AT the meeting on September 8 members listened with great interest to the story of a member of the crew of a dreadnought battleship during the First World War.

The crew member was the speaker's grandfather, and during his time in the Royal Navy, which he joined in the early 1900s, he kept a diary, which has survived to the present day, and from which our speaker read of his day-to-day activities. After time serving as assistant paymaster on a royal yacht he received instructions to report to HMS Agincourt, a new dreadnought battleship nearing completion at Armstrong Whitworth's Shipyards in Newcastle. The ship was in fact being built for the Ottoman Navy under the name: Sultan Osman 1 but owing to the situation developing in Europe at the time, and the likelihood of war with Germany plus the risk that a German-Ottoman alliance may come about, the British Government decided to commandeer the ship for the Royal Navy and re-name it Agincourt. One of his jobs on board was to encode and decode signals, but because his diary revealed so much else of human interest relating to his on- and off-duty life, both on shore and at sea, it became particularly poignant in view of this year's activities of commemoration and remembrance.

If you would like to come along and enjoy listening to a good talk on one of a wide range of subjects, followed by a convivial drink at the bar, give our Chairman a call on 01386 860743, or the secretary on 01386 555153 for details.