The Second HMS Manchester Association

Dashing Destroyer Duo in Great Paris Cycling Sensation

Champs of the Champs Elysees

By our cycling correspondent: - A Spokesman

Parisien traffic was brought to a halt on Sunday September 4th as popular pulverisers of the pedals Dan Daly and Roger Jones completed their charity cycle ride in aid of the Royal British Legion in fine style. Mentally and physically exhausted after four days in the saddle - and an even longer period in the bars recovering afterwards, Dan and Roger kindly interrupted their post peddling pxss up to thank 2MA and shipmates for all their sponsorship.

There's still time to add to Dan and Roger's sponsorship - Just click on the links below

And so to 1988 and Alan actually arrives at the top of the sea roster (Shock!, Horror!, Where's my counsellor?) Drafty - as always full of compassion, understanding and not wanting to disappoint, hands our hero a draft to Her Majesty's Finest, the Mighty Manch. To lessen the shock of having to become a real sailor, he is drafted as the SCOT maintainer - except that it isn't fitted - so Alan resigns himself to a life of being hostage to the bar... and his pit! However, his dedication to service life is worthy of an award, and on one of those days when he wasn't ashore retrieving his spex from some den of iniquity where he had left them the night before, (It's lucky you don't wear glasses, Wayne!), our hero is summoned to the bridge for the prestigious award of his Lack of Sea time and Golden blanket Certificate. Lenny Bilton, the official ships photographer was in attendance, and all concerned smiled, posed and looked the part as Lenny happily snapped away. Unfortunately, and here is the sad part of the story, such happy scenes are not recorded for posterity as, ahem, Lenny never actually loaded a film! Oh dear, how sad, never mind!

Outside since 1996, having cracked another loosely termed sea draft to the Red Plum, Alan is still involved in the world of satellite communications - he subscribes to Sky - and resides in the Portsmouth area. He is proud to be a founder member of the Second HMS Manchester Association.

Alan Ivison joined Pusser UK Ltd in 1972 as a JEM2, and after the obligatory inconvenience of basic training at Raleigh, he was off to Collingrad for Pinky Faggot Indoctrination. Our "crusher of crystals" early ships included Gurkha (refit), Fife (refit), Ark Royal (alongside the wall somewhere) and the Shakey Blakey, and so with the vagaries of drafting and ship's programmes he cracked four ships in his first seven years in the mob...but less than two years actual sea time! (He claims to have visited China, Russia and the USA during this time - probably courtesy of HMS Thomas Cook!)

Then came "the wilderness years", nine years away from the grey and crinkly stuff with drafts to Neptune, Collingwood (for Tiffy Training, yawn!), Mercury and Whitehall - where lodging allowance was surprisingly far greater than sea going pay! a bitter pill for our hero to swallow! Indeed, the only ships our electronics expert ever saw were from the balcony of his pad in Gibraltar! Yep, he was forced to suffer a foreign married accompanied too!

Ned Naylor joined Pusser UK in 1982 as a sprog RP and in a pensionable career, sailed the seven seas on Exeter, Jupiter, Montrose and Cardiff - interspersed by two drafts to that graceful greyhound of the globe - the Mighty Manch! (which immediately identifies him as a lucky b@stard!). He also cracked shxtloads of shore time at the Radar Ratings Rest Home, HMS Dryad. Joining D95 for the first time immediately after the infamous cruise of '86, and the subsequent torture of wall to wall global dits, our hero's own good run ashore recollections are naturally less exotic. However, he readily pays tribute to a Mr & Mrs Watson of Doha who grippoed half of Ned's mess and lashed them up an absolute stinker! (What nice folks!). This same mess also descended en-masse on the unsuspecting city of Nottingham en-route to a recording of a popular TV Quiz Show. Such was the fun and frolics of this run ashore, that Ned chose the pool table of the "General Gordon" public house to demonstrate the noble naval art of Zulu Warrior, which drew raptuous applause from an enthralled audience - stand fast the two guys playing pool at the time! Another of our motley band who likes to mingle with the criminal classes, Ned is now a Physical Education Instructor in the Prison Service. Evidently his role as a PTI in civvy deeks is all part of a new Home Office initiative to cut the number of incarcerated people, and it works like this:-

PTI's make the prisoners fitter, when they are outside and back to a life of crime, it's easier for them to escape from the old bill! Less captures equals less court cases equals less convictions equals less prisoners equals less haute cuisine victualling, colour TV's, Blu-ray DVD's saunas and other prison creature comforts etc. equals less expense - End Result? Everyone's a winner! How good is that?!

Married to his childhood sweetheart, Karronann, Ned lives somewhere in the home counties - look out for Ned doing star jumps at the bar at our next re-union - unless of course it's his round! He is chuffed to bits to be a founder member of the 2nd HMS Manchester Association.