...THE BEST BASH THIS SIDE OF BUGIS STREET... 

...has happened at the King Charles Hotel  Gillingham, Kent....

Click pic from more

            The Comms Dept. mustered at 19:00 hrs Sat 29th Sept 2001

and as usual, Pusser Hills was late, wearing

borrowed kit by the look of it and carrying a

 large green cabbage thoughtfully brought to the

reunion for the vegetarians of which there were

none... 

Those ticked off and present for duty were:

Bungy Edwards from Australia, 

Polly Ellis, Mick Goddard, Paul Guezenec, 

Iain Hannah from a drill rig

in the North Atlantic where ever that is, Pusser Hills,

 Brian Hindley, George Laybourne (who kindly sang

for his supper), 

Paddy Marshall, Robbie Monaghan ( the reunion 

organiser), Fez Parker from Egypt (He didn't 

bring his Mummy), 

Sugar Plumb from the US of A, Tam Ryan, 

Solly Speakman, Cat Stevens from Belgium, 

Jed Stone and last and least Biffo Four, "Three Lawns" White.

Guests of Honour

Freda Jackson - wife of the late Lt. Cdr. Jackson

and her son Paul.

Briefly, the night started the previous day and at approx.,

20:00 hrs, Robbie gave a speech, ( at least he said it was).

He thanked everyone for coming and reminded us of those

that couldn't come with particular reference to Pete Hammel

who suffered a nasty illness from which we all hope he will

make a swift and total recovery.

We all remembered the late Lt. Cdr. Jackson, the best

D.O. and S.C.O. any of us had on any ship.

Robbie thanked George Laybourne for supplying our weekly

news sheet and heading the HMS Sheffield inquiry petition.

Pusser Hills was thanked for the excellent website.

.

After a standing ovation, that went on for several hours, Robbie presented

Freda Jackson with a ships' crest which was signed by all. A huge bunch

of flowers accompanied that and then Freda made a speech.

She thanked us all for treating her for the night and said she

was very sad her husband "Jacko" was not here to enjoy the evening

with her.

Robbie then finished talking and got the clap, sorry - a clap and a

big one it was too.

Paul Jackson informed us all that had his Dad, Lt. Cdr. Steve

"Jacko" Jackson been here he would have stuffed a 

pile of money behind the bar

for us all. So Paul very kindly did just that.

Shortly after that, George Laybourne together with guitar sung

a few songs from a famous Sods Opera; by Verdi, I think.

Group photographs were then taken and video footage of

"Sweet Chariot",  was recorded for posterity.

What happened after that becomes some what sketchy other than

Biffo had no shirt to go home with and Sugar Plumb got his hands on

a white ensign and was seen still clutching his rabbit on the way to the airport.

(For those that are worried about Biffo's shirt - it was found in 

the swimming pool two days later by hotel staff - Biffo wasn't in it.)

A truly memorable evening and photos will be added as they

come in to prove it.. 

So it's a big thank you to Robbie who found us all, and

masterminded the reunion and a big thank you to

all who came and contributed to a magnificent

evening.