Phot Blog

Hello all from everyone here in sunny Scotland.  Young Ioan “Iggy” Roberts and myself have just returned from a thoroughly enjoyable task covering the start of the tall ships race in Liverpool. This event happens every year; unfortunately in years gone by we have been unable to give this event the coverage it deserves, due to operational commitments. 

This year however, we had a quiet start to the week and PO Tam McDonald decided that it would be a good experience for me and Iggy to cover a high profile event such as this.

The race gave young “Iggy” his first chance to fly in one of the black cat Lynx helicopters from Yeovil, mainly due to the persistence of Petty Officer “Flo” Ford, who convinced the aircrew that optimum stills and video coverage was required. 

They were tasked to capture imagery from the air, whilst I was on HMS Ranger with the BBC 24 team capturing stills.  This introduced me to the joys of what only can be described as hell on earth.  I had never encountered sea sickness before “after all I’m more used to being under the water than on top of it.”  (by editor: Yes, it was really choppy on the River Mersey, Del…)

Once I overcame the motion of the ocean, I did manage to capture some lovely stills and young Iggy didn’t do to bad either, as you can see from this Blog.

 The bars were open late on Sunday night so we managed to get ashore in order to seek out some culture in some of Liverpools famed clubs and pubs - but failed dismally. We even saw some artifacts that are renowned works of modern art - which we thought was a building site. Art is very subjective, I suppose….

On our return to Faslane Julian “Mez” Merrill had just returned from Plymouth with tales of a certain Killik phot who likes to socialise wearing his flying suit: “Steve if you want to borrow some civvies let us know.”

Kelly is in the process of editing through all her pic’s form Belize and from what I have seen so far - its standby Peregrine trophy….

Adolph McDonald is still keeping a tight rain on us and Dougie is on his summer leave, which gives him one less thing to worry about. With the boss sat at the top of the Faslane food chain keeping us all in check, things couldn’t be better.

It is rumored that we are getting a visit from Alex Cave later in the week; something to do with her going to see some folk band that no-ones ever heard of. Maybe this band thing is just a ruse and that she’s really coming up here to see us. Suddenly ther’s been several “blonde” jokes for some unknown reason. The section will treat her to a wee Dram ‘o’ Whisky, as no doubt the southern lovely might find it a we bit chilly up here.

Enjoy,

Cheers Del!   

A routine Tuesday morning at HMNB Clyde…or so it seems! A V-Class submarine is due to depart on a routine patrol, escorted by the CMU Clyde Marine Unit” and FPGRM “Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines”, as part of the newly instated OP Imperious.  PO(Phot) Julian “Mez” Merrill, was to accompany myself POA(Phot) Tam McDonald in one of the CMU rib’s shooting video whilst I captured the stills.  We also had LA(Phot) Del Trotter placed in a cab from RNAS Gannet SAR flight capturing aerial imagery.

All was in place for our forthcoming tasking all we had to concern ourselves with was the Faslane weather.  Not so much if it was going to rain, as in at what part of the day it would rain.  For those of you who have served in this glorious country of mine, you will understand where I am coming from.  Don’t get me wrong we do on the very odd occasion see the sun; unfortunately it is normally behind a rain cloud. 

The serial got of to a flying start with a 2 hour delay on the departure of the boat, “the joys of being a phot”.  The cab landed on and Del gave the aircrew a guided tour of our section, whilst I and Mez sat on the RIB in the Gareloch and spun some dit’s to the soon to be sleeping MOD Police (who’ve heard it all before…). Once we got the confirmation that all was “green” it was a mad panic to get into place, and when the cab got into the air they had to hang around a while whilst the “Mighty V” was nudged out of her berth. Del maanged to capture a great shot of the aircrewman whilst they were circling around.  

Once underway we set about the task in hand, conning the Rib’s and CAB into the relevant positions for optimum coverage of the evolution.  Unfortunately the cab had to bang out after only 15 min’s into the tasking, which left me and Mez to follow the “mighty V” all the way to the drop off point.  However I am sure you will agree young Trotter still managed to make the best out of a bad situation, capturing some beautiful images of the V-Boat and the aircrew onboard the cab.   

The two old PO’S didn’t do to bad either, capturing some great video footage and some up to date images of a V-class submarine.  It has to be said she looked her age; hence a majority of the images are captured featuring her best side.  

This shot is of one of the RM “Orc” boats next to the bow of “Mighty V”. 

All images are on the BBS for your perusal, but we’ve put a few here to wet your appetite …

Cheers Tam

FRPU(N)

This Monday morning I was greeted with the sight of a slim bronzed goddess, who returned from Belieze yesterday morning - after two weeks photographing jungle training for FPGRM, then five days in Cancun to recouperate. Yes, it was Kelly McAlinden - who I was starting to worry about as i hadn’t heard anything for the past three weeks. Kelly had a great time. A challenging time, but an experience she enjoyed immensely. I think “grinning from ear to ear” is the correct terminology….

Her main kit is still travelling back from Belieze, but she did manage to bring some shots back with her - which were all taken on the trusty Canon G9….

Kelly was well looked after by FPGRM, and they appreciated her level of fitness - in that she was able to lug a bergen, take pics and keep up with the lads. She even got in some weapons firing, including the remington 12-bore - which she proved adept at using - so lookout lads…  As well as siders, scorpions and all other manner of wee-beasties, she enjoyed the challenge, the poor weather, the mud and the rain. Strange girl! 

Although she spent some of her time back at HQ, she did spend a few overnights out on patrol and living in the jungle - which she has the insect bites to prove. She loved every minute of it. One thing she did think made the difference, was having a good level of fitness, which I’m sure there’s a moral in here somewhere. She’s now on a few days leave, and even though she’d had little sleep, she popped in this morning to offload her G9 images. Next week, when she’s put all her main images to bed, I’ll ask her to put some more pics on here as well as some thoughts about here experience.

There was also tales of dank and dingy bars in Belieze, good runs ashore, lots of good and bad food - and of course, lots of good photo-opportunities - which she took full advantage of. Before she dissapeared I asked he is there was anything she didn’t like or were there any problems, whilst away. “No, I enjoyed every minute” she replied with a beaming smile. 

Lastly - the Canon G9 is a superb little camera. Its a shame she didn’t have an Olympus Mju weatherproof camera, as she said that she would have been able to get into some more difficult circumstances, but regardless of this, all her kit survived the trip. Shooting on her D2x throughout, her kit never let her down, which as always - is a testament to Nikon. Anyway, more next week.

As I’m sure you all are now aware, the ship had a drugs bust. Sadly I can not go into to much detail as to what happened but I can give a little overview of how a RN photographer was used for the detention.

The cab (Mk 3 Lynx Helicopter) was going to do some morning surface runs, I decided to see how the D3 would handle the conditions so joined the flight for the dawn run. I must say I was very pleased with the results got some very nice images for 4am, which some of the press have used. Just shows how good the D3 actually is.

I was on the flight deck with the flight doing the general shots of people at work and the cab refuelling, when I was piped to the bridge and informed of the situation and told to prepare myself. From then on it all went a little hectic. I pushed myself onto the command reminding them that they had quite a good asset onboard for Intel and PR.

Once the vessel was in the process of being stopped I was taking images of the vessel and of the Sea Boats going out to the boat. As things go the ship was quite far away and I only have a 200mm lens so as you can imagine the images weren’t up to much and the vessel taking up les than 10% in the frame. I was pleasantly I must say as the D3 pulled through again, I was able to zoom right into the image and still make out quite a lot of detail, for a little while the bridge crew were using Intel straight from the screen at the back of the camera, just showing how good the D3 can be. Later these images were sent to the authorities.

After awhile it was decided more Intel was required so I was tasked to go onto one of the sea boats and recover some. This done in not the nicest of conditions, all images were then sent on and used by the ship of Intel and boarding preps.

That was my job done until the boarding had taken place, the cargo discovered and the decisions on what to do with it all. Then the historical aspect of the bust with drugs coming onboard had to be captured, this all happened at around midnight to 2am local time, so yes very dark indeed. This is where I had a few difficulties, the camera was finding it very hard to auto focus on anything as the light was so poor even with all the upper deck lighting on and I was finding it very hard to manual focus as I also could hardly see anything and with the fast moving action it was almost impossible. I stood back from the scene and thought of 2 seconds then got one of the buffers party to get me a high powered torch as I was thinking that if I use the torch as the point of focus, it should illuminate the subject focal point enough for the auto focus to work. Sadly the high powered torch turned out to be a pusser’s right angle so no high powered torch, but it did give enough light to focus most of the time, obviously the only problem now was that I had to hold the torch in my left hand so manual focus practically went out of the window, but I still managed to do what I needed to. I’ve now requested a head porch so hopefully if anything like that happens again it will be a little easier.

Also during some of the image gathering I used the creative lighting system to lighten up the background. So I had my on camera flash with a second SB800 positioned behind or to the side of the subject just to give a little illumination to the background or surrounding areas. That whole exercise was finished around 3am, so a long old day.

Later in the morning I managed to talk the ship into allowing me to go away in the sea boat and capture some images of the operation to check out the sea worthiness of the vessel and a final check onboard. This was interesting as I was given control of all aspects of the tasking, that’s the ship, cab and the sea boats.

Once all that was completed the images were sent away for the relevant clearance and upon that clearance the images were sent to the DNI (Defence News Imagery) Website for the release to the press.

At last minute a quick CV picture for the captain was required so that was taken on the bridge wing with the pylorus.

There are quite a few things I have learnt from this detainment.

Firstly and mainly is how much a photographer has to press the command to remind them you are onboard and what you can do for the ship, in all aspects of the job from Intel, to PR and also damage sustained in the event. I’m not sure if it’s just this ship or if it’s the whole fleet in general but that was a real shock for me.

Secondly is how good the kit we have actually is, a number of time away in the sea boat I had to use the water tight Lowepro backpack and it got a lot of gofers and everything stayed bone dry. Plus not to mention the outstanding capabilities of the D3 it kept surprising at every turn.

Thirdly is the personal experience of the whole thing. I am more than sure my photography and my handling of tough and sometimes dangerous situations has improved vastly, having to handling of the command and personnel to make the most out of the situation for all concerned is difficult and once done changes your whole work ethic around this type of situation for the better.

I will try and keep you informed of the rest of my deployment. The ship is currently back to its original tasking and preparing to anchor of Montserrat on Monday, where we have a MNT (Minor News Team) Team joining, which I will become a part of while they are onboard.

Hello all thought it was about time that I got onto here and posted about Fleet Sea. It’s only taken me 15 min’s to load the site up so not to long lol. Where to begin:

I am currently deployed to HMS Iron Duke which is a Type 23 Frigate for those of you who didn’t know. The ship is currently on APT(N) where the ship will operate in a nunmber of roles primarily ready to assist the Caribbean Islands during the core hurrican season, August to October.  The ship will also be working closely with United States Coast Guard forces in support of the hunt for drug smugglers across the Caribbean region.

I do not really have a main photographic role onboard. I offer all the same utilites as a shore unit does apart from the fact I don’t have any printing facilities. My jobs onboard range from grip and grins, defects, groups to int work and obviously PR. I also capture every day life onboard so flight deck sports, circuits and social events all get taken and then released onto the public drive for the ship to access.

I deployed onboard with one brand new HP laptop with all the usual software including CS3 and the latest versions of Nikons software. Along with that was a portablke satelite system with various accessories. Photogrphically I deployed with a Nikon D3 with a 24-70mm lens and a 14-28mm lens all new lenses for the D3, this camera kit is my main camera, as a back up I have a D2Xs with the samer lenses aswell as a 80-200mm which I also use for my D3 with vary good results, I have 2 SB800 issued aswell as my own SB600 for creative lighting. I also have a 500G hard drive which is my own and my own laptop with simular software as my issued one. On the video side I have a PD170 with me for any video footage that is required.

I joined the ship in Barbados on 22 June to not the most healthy of welcomes. There were a few issues right from the start. Firstly the living accommodation, the ship is currently well over mannad and as a result of the next 5 months im sleeping on a camp bed down in the Ops room annex along with the 2 Royal Marine Snipers. This commpartment does have itss good points, it has its own fridge and is cool, but the constant hourly rounds and coms between the bridge, ops room and any one els who wants to can and to be honest is slightly annoying.

There was no office set asside for me to work in, which I soon rectified with some begging, but the compartment didn’t have any 240v plugs in there and has no secure stowage. I managed to get a transformer for 240v power but the secured stowage is sadly not avaliable. As the compartment is shared with the WE’s it is in constant use, so no equipment can be left out (Laptops etc..) and has to be packed away when not in use, so fast turn around of images is not very fast.

The ship was slow at first, it seems the ship wasn’t very pro PR. My first week was extreamly hard, trying to get jobs and keep myself busy. Things that did help was as soon as I had an navy star account (ships computer system) I emailed all the ships company introducing myself and informing them what I have to offer and how I can be used. This went down very well with some job offers, but most others have been generated myself through reading daily orders.

I have to be honest from not the best starts it has sort of straightend itself out and im really enjoying myself now. The ship has realised the importance of a photographer onboard quite early due to something that has recently happened onboard. Sadly at this time I can not go into more details, but just watch the news and you will soon see what I mean, and as soon as I can I will update the post on this story.

Im going to leave it there for now and carry on the post after our news is out so which I think will be a little more interesting. One thing I do have to say, it only took a week for the ships attitued towards a photographer to change, I went from a hastle always asking for things they didn’t want to give me to probably one of the most important jobs onboard, that just shows how important and unrecognised our branch goes as a whole. I hope you listen out to the news and read the papers to see what I mean, and hopefully I wil have enough time to upload images soon.

Hello - to the several people who actually read this BLOG…. Well last week started off looking like a slow week, with lots of small jobs and enough time to let the lads play catch-up from the previous week, but that soon changed and it soon became a busy week. Douggie went upto Aberdeen this weekend for HMS Shoreham’s visit to Aberdeen. Here’s two of douggies pics, which are lovely:

This shot of Douggies is when some of the Shoreham crew visited Aberdeen’s football club. The lad jumping for joy actually supports Aberdeen. Looking at the expressions from the other lads - I suppose someone has to support Aberdeen…

Del also went upto the Commando memorial at Spean Bridge on Sunday and captured some lovely shots of the memorial service there. He was using his own Nikon D300 - which is a great camera, far better then the D2X. I’ve had a play with his D300, and it really is a superb little camera. The image quality is better then the D2, the white balance is superb, plus it shares some of the same qualities of the D3. Its a great camera. If anyone’s thinking of a new camera and can’t justify a D3 - then get a D300. Here’s another nice picture:

Last week there was the families day at HMS Gannet, and here’s a photo that shows how all RN Pilots are truly multi-tasking… Is that a butterfly he’s painting on the child’s face, or a sea-skua target….

Young Iggy went to Newport (South Wales) to photograph HMS Severn’s march through the city.  He had a good time, and this was his first “civic marchpast”, which was a good exoperience for him. I’ve included the picture of the goat for all other people of welsh origin who like goat’s….

Gaz was off to HMS Caliope in Newcastle to photograph a large parade. HMS Dauntless is going to be affilliated to Newcastle, so this was the first visit to newcastle by the SHips Company of HMS Dauntless - which I’m sure there will be many to come in the coming years.  This is a nice shot with the landmark bridge in the background.

And Del’s ben busy again, with yet more Police Dog shots; this time with their mature dogs undergoing training. And before you ask….no, I don’t know the name of the dog, but he’s a cute looking chap, isn’t he?

Well - that was the week that was……  This week also promises to be varied. We also had out fair share of presentations last week, and nothing changes as we’ve got several this week, too We have got some boat movements, but nothing serious, so this wek promises to be a really quiet week. Kelly is in Mexico this week. She had two weeks in Belieze with FPGRM to photograph their jungle training. They now have five days in Cancun (Mexico) for R&R. I know that Kelly packed a bikini, some te shirts and shots, a sarong and some flip-flops, so I’m pretty sure that kelly will be spending most of this week on the beach. And why not!  

I recently found this on the web, snd i couldn’t resist putting it on here for young Iggy. When he goes home at weekends, amongst other things - like driving a customised land-rover over extreme terrain and plying women with cider - he’s also a member of the North Wales chapter of the “Young farmers Cow Tipping Team”. This is just for him….

Lastly…as Building Officer we’ve been having lots of problems over the past two years with the roof leaking. Last year they decided that the building was past its sell-by date and they were going to knock it down. Hmmmm, problem. Where do we all go to? They’ve now decided that they are going to re-tar the roof and that we are going to stay here for three more years. I reckon it’ll be closer to five years (five years, stuck on my mind…. ahhh, David Bowie lyrics stick with you for life) before we move out of here, but the good thing is that they are going to put us in a purpose built section. I had the space planners around again this morning (for the fourth time) and they assure me that we will be going into somewhere purpose built. They don’t know exactly where, but it will be purpose built…. I’ll almost be eligible for my bus pass by then I expect!

Er, that’s it….

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Well, here’s the first submission from the Phot birthing ground. Not as operational as some of us I know, but no doubt this school has a place in your hearts (even if it’s in a secure cupboard you keep locked!).

It’s a little quiet this week with only one operational course in progress, this gives us all the chance to catch-up with admin and prep for up and coming courses. Of course, the career courses (5300) are running with the senior one spending some time today at the Defence Operational Training Area (DOTA) - the RAF ‘learn-to-be-in-dodgy-environments’ training place - doing a spot of media ops training. The junior course are currently in Wales on R and I which sounds like a bit of a doss to me! We also have the ongoing 5300 course for 4 Saudi students.

Yammers is running around in a decorated bra with the other girls trying to blag money off of people around the camp for Breast Cancer Awareness.

Rob is prepping for up and coming courses and I’m doing the same (Pompey Ships Int) for my next course along with continued AIB and Open Uni studying.

We’ve got a sports day coming up next week which is in DISC Chicksands (we come under their umbrella) with BBQ o/c. Should be a laugh, although I’ll be in Culdrose for a visit…

Pompey Blog

Life in Pompey Section, well it is very busy at the moment though manpower is increasingly thin on the ground. An air of excitement is around the section too as we are all eagerly awaiting the move to the new section.

Fleet Sea’rs

Pete is back from the Westminster having sat off the coast of Burma, hoping to be allowed to go ashore and help out with the disaster relief….as you now know after 4 weeks they weren’t.

Pete has had some well deserved leave and is now back at work busy being the section killick and also with the help of Owen undertaking work from Lt Cowpe, to devise a long term kit issue for fleet Sea’rs that would go on a ship prior to it sailing and also then a ‘flying’ kit for when the fleet Sea’rs has to go at short notice. 

Owen is currently doing pre deployment preps getting in date for his drills etc prior to him joining the Kent on 17th July for a Far East deployment, whilst in Yeovil doing his pool and sea drills he popped into the section for a cuppa and Kev Preece got him turned to!!! 

Jay has joined HMS Iron Duke and was turned to on the first day covering a Ceremonial Sunset so at least he is going to be busy!! He loves his five star accommodation – a camp bed in the Ops Room annex!! He has a meeting with the VIP today which he is looking forward to. I won’t dit on too much about him as he is keen to put his own blog on!! 

Me – well I am back from my Op Seahorse Project and had a thoroughly enjoyable time as well as learning a lot!! Bit gutted I am not joining Angie on the Iron Duke but you never know what is around the corner!! I am keeping myself busy by organising the Phot Navy Merchandise!! Get your orders in!!! 

Nick and Jannine are still in I-Rack as the Yanks would say.

Fleet Shore:

Dave Jenkins has been loaned to Yeovil section whilst they are low on manpower so he is busy helping them whilst nursing his hand, he was shot last week, but don’t panic it was only by a paint ball!!! 

Dave Gallagher has a new job and his title is DAVE as in the TV Channel!! He is the video production killick and also Steve Saywell’s boss oh sorry assistant!! Dave has also been looking after the welfare of the ‘live-in’ killicks and cooked them all dinner last night! 

Simmo is currently helping with the section work and also working on his taskbook and preps for his PPE. Yesterday he was in Portland doing some work with RFA Sir Tristram and is busy this weekend as he is duty and there are a few jobs. 

Caroline has been poorly – ahhh!! So after a couple of days sick on shore (anything to get out of a victory dinner!!) she has returned to the section full of vivality!! And is spending all day at HMS Temeraire covering the inter command Hockey. 

Gary and Chris are currently on resettlement before leaving Her Majesty’s finest; Gary is fulfilling his passion for maritime photography on a cruise on the Ventura. 

Boss, Dee and Scooby are busy sorting out the move to the new section and also integrating the new workflow and software, lots of stressed bosses so all the killicks keep making them lots of wets and Pete being Pete has to be a black catter and provide them finest white choc chip and raspberry biscuits mmm divs!!! 

A new broom has been sweeping clean through the section this week as PO Brad Bradbury has joined as the section and production PO, lots of good changes are inbound.  Brad has been settling into the swing of things!! He was very excited at the news of his new desk being put into place in the new section!! 

Chris Wenham is currently spinning everyone land rover dits whilst he is waiting for his DV for his new job at JARIC. He has also been away for a couple of days in Weymouth covering a sailing regatta.

Paul Punter is preparing himself for lots of sleepless nights and nappy changes as he became a father to Bethany Linda on Weds at 1400 she was 7lb 7oz – that’s cheap!!    

MNT 

Nicky has just taken over from Gary – so no adjustments of tripods needed!! And is settling into her new role of Media News Team. Nicky is also trialling the new P2 video camera and gets to try it out in action on her first MNT job on Friday!! 

Angie whilst on the Op Seahorse project prior to going to the Iron Duke is preparing herself for her extraction to officer by completing courses. Messy run ashore expected on the Iron Duke as Angie and Jay will both be coming of age as Angie will be 21 and Jay will be 16!!! 

That is it for this week, next week is going to be mainly packing up the section ready for the move whilst covering our normal jobs, sorry for the lack of pics that we have taken once I get my head round this blog thing I will put some of our pics on!! 

The unit has travelled to Thetford in Norfolk for more OPTAG training. This range package is upping the ante in readyness for the forthcoming deployment. After a quick int job in a gazelle this morning, it was time to visit Yankee Coy in a makeshift FOB.

I touched base with the range safety staff to get a feel for the 3hr evolution and put my body armour and helemt on, got my trusty Think-Tank bumbag and joined the men ready to go.

As most training, it started slow but it wasn’t long before a contact beyond the wire and every man was observing his arcs.

After the initial firefight with the patrol the whole coy came under contact, every weapon from the .50 cal to the individual rifle was unleashing the good news. Section commanders are screaming at their men, sergeants are requesting sit-reps and the officers are co-ordinating with extra firepower from other locations.

Batt sims were going off in the vacinity of the FOB and casualties were inflicted, the amount of activity going on really did make it seem as if we were under attack. Every man was envolved in one thing or another and for a moment I did not know were to put myself. Then all the coy got the order ’incoming’ at that everyone hit the deck, including me. I got off a few shots, but did not want to appear different, so did the same.

Casualties started coming in fast and furious testing the casevac procedures of the sections.  The medics were suddenly very busy and their is a hive of activity in the main building. Amunition resupplies are getting low, more casulties are being taken and at this point the possible reality of the deployment is sinking in.

 There is a final assualt by the enemy on one side of the FOB, suddenly movement in the form of reserves from other walls decending to take on this final push. There are people popping up to snap shoot at the targets and then get back down in to cover.

Its all over, the men are doing 50;50 watch and slowly winding down before moving location.

Its time for me to depart, what a day, I am happy with the images so its back to the comfort of a nissan hut to work on the them. Tomorrow CINC Fleet is visiting and Friday is a green zone assault through a river.

Its never a dull day with 45 Commando!

We seem to have good weeks, and then bad weeks - a good week being when we’re busy, and a bad week being when we’re not! Well last week was a good week with lots of things happening. It was hard going though as Gaz Weatherstone had brought a bug into the section early in the week, and by the end of the week everyone was affected - making common and quick use of the heads….. Maybe when people have stomach infections they should be put into solitary confinement for a week and made to do paperwork or go through the file-info records or something. Anyway, it made for interesting conversation last week, and it was a good premptive for fitness tests - as it certainly kept everyone on their toes!

Kelly is still in Belieze at the moment. She’s gone for two weeks jungle training with FPGRM, then a week in Mexico. As I’ve not heard anything, then everything must be going well!

Last week Iggy Roberts got back after spending a few days at sea on a V-boat taking a series of pictures for CNR. He had a great trip away and produced some fantastic images. Here’s a few to whet you’re appetite:

We had several other jobs last week. The first biggie was Gaz spending a two days in the Cairngorms with an exped team. At one point they were hiking across the top of a mountain and Gaz had an idea for a low level shot, so he lay-down to take a picture. Someone looked back and saw Gaz on the ground, and thinking he was in trouble, they all raced over to Gaz to rescue him. It messed his shot up a treat…  Here’s a nice shot he took whilst on two-wheels:

We also got a new puppy at the MOD Police kennels. The dog’s name is “Thorn” and he’s actually sponsored by Royal Canine Dog food. I actually think the dog is smilling miore than the MOD Plod…

We also had a visit by the by the BBC with the cast of “Nina and the Nurions” (whatever that is). They were here to shoot a childrens program about how submarines work.  What’s amazing is that a whole crew came in to do the shooting in a place where we have to get several sets of clearances. I suppose being with the BBC helps…

This week’s a bad week in two distinct ways: one being that there’s not a great deal on - a few prezo’s, a families day, some groups and a freedom of the city march-through; the other being that we’ve got a military funeral to cover. Yet another fatality of Afghanistan. 

Del’s is still striving to pass his fitness. I’m sure we’re close now. Also, Douggie is starting to prepare for his next trip away. One of the most crucial aspects of last week - was that the newly refurbished Ukkers board was put into firm action. Thanks to Del for this. As we’re talking Ukkers, I suppose we have to assume their playing names. Tam the Terrible, Deadly Del and Dangerous Douggie are a few that come to mind…

 The new board is proving a success with the lunchtime-team in that although the reigning champion (Tam) managed to achieve an 8-piece thrashing (his name is etched into the bottom of the board), unfortunately for him, since the refurb he’s not managed the same level of sixes, which is causing him some consternation. Here’s Tam the Terrible and Dangerous Douggie putting the new board through its paces, with a picture of the new board.  

That’s it for now. Hopefully we’ll have something interesting next week, too. Maybe the finals of the Nintendo Wee competition - as that’s another lunchtime pastime that causes a lot of “competitiveness”…