We are honoured to announce that Admiral Sir Philip Jones GCB DL has kindly agreed
to succeed Captain Patrick Walker CBE as the Club’s Patron. Sir Philip, who was born in
Bebington and attended Birkenhead School, had a long and distinguished Naval career
rising to First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff. Since retirement from the Navy he has
undertaken several positions including amongst others President of the Marine Society
and Sea Cadets, Senior Naval Advisor for BAE Systems, Marine Non Executive Director
for the Port of London Authority, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the National Museum
of the Royal Navy. Sir Philip is also a Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University and
Honorary President of the Birkenhead Sea Cadets.

His full biography is under the History tab.

The Battle of the Atlantic Memorial team were awarded the prestigious Positive Impact Award at this year’s ceremony. Details in the Events page.

Details and photos of the trip are in the Events pages.

Captain Walker who has been our Patron since 2015 indicated that he wished to stand
down at the AGM. During his tenure Patrick has always shown a keen interest in our
activities and has been a longstanding and staunch supporter of the Sea Urchins. The
Club thanked him for his sterling service and took the opportunity to present him with
a commemorative plaque at our February lunch. As an Honorary member we look
forward to his continued membership and participating in our activities when time and
other commitments allow.

Two of our members have been honoured last week:

Dame Lorna Muirhead DCVO DBE SRN SCM CStJ FRCOG FRCM was awarded the Freedom of the City of Liverpool.

Lieutenant Commander (SCC) Toni Cioma MBE RNR was awarded the Freedom of the City of Chester.

Many congratulations to both of them.

An invitation was received to attend the unveiling of a memorial to HMS VIMIERA at Sandbach Town Hall.

The ship was adopted by Sandbach and was unfortunately sunk with the loss of many lives. See the V and W Association full report:

Warships Week in Sandbach, Cheshire (vandwdestroyerassociation.org.uk)

From L to R Lt Cdr John Glover, Cdr Tom Cunningham and Lt Nic Fellowes attended the event on 8 January 2023.

THE JOURNALS OF CAPTAIN HENRY JOHNSTONE TEMPERLEY GREY RD RNR

Henry Temperley Grey was born in Weston-Super-Mare on 20th February 1875, the son of a Congregational Minister. He went to sea at the age of 15 and as you will read, had a wonderful career all over the world and of course, was one of the founders and President of the Royal Naval Reserve Officers’ Club, Liverpool in 1925.
His Grandson, Chris Tilley, kindly lent John Glover the original journals and also the typed carbon copy, so that he might transcribe them and add reader’s notes and photos/scans to enhance the book. He has tried to incorporate as many of Captain Temperley Grey’s original photos as possible.
With grateful thanks to Chris for not only the opportunity to edit these journals but to be privy to his personal papers and enjoy a fantastic read! He wrote his story in the mid-1940s and apart from having his notes over the years, he has added descriptions of the places visited and also historical information about them – all in the days before search engines! He had a wonderful way of telling us about the people, places, fauna and flora.
The language is of the time and readers should be aware of this as nothing has been changed in order to preserve authenticity.

The book is now on our website. Go to the Centenary Book Tab and scroll down to the bottom and then click on the image of the book cover to open and read it.

The Club is saddened to hear of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and our thoughts are with King Charles III and his family.

God save the King.

A copy of the new Rules adopted at the recent AGM are available in the Members’ area.

Commander Tom Cunningham RD* RNR has acquired a book, privately published in 1944, entitled ‘One Year of Life – The Story of H.M.S. Prince of Wales’.  ln spite of its age it is in good condition with the original jacket and signed by the younger of the two authors. The book was presented to the current ship  and photos of the event are shown in the Events section.