RN Volunteer Band HMS Illustrious

BdCSgt R Hunt BMus(Hons) LRSM AMusTCL ABRSM CTABRSM RM

Quite a lot has happened on board HMS Illustrious since our Spring report and we’ve actually had a mini foreign deployment – the first since I joined the ship last May!

March

Newcastle was our only port of call (other than Portsmouth) in March. We spent nearly a week along side in a city whose football team was destined to spend only another couple of weeks in the Premiership. Sensing this imminent demise, a group of us took the opportunity to have a guided tour of St James’s Park stadium, which turned out to be an extended tour when the ex-matelot guide realised we were from HMS Illustrious. After an evening at Sunderland’s greyhound racing venue and a football match against the Tyne and Wear Fire Service we set sail for the North Sea and headed towards…

April

The lead up to Easter leave was spent at sea with the occasional sporting and social event punctuating the multi-national exercise Joint Warrior. The whole-ship poker night was well-run by a Petty Officers’ Mess and raised money for charity and a rowing challenge brought together 100 budding Steve Redgraves to each row 1,000 metres in a record breaking attempt, with the outcome still pending.

May

A decent period of leave led us nicely into the month of May and a week’s visit to our nation’s capital. We took centre stage in the middle of the Thames at Greenwich to participate in the Fly Navy 100 celebrations. Some of us volunteered to be ushers at St Paul’s Cathedral for a commemoration service and then got invited to a reception afterwards where we met HRH Prince of Wales. During this visit it was a pleasure to welcome a contingent of Pompey Band on board who gave a performance at one of the many cocktail parties.

June

After a few days back on terra firma (taken advantage of fully by going on Cpl Woffenden’s ‘3 Peak Challenge’ stag do!) we sailed on the 1st June for what was (and still is!) our longest deployment since last May. Our two visits were Tallinn and Oslo. Although there were a few high profile visits, by various Estonian and Norwegian government and defence VIPs, most people got an opportunity to explore the sights in these two capital cities and partake in activities arranged by the PTIs such as paint-balling, football, rugby and cricket matches, and an adventure training package. These visits were fitted around important exercises out in the Baltic Sea working with various aviation squadrons, both rotary wing and fixed wing; helicopters and jets respectively. Initially we welcomed Naval Strike Wing (NSW) and 815 Squadron on board for Exercise Loyal Arrow, another multi-national affair involving, amongst others, Turkish and Swedish forces. Currently we have (RAF) 4 Squadron and 212 Squadron on board and are coming to the conclusion of Exercise Haggis Feast. Both exercises involve the training of pilots and support crew in all possible peacetime and combat scenarios, ensuring safety is paramount and that the extra personnel and the regular ship’s company are compatible in working and social environments.

July

Even to old salty sea dogs this has felt like quite a lengthy time away from home, probably largely due to how much we’ve crammed in to our 7 weeks at sea. Social-wise there was a flight-deck sports day and BBQ and a WII Boxing Event in the hangar is programmed in for this coming Sunday. During the past few months the band numbers have fluctuated a few times, as groups of Officers under training and various squadrons have come and gone. For church this coming Sunday we should have ten in the band; a violinist and a cellist, one flautist, two clarinettists, two saxophonists, one trumpeter, one cornet player and an oboist. Every week is a challenge, but the group of musicians are great fun to work with and are very dedicated which makes the job very enjoyable.

World Busk

During our time away I organised a whole-ship busking event where throughout the day various musical endeavours took place in a variety of venues, which were open to any aspiring instrumentalist of any standard. As a result we had about 6 hours’ worth of busking outside the NAAFI, which included ‘performances’ by solo sax, violin, clarinet, clarinet and flute duets, guitars and singers and a harmonica. Later in the day there was a hymn-a-thon on the quarterdeck followed by a rock band gig. In the evening an inter-mess WII Band Guitar Hero competition was held, which attracted half the ship’s company! A DVD was made and, if it reaches Portsmouth in time, might be played at the Volunteer Band Festival to represent the spirit of music which lives on ‘Lusty’ no matter how far away from home we are! The event was well-publicised thanks to the Commander on board who deals with media issues and our endeavours made it onto The Times on-line and BBC World News as well as being aired on the ship’s ‘internal’ TV channel. The ship raised over £650 for the charity ‘Musequality’ which you can read up on at musequality.org.

Choir provided by the 3 Amigos

Meet The Band

Of course, although I generally paint a picture of fun and frolics on the good ship ‘Lusty’, all of these activities are in addition to the ship’s regular daily routines and my own routine of sorting out the mail, managing the WOs’ and CPOs’ Mess and rehearsing the band each evening at around 2000. As a new section to the article, I thought I would start introducing members of the band to Blue Band readers. First up is Surgeon Commander Sue Schofield RN.

Q1 – As an ice-breaker, what is your favourite cereal?
“As almost anyone in the mess will tell you I am a really fussy eater. Breakfast cereals are no exception! I guess I would have to go with porridge as my favourite, but it would have to be the right consistency.'

Q2 – Describe your job/position on HMS Illustrious
“I am the Principal Medical Officer onboard HMS Illustrious. I am like a GP and A&E doctor in one and as such I am responsible for providing primary, emergency and occupational health services to the ship’s company. I also advise the Captain on all issues related to / allied to health. Additionally, when Illustrious is acting in her Carrier Strike Group role I would be responsible for the provision of medical support to the Group.”

Q3 – How long have you been in the RN?
“I had to stop and think about this one. It is actually 13 years, but it seems like only yesterday that I joined.”

Q4 – How long have you been a clarinettist and how did you start?
“I was lucky enough to go to a girls’ grammar school which really encouraged music. In my first year of secondary school (age 12) I began to learn the clarinet. I took my Grade 3 exam the same year, and then went on to Grade 4 the following year. I then switched schools, and had a great time in the school’s band, especially doing “concerts in the park”. I will admit to losing my way during my university years (too busy studying… honest!), but then re-kindling my enjoyment of playing my clarinet during my first sea draft. I was fortunate enough to have the whole of the St. Just medical complex on RFA Argus as my own music practice room(s)! Since then I have played with the Northwood Volunteer Band, the Exmouth town band and now here in Illustrious.”

Q6 – What is the best thing about being in the band?
“The people! I get a wide exposure (!) to ship’s company in my job - all trades, rates, ranks. Seeing people at band or singing along to the band during the all-denomination church services allows people to see me as more than their doctor… and allows me to see these same people in a different light too.

Q7 – What is the worst thing about being in the band?
“Not sure I have found a worst thing, yet. Possibly it is the fact that it takes me away from dining with my fellow Heads of Departments, because the timings [of rehearsals] clash. Hang on though; maybe that is a good thing about band!”

Q8 – Describe your career ‘high’.
“I have so many to choose from, and I hope that they will keep coming, and that I never lose the love that I have for my job. If I was really pushed it was probably undertaking an episode of disaster relief off of Honduras and Nicaragua in 1998 when we helped rescue a lady who had been adrift at sea for a period of 8 days following hurricane Mitch destroying her community. Against the odds she survived, and in 2001 I received a letter from her describing how her short time in my care had showed her how good could come out of disaster.

Q9 – Tell us all something unusual about yourself.
“I have size 3 feet. I could come up with others, but thought that I would keep you guessing.”

Q10 – Anything further to add?
“I am one of those really fortunate people who absolutely love their job. Long may it last. Despite this, sometimes days can be taxing / difficult and stressful. Playing in band is certainly a form of relaxation for me and an opportunity to wind down at the end of a busy day, and I am grateful for being given the opportunity to do that.”

Everyone from HMS Illustrious wishes all readers a very enjoyable remainder of the summer and looks forward to reading the other bands’ updates when this edition of Blue Band is published. Good luck to all the Volunteer Bands taking part in the Festival on 4th July – we will be there in spirit

Last updated Spring 2010

BdCSgt J Moss BMus(Hons) RM

Somewhere in the North Sea

Present day…

(Picture an aircraft carrier alone on a flat sea, suddenly a Harrier screams across the ship's head, banking tightly as it roars past the ship heading off into a clear blue sky)

“Ahoy!” from HMS Ark Royal and “Woo Wee...Jester’s Dead!”. And as you can probably tell by the brief introduction that, yes… we all watched ‘Top Gun’ on TV recently! No, seriously I am writing this edition's article from somewhere in the North Sea and as HMS Ark Royal has now taken over the role as the UK’s R2 Strike Carrier (it means we have jets onboard and are at 5 days' notice to take them anywhere!) I thought I would brush up on my Naval Aviation knowledge and watch ‘Top Gun’. You may laugh but prior to coming on draft here originally I spent a few days getting to understand more about life at sea by watching classics such as ‘The Cruel Sea’, ‘Sink the Bismarck’, ‘Master and Commander’ and the epic ‘Doctor at sea’. I recommend them all; however, watching ‘Titanic’, ‘The Poseidon Adventure’ and ‘The Perfect Storm’ did have me worried for a time!

Anyway, welcome to The Naval Strike wing and the Harrier Jets. Lads; do you think you could keep the noise down a bit please? Anyone serving or ex bandy reading this who was on Ocean Wave 97 or any deployment on a carrier that had jets onboard will know what I am on about!

So what’s been happening since I last wrote? We successfully came out of Refit on time and went straight into Sea Trials and Operational Sea Trials off Plymouth. All went extremely well and the ship passed all the exercises that FOST staff threw at the ship. We were told that we had gained a satisfactory pass and returned to Portsmouth for a well deserved leave period.

My little Band, which has grown considerably, played for the ship's Christmas Carol Service, which went very well even though I lost track of how many verses of We three Kings I had done. I very confidently stopped the Band, and listened mortified as the congregation started another verse, so quickly started again and played another verse, stopped again, and then quickly started again for the final verse! I am going to blame the Bish (why take the knock yourself), as he told me there were only 4 verses… not six! Still, we all finished together… eventually.

So, here we are, in the North Sea, bobbing around while aircraft take off, land on, take off, land on… etc. How did we get here? Well before you all say “We sailed here!” I will let you know what’s been happening since Christmas.

We left Portsmouth after a short maintenance period in January and sailed for Scotland in February. The ship sailed to Glen Mallen near Faslane to re-ammunition and then to Anchor just off Greenock (near to where I used to live! That’s why I’m called Taff) to pick up friends and family so they could have a couple of days at sea to witness what their loved ones do at sea. We sailed around the top of Scotland in perfect seas and passed the snow-covered Island of Skye on one of the most picturesque days possible. The views were fantastic. We made our way down the East coast to Newcastle, where the ship received over 5,400 visitors who queued in sub zero temperatures and driving rain to come onboard the Navy’s Fleet Flagship, most of them in T-Shirts and Newcastle FC tops. Meanwhile I had every bit of cold weather clothing on I could wear, most of it I used in Nepal!

The ship held a reception onboard for the Queen Elizabeth Class Carriers Key Stakeholders Group, who are involved in the construction of the new Queen Elizabeth Class carriers (QE Class), aspects of which are being constructed in the North-West. There was also a cocktail party for the Lord Lieutenant and invited guests in the hangar with a ceremonial sunset. Now, after making some phone calls to HQBS I realised that a dream of mine would be able to come true. No band was available to perform a ceremonial Sunset and beat retreat due to other commitments, so yes I had to don my ceremonials, white helmet and polish my brasses. Then my dream, well I say dream more of a nightmare, came to fruition. I was going to have to play Sunset on my Bugle! In front of nearly 300 guests! On my own! A horn player not even trained in any way on the bugle! So, as I marched out (first time I have done any marching since I joined the ship) with the Naval Guard to my position and stood smartly to attention, gleaming brasses, sharp creases, brilliant white helmet, I realised that I had no white gloves on! Still it was too late, the guard came to attention, “One minute to Sunset Sir”, my heart began to race; what note does it start on? How to pitch it? Too late, here we go…

…Perfect start, right pitch, no split (I know, it's me, but I didn’t split it!), got the start, then disaster; in my mind I forgot how it went… only for a second, then it all came back to me, note perfect and a cracking salute that any American war film would be proud of at the end! Phew, hats off to all the Buglers who do it all the time; it doesn’t half make you sweat!

Well that’s all for now folks, we have some exercises to do and I need to brush up again. Anyone seen a copy of “In Which We Serve”?

“once round the lighthouse skipper?”

Jon

Jon Moss
RM Det CSGT/VBI/Postie/PDM Embarked Forces
HMS Ark Royal, BFPO 212

Last updated August 2010