One of the North’s leading naval officers is calling for help from the public to build up a picture of the way that the Royal Navy has left its mark on the region’s streets and landmarks.
Commander Andy Collier is the Commanding Officer of HMS Calliope, the Royal Naval Reserve unit in Gateshead, with a ship’s company of around 120, the unit covers a wide expanse of the region from the Scottish Borders down to Leeds and across to Cumbria.
The North East has a proud association with the Royal Navy. Notable examples are Lord Collingwood from Morpeth who fought in the Battle of Trafalgar, the World War 2 submarine base at Blyth and of course, the hundreds of ships built on the Tyne including HMS Ark Royal, HMS King George V and HMS Newcastle.
Commander Collier is keen to engage the North East public by asking them to think about the naval connections hidden in their local street signs and landmarks.
“There are literally thousands of streets named after famous vessels or naval battles,” he said.” For example in Newcastle we have Nelson Street near to the Theatre Royal and we also have Hood Street nearby which was named after Admiral Hood and also one of our most famous battleships.
“We’d love members of the public to help us by sending in a photo of showing them alongside a naval related street sign, the more obscure the better. We have a Facebook page where the public can upload their photos to an online gallery and one lucky winner will receive a VIP guided tour of our unit and the chance to take part in some of our activities.”
There has been a Royal Naval Reserve presence on Tyneside since 1905, when Tyne Division of the RNVR was formed. For its first training ship, the Division chose the famous HMS Calliope, veteran of the Samoa Hurricane, which was berthed at Elswick in Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1951, the original HMS Calliope was replaced by HMS Falmouth which was renamed Calliope. This new ship kept the same moorings at Elswick. The unit moved ashore in 1968 to its current location, retaining the name HMS Calliope.
Anyone wishing to send in a photo can post it to the Streets Ahead with the RNR Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/StreetsAheadwithRNR
Ends. Photo shows Commander Collier at Hood Street
