, sailing from Liverpool. This essential war effort involved sub-zero conditions, the endless task of keeping the upper deck ice-free and, in my father’s case being ‘battened down’ in the shell room at Actions Stations.

Jimmy was then selected for seaman officer training and, as a 19-year old Midshipman, to command a landing craft during the D-Day landings in June 1944.

After the war he returned to the North East to run the family clothing and retail business, J Newlands & Sons, retiring in 1989. An avid rugby supporter and past player, both at RGS and after the war, he captained Tynedale RFC in the early ’50s and played for Northumberland as hooker on several occasions. He now lives in a nursing home in Ryton, Tyne and Wear.

This year, the UK Government decided to act at last and approve a medal for those who had served in the Russian Arctic convoys. It was with great pride and happiness therefore that a sizeable gathering of family and friends witnessed Jimmy being presented

with the Arctic Star, at a ceremony alongside HMS Mersey at North Shields on his 90th birthday on 27 June. The medal was presented by Lieutenant Commander David Gillett R.N., Commanding Officer, HMS Mersey.

It meant a great deal to my father that he was able to receive his medal in the presence not just of serving men and women from today’s Royal Navy, but of a contingent from the RGS that included the Headmaster Bernard Trafford and a small contingent of students, in uniform, from the Combined Cadet Force. My brother Andrew and his family were also able to attend, having travelled from the Turks and Caicos Islands. Our thoughts went out to Alex (66-69), our younger brother, who attended RGS, but who died in 2002 following a diabetes-related illness.

I have only recently returned to the North East myself and now live in South Gosforth. I served in the Royal Navy as a Weapon Engineer Officer, retiring in 1994. For the last 20 years I have worked in the financial sector as an analyst and am now head of investment companies research at Brewin Dolphin, dividing my time between the firm’s London and Newcastle offices.

It is wonderful to be back in the home of the RGS and of the Magpies.

Above: Jimmy with his great, great nephew Anthony Wetherell (Year 10) Left: RGS Contingent: Mansel Wetherell (80-85), Lucy Barnard (CCF), Lucy Ellerton (Year 12) (CCF), John Newlands (58-69), Jimmy Newlands (33-39), Anthony Wetherell (Year 10), Bernard Trafford (Headmaster) Far Left: Jimmy’s Arctic Star Medal