Below is a picture of my late father, Kenneth Leigh Baker who was at HMS Royal Arthur at the outbreak of the war in 1939. Below this is an extract from his war memoirs. It may give some people looking for information an insight as to what went on at the time.
"Some of you will remember the winter of 1939-1940; it was cold, in fact very cold on the east coast. Returning from Christmas leave, the railway line at Peterborough was blocked by snow and it was several hours before the train could get through to the coast.
We had no heat in the huts where we slept; some fellows in my class of 52 seamen brought back electric heaters and worked them off the electric light flex very efficiently. This went on for some time, until one night a hut was burnt down and that was the end of our heating; all electric fires were confiscated!
During a particularly cold spell one of the fellows found his false teeth frozen hard in a tumbler of water at his bedside.
But for all of this we kept very fit, we were fed well and given plenty of outdoor exercise, including 'square bashing' and PT, together with seamanship tuition. Apart from the usual knots and splices, bends and hitches, we were instructed and taught the 'cats-paw', 'sheepshank', 'monkeys first', 'turks head' and warming, parcelling and serving - several others which have escaped my memory after more than fifty years.
Every Saturday morning the whole establishment, except those on duty, fell in for a march of about ten miles along the coast, wet or fine, led by the Royal Marine Band in a van, followed by the senior class with rifles and fixed bayonets. Each class of about 50 was led by a Chief or Petty Officer and we marched in those days in columns of four. In the middle of all of these columns was another Royal Marine Band, so you can imagine it was most difficult for 800 or more men to keep in step!
Gradually a sense of belonging to a large organisation started to creep into us all and we started to value the comradeship of our 'mess mates' and which was to last throughout the war.
Every Sunday morning we fell in by class on the parade ground for church parade and one had to be either Church of England or Catholic. As there was only one padre, Church of England, all Catholics were required to leave the parade ground until after the church service. Accompanied by the R.M.Band we sang lustily all of the old hymns which I had learnt at Crusaders. Just one big male choir, in those days there were few WRNS in the Navy. We also learnt for the first time naval prayers which later, when at sea, brought tears to my eyes. Such as lines like 'be pleased to receive into thy Almighty and most gracious protection the persons of us thy servants and the Fleet in which we serve. Preserve us from dangers of the sea and from the violence of the enemy'. Oh yes, I would sometimes mutter to myself these inspiring words.
The Commodore, Captain or Commander would read the lessons and after the grace from the Padre and the usual reports from the class leaders, the parade would march off to the strains of the R.M.Band.
Shore leave would then be played over the tannoy such as 'leave to port watch from 12 noon to 21:00' followed by 'livery men fall in'. After inspection by the Officer of the watch we handed in our station cards, which would indicate we were ashore, then about 400 men were let loose on the town. The local single-decker bus going to and from town, about 5 miles, was known as the 'libery boat'. One evening I went with some pals to the local Methodist church and after the service we were invited back to the home of the local grocer for 'big eats' and with so much outdoor exercise we were always hungry. The grocer had two nice daughters, so we went to church quite often to be invited back home by Mum and Dad. Like all matelots, we were always complaining about everything amongst ourselves and especially to the grocer and his family that "we wanted a ship". Eventually that day came when our class passed out and my pals and I each received from the grocers family ... a toy battleship!
