My Ships - HMS Daedalus
Me, Cookie, Karen, Mo (hat), Pam.
Pam, Mo and I were already good friends, finding we had a lot in common, humour, northern, confident and looking for fun and adventure amongst others. Arlene was very quiet and kept herself to herself a little and Karen, who supposedly had a rich boyfriend with a flash car and couldn't wait to go home to see him, was not at all interested in tagging along with us. As it happened she only lasted a couple of weeks at Daedalus before mysteriously 'leaving'. It was pretty obvious even to us that she wasn't cut out for Navy life.
The garden at the back of Wrens Quarters - me and Mo..I have no idea what she is doing!
On each of the two floors above there were four messes of six, drying cupboards in the corridor and a laundry room with one washer and one dryer. I remember the whole building vibrating when the washer was on spin cycle.
The top floor was for the ships company wrens and the first was for trainees and all had names of birds. I was in Puffin mess on one of my stays there. Each mess had six bed spaces containing a single bed, wardrobe, dressing table with mirror and a laundry bin. As a trainee you weren't allowed to use duvets and your bed had to be made exactly to ship standard. Hospital corners and a smooth clean red coverlet in our case. They also came in green, blue and orange as I discovered during my time. There were two small sinks, a large noticeboard on the wall between them and a cleaning cupboard below - usually full of dusters, cloths, polish, 'Vim' and dodgy looking mugs and cutlery left by dozens of previous occupants.
Apologies for the partially clad lady at the back - Im sure she won't object to showing off her abs!
I had a bed space in the corner beside the window. When I later went back as ships company I had exactly the same space but in another mess. I liked the view of the parade ground and Air Engineering School!. It was very minimalist, nothing allowed on tops of dresser when you weren't there, everything locked away...or usually stuffed in your laundry bin under your dirty clothes. If you were lucky to have a windowsill like me, or a shelf, you could have personal things like books, photos and teddy bears on there.
Kit muster day...my corner pit.
We didn't need much space at that time as we had no need for anything other than a few civvie clothes, a hairdryer and toiletries. The point being that if you were onboard a ship you couldn't have more than would fit in a kit bag. Of course at that time Wrens didn't go to sea, so it was irrelevant but we still had to follow the rules. Some Wrens had big trunks stowed away and kept belongings in there but I just made do with a few holdalls and pusser's suitcase.
Daedalus wasn't a huge place, compared to HMS Collingwood up the road, but having an airfield in the middle meant that to get to places like the Search and Rescue hangars or MARTSU was a bit of a trek. Fortunately all the training and accommodation blocks were close to each other..although for obvious reasons Wrens Quarters was some distance away from the ratings blocks but was next door and across the road from the Senior Rates blocks.
The view of the AES and parade ground from my window
It was also between the ratings blocks and other facilities and the Air Engineering classrooms and parade ground so everyone pretty much walked or marched past at least four times a day. It was a fairly congested stretch of road at certain times as dozens of classes smartly marched to and from training.
While in training we had to carry our books in a grey fabric bag, slung over our shoulder, along with a lovely black handbag if you were a Wren. However, when there as ships company a few years later, they had adopted a more modern theme..carrier bags! The catch being that each class had to have the same bags. So there was a lot of competition as to which class could come up with the best bags.
Daedalus also had a Search and Rescue squadron with two Wessex HU5 helicopters from 772 SAR based at RNAS Portland. On my second stay at Daedalus I worked there as well as within the Air Engineering School - more on that in another post.
There was a hovercraft unit, Diving Section and the usual scattering of facilities such as Barber shop, NAAFI shop and the obligatory bars and 'bop' that all naval establishments provide. At the far end, away from distractions was the Field Gun Mess. Pretty much deserted during the winter months but a hive of activity the rest of the year as dozens of highly motivated, fit, muscled sailors descended on us to train for and take part in the traditional Field Gun Run Finale at The Royal Tournament in Earls Court, London. Field Gunners were loved and loathed depending on your personal opinion. (Again more on this subject to come in another post)
One of the best things about Daedalus was that it was sandwiched between Portsmouth and Southampton, so lots of places to go and see. You could see the Isle of Wight from the seafront and it didn't take long to head north and out into the countryside. Even London was just an hour or so on the train. We had boozy weekends on The Isle of Wight, long summer afternoons in beer gardens or enjoying the sun on the oily beach. *Note...never wear white jeans on Lee on Solent beach!
I had a lot of fun while at Daedalus. There were always people coming and going due to it being a training establishment, and of course drafts lasted just 2-3 years so even ship's company changed frequently. There were many people who seemed to have been there forever, in cushy jobs with no intention of being sent anywhere else. One of those was 'Prof'. A short, round ginger-bearded Leading Hand (Killick). He rode an old bike and would often be seen cycling round in his blue overalls and beret with something 'useful' tucked under his arm. He kept himself to himself, lived outside the camp in a house that was probably full of these 'useful' things he collected.
Daedalus 'Bop' was one of the highlights of the week as a trainee. It was held on a Sunday night and an excuse to dress up a bit and have some fun. There was a small bar above the club that you could use on other evenings, but this was the Daedalus Disco and civilian girls were allowed to come in - to top up the ratio of females of course.
Dressed in our best 80's style baggy trousers, Ra-Ra skirts, cropped T-shirts and leather box jackets etc, we would get our drinks, find some seats and watch everyone coming in. It would be around drink number three that people would start to dance, usually the civvie girls (often referred to as 'Hoppers') followed by those who were already a bit tipsy. We would all shuffle around to The Human League, Duran Duran, Bananarama, Madonna, Rainbow etc until the slowies came on and those who hadn't 'trapped' (found a partner) by then would be making their way out to the automat for a Ginsters Pasty or burger and chips from Mack's van parked up on the roadside.
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Of course having 'The Bop' in the camp had its disadvantages. Especially as it was situated right across from the Guardroom and under close scrutiny from the Duty Officer. So we had to act sober and behave ourselves on the way back to the block - until out of sight!
I really enjoyed my time here. I may add more to this post if something else comes to mind although Daedalus features a lot in my other more specific posts.
I went back to Lee last year on a work trip that you see HERE on my other blog Irritatingly Optimistic. An emotional experience but I'm so glad I got to do it.
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