I remember being in a queue for what seemed like all day to get on that submarine in Shoreham harbour. For whatever reason we didn't manage to get on it, but some time later I joined the Royal Navy and spent seventeen years in the Submarine Service. Perhaps if I had suceeded in getting on board the first time things may have turned out differently. Would I have wanted that ? No, most definately not! If my memory serves me correctly, that submarine was the one involved in releasing a prepared corpse into enemy waters, as part of an intelligence plan to fool the enemy as to the location of the Normandy Invasion. There was a film made of this called 'The man that never was'.

Does anyone remember the Curzon that used to be moored in Shoreham? I think that it sank in a storm, am I right? Also does anyone remember Mr. Alex Dare? I think that he was engaged in some way with the sea cadets in Hove.

HMS Curzon was the Sea Tender for the Sussex Division RNR and was moored at Maxwell's Wharf in Shoreham Harbour. She was sunk following a collision with another warship during an Annual Sea Training Exercise, one of four held annually. If I had not migrated to Australia in 1973, it is possible I would have been on HMS Curzon at that time. I spent many happy years in the RNR.

I think Mick Peirson might mean Ian Dare, he was an instructor in Hove Sea Cadets. In the front row of the photo, he is 2nd right from the man in the civilian suit, starting from the left that is! Ian was a lovely man and I knew him and his wife Rene quite well. Ian sadly died some years ago and I lost touch once my father died. I too remember the Curzon - thank you so much for jogging my memory - I was trying to recall the name. I didn't know she sank - what a shame. Thanks too for the reminder about the submarine - I think Dave is right about the connection to the 'Man that never was'. I would love to know if anyone else can remember the names of anyone in the photo or has any other memories. I know that the couple in the front row, on the right, used to be very involved with running the bingo evenings which were held every Saturday night in a hall somewhere near Hove Station. I am pretty sure the man's name was Cyril but all else is hidden in the mists of time! I used to go to the bingo regularly and helped a lovely older lady with the raffle. Afterwards, my father, Cyril, his wife and I, used to go to The Maytree on Old Shoreham Road, Hove and play Russian Billiards. Another favourite haunt of both ratings and officers was The Connaught in Hove Street. I should add that my father, Cyril (Taffy) Clifford is also in the front row of the photo above - of the 5 officer/instructors he is the last on the right. The Commanding Officer is in the middle of that group. There are a lot of familiar faces but I knew most of them a bit later than the date of the photo. I do recall John Naylor though, he is the very tall rating on the right. He was a great guy and I remember going on the back of his scooter. He was a very popular cadet and rightly so.

Well, well - memories from the past! I was in Hove Sea Cadets from 1955 until about 1962 as a cadet PO. In 1961 I joined HMS Sussex RNR as a JRO and spent the next ten fabulous years there until 1970 when I emigrated to Australia (I now live in Brisbane). (By the way, the CO of the cadets was Lt Cdr Harvey - who incidentally was the store manager of the Co-op in London Road, Brighton). As for HMS Curzon (Fittleton M1136) - after having spent many a weekend and annual 14-day training in her, it was a really sad day when she went to the bottom with the unfortunate loss of life. The annual rememberance service at the village of Fittleton keeps the memory alive. I guess we are all getting older (I cannot get any greyer!). Best wishes to all the "old" cadets including Andy Hiscock (how well I remember him and messing about in boats at Maxwells Wharf). Best regards.

By the way, the Co's No 1 was Lt Haywood I seem to remember. In civilian life he was a toolmaker at Kearney and Trecker. Funny how memories - names and faces - come back to one when one thinks about them, but for the life of me I cannot remember the name of the officer - fifth from the left, other than that he rose from being a cadet. I think he was also the winner of the Cornwell Medal, named after Boy Conwell VC of Battle of Jutland fame.

Thanks Martin - Lt Cdr Harvey - of course it was. The name was 'on the tip of my tongue' as the saying goes - just couldn't make the final connection. I will pass on your best wishes to Andy when I write.

I must thank Helen McDiarmid for jogging my memory for me about HMS Curzon and the name of Ian Dare. I was a bit confused (deterioration of the grey matter). I think that his son was called Alex. Of course I did not look at the photo properly the last time, although I had a picture of Ian in my mind's eye. On looking at the photo again I recognised him straight away - just as I remember him, looking as jovial as ever. He was always laughing. I was sad to hear that he had died. He and his wife and son were neighbours of my family in Bennett Road in the late 50s. They were a lovely family. I used to babysit for them when they went out. I think that they moved to Southwick or Shoreham. When Ian moved he left me his old car, a Morris 8, which I loved. It was also a big feather in my cap at 15 years old as a courting place, and for me and my mates to just sit in.  Best wishes.

Thought Mick Peirson might like to know that Ian Dare and family lived in Portslade for some years during the 60's- north of Benfield Way, up towards the Golf course and Hangleton. The name of the road escapes me. They later moved to Saltdean where Rene was still living some few years ago. They were indeed a lovely family. What a small world it can be - glad you too have such happy memories of them. That's how people live on isn't it?

I am so glad to see memories from those involved with Hove Unit. I joined in the early 1970s with Lt Cdr Harvey as CO, Lt Gordon Hayward as 1st Lt, S/Lt Ian Dare was an Instructor as was CPO Roberton. Robbie went on to become the Office In Charge when the Unit hit a low point. Later on my father, John Heward, joined as a Civilian Instructor and my mother joined the PFA along with Joan Kite and others. John later became Commanding Officer and my mother also became Commanding Officer in the 1990s being one of the first female COs in the Corps. I left the Cadets at 16 to join the RN as a sparker at HMS Ganges. I returned in 1981 and joined as a Petty Officer. Like my parents, I later went on to become Commanding Officer. I am still actively involved with the Unit as the fundraiser on the Unit Management Commitee. I would love to hear from any ex Cadets as 2007 is the 65th anniversary of the Unit and we are hoping to hold a reunion. Please contact me at paul_heward@hotmail.com if you would like details etc.

I have been in contact with another ex sea cadet who tells me that the Cornwell Medal winner (mentioned by Martin White) was an officer named Mitchell. The same person says he remembers that Martin was an excellent swimmer.

As an addendum to some of the items mentioned above regarding the RNR and RNVR and HMS Curzon - I have been looking for early references to the station by the King Alfred in a recently acquired a copy of Towner's Directory for 1908/9. I found the Royall Naval Volunteer Reserve listed with HQ at 5 Victoria Terrace, Hove (possibly part of Medina Esplanade, or very near it) and was very interested to see the the Commanding Officer was The Right Hon. Viscount Curzon R.N.V.R.

Hello Helen - you might be interested to know of a book "Sussex Sunday Sailors by the Sea" a history of the Royal Naval Reserve in Sussex between 1874 and 1974 produced in 1977 by Lt.Cdr R H Dingwall and printed by Hasting Printing Company. A slim volume but with lots of information.

I was in the Hove Sea Cadets from 1951 to 1955. I am pushed for time at the moment but I would love to contribute stories and photos to your 2007 project.
One thing I would love to tell you is that I recently met one of my old (cadet) ship mates after 50 years, his name is Mike Watkins. I remember the night he joined with four other cadets in the early fifties. I now live on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, coaching soccer. A couple of years ago I was conducting a football clinic on Bribie Island (Sunshine Coast) when I got in a conversation with the local club secretary about where about in England I came from. When I said Hove, she said that her husband came from Hove and his name was Mike Watkins, did I know him? I replied, "only if he was in the Hove Sea Cadets!" Well it turned out to be the same Mike and so a few weeks later I got to meet him and I would never have recognised him. When I knew him, his voice hadn't broken, he was six inches taller than me and a bit portly. He is a couple of years older than me and now I can look him straight in the eye. His memory isn't so good and I don't think he can recall much, but I have a photo of him taken at Hove Station in the 50s and I remember we both played in the Hove Sea Cadet football team. I can remember CPO 'Gus' Hayward very well. One evening he was taking us for rifle drill and barking out his orders, when his teeth flew out of his mouth onto the parade ground. I don't know how we didn't break up! But to his credit, Gus quickly picked them up, wiped them, snapped to attention and barked out the next order! He was a great officer who loved every minute of what he was doing and I admired him a great deal.

Just to let everyone know that the Unit is forming an ex Hove Sea Cadets Association linked to the PFA. We are also planning a reunion probably in November of this year to mark the 65th anniversary. Anybody interested in joining or attending the reunion, please contact me.

The 65th Anniversary Reunion will be held at the Bishop Hannington Lounge, Holmes Avenue Hove on Saturday 24th November starting at 19:00. For further details, please contact 07764 354200 or email exhove_seacadets@hotmail.co.uk The ex Hove Sea Cadets Association now has branches in Australia (rep Keith Upward) and Cyprus (rep Nobby Hall). It is hoped to have a new branch in Canada shortly.

I was delighted to find the picture on the website and the familiar faces from over 40 years ago. Sad to learn that Lt Dare had passed away, he was a very special man, as were all of the officers and instructors who gave their time to us. Helen, did your father ever tell you about the night he got shot in the leg? Before we went to Dyke Road we used to use a "range" under the building at King Alfred for .22 shooting, I do beleive it was the famous "Naylor" that fired the round accidentally, but I could be wrong! My mate Peter McKeown and I went on to join the MN at Shell Tankers, as did Trevor Cox. I am still in touch with "Mac", he is a ship's pilot in Melbourne. Before we left he was the L/S for starboard watch (Lt Mitchell) and I had "port" under Lt Dare. We moved to the USA in 78 and now live in Charleston SC. Will definitely be in touch regarding the "old boys" association.

Thanks to Terry for his comments. Yes I remember the night Dad got shot in the leg very well. It wasn't John Naylor though - unless my memory is being even less reliable than normal. I remember Dad coming home and being supported indoors as he couldn't put any weight on the injured limb. He was off work for over 6 months and always had a slight limp afterwards as the bullet went through his knee. Boy was he chagrinned! He went all through the war with nothing much worse than gingivitus and gets shot in Hove . He said it was colpletely his own fault as the rifle in question jammed and he stood in front of it! Oh dear - broke the golden rule. Do you remember him being offered one of those tiny, round, sticking plasters by one of the younger cadets - I cannot remember his name now. I remember Peter I think - was he in the band and lived in or near Carden Avenue? Thanks for the memories Terry and hope to see you at the re-union if I can make it.

Oops ! Sorry Terry - just noticed you are in the good old U S of A now (a nice part of it too) so don't expect you will be at the reunion after all - realize now you referrred to the 'old boys' association and not the reunion. The vagaries of age and all that. Apollogies.

I have to firstly correct myself - yet again, and apologize for calling Dick Naylor, John - for the second time. I must have been away with the fairies when I repeated my error.
I have just attended the Hove Sea Cadets re-union in Hove - many thanks to Paul Heward and the others who worked so hard to make it happen and to the cadets who greeted us so politely and took such good care of us. I was delighted to meet several people from the past and I know Robin Cooter, who I had not seen for about 35 years plus - is going to add some information to fill in the large gaps in my memories. Which I will be very grateful for. Robin told me that it was indeed Dick Naylor who shot my father and he was also responsible for offering a plaster to cover the wound. As I said before the deed may have been done by Dick but it was, by no means, his fault. Dick was a great favourite of mine and a wonderful role model for many of us youngsters - don't mean to make him sound ancient and venerable but even a few years seniority when a teenager, makes a huge difference. I hope this site will help to encourage more comments and memories from others who are or have been involved with the cadets. I look forward to those and to future re-unions. Do visit the Hove Sea Cadets website too for more current news and the ex-Hove Sea Cadets site section for historical content - Hove & Adur Sea Cadet Unit Development Site:.The latter is still being developed but is sure to expand with the help of us oldies (and not so oldies).

The submarine that visited Maxwell's Wharf was HMS Scythian.
I also remember queing for a long time.

This is a message for Helen who wrote this piece. I would love to publish your piece in my local community magazine, Hove Factually. Please contact me on emma@hovefactually.co.uk as I would like to publish it for our local Hove Readers to read in our free Local History pages. Thank you.

I have just found this stde. I was a member of the Hove SCC in the early 50s. A few names that come back are Brian Johnson, Alex Campbell, John Hall and Dennis Godley.

My brother and I were members of the unit between early 1962 to Autumn 1966, when we joined the MN. The photo is circa 1963-64. I can fill in a few of the names in your photo. Rear rank third from left my brother Sean (deceased Jan08), far right Nobby Naylor (I never knew him by any other name), 2nd row, third person from left in uniform Paul Hutton. Last person on right in uniform Pete Mills (joined RN). Front row 1st left Fred Linkins (RN Tiff - deceased) and 4th from right self. I well remember spending many a Saturday evening helping at the bingo with my mother, followed by rowing/swimming/sailing around the harbour on Sunday mornings. I well remember spending a weekend on HMS Curzon. Her RN name was HMS Fiddleton. I was a 'baby' S/Lt RNR (served 30 years in RNR achieving Lt.Cdr rank) on the bridge of the Ton astern of her when she was in collision with HMS Mermaid. It was a harrowing and haunting experience, as we guarded the wreck site for 4 days. I wish the unit a long and continuing existence. It certainly had an influence on my life.

Chris Barton (retd L/S SCC, 3rd Mate MN, Lt.Cdr RNR)