AROUND 20 of the members of HMS Conway still living in the Bangor area, most in their late 70s and 80s, gathered on sunny Bangor Pier, to start the celebrations of their ship's 150th anniversary.
The Mayor of Bangor, Cllr Jean Forsyth, and most of the men’s wives came to support these ex-merchant seamen all of who had served during the Second Word War. They had served and sailed in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans carrying their vital cargoes to support the war effort as well as feed, clothe and arm the British Empire.
Most of the men had joined HMS Conway as boys, some as young as 14, training to be officers in the Merchant Navy. Their training lasted two tough years, and they came out as men.
The ship’s motto was “Quit ye like men, be strong.”
Old Conway boy Frank Kirkham remembered his two years from 1941 to 1943 as “having an atmosphere that was second to none, never bettered, even at sea.”
After his graduation, Frank served with the convoys in the north Atlantic, evading the hunter killer German submarine packs, and then for the next 30 years at various ports around Africa.
HMS Conway was built in 1859, of sturdy English oak; it was moored in Liverpool, but the German bombers made it relocate to Plas Newydd near the Menai Bridge where it stayed as a training ship until finally closing in 1974.
The Old Conway 150th Anniversary Reunion was held in the Adelphi in Liverpool on Saturday, and was packed with about 786 members and their partners, many of who had travelled from as far as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. The evening was attended by First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope. A memorial service was help in Liverpool Cathedral on Sunday.
HMS Conway produced more than 11,000 officers during it’s time, of which some 1,600 are still living and spread around the world. These graduates were not
only tough merchant seafaring officers, including four Victoria Cross holders, but also many famous characters such as: John Masefield (intake1891-93), Poet Laureate from 1930 to 1967; Capt Matthew Webb, the first man to swim the channel in August 1875.
Richard Martin, who organised the Bangor Pier meeting, read a letter from Capt David Smith RN, Patron of the Old Conways Club.
“The companionship forged in these years has stood the test of time. The smell of tar and rope, the hustle and bustle as everyone moved to the sound of the bugle, will
never be forgotten.”