Hogan plus Vowles

  Greg continued the family tradition set up by his Grandfather, Tina's Dad, Leslie Vowles, seen here in the old picture taken in 1932. Pomp, as he was known, is to be seen on the extreme right of the picture with his hands on his knees in the middle row by the chap in plus fours. Sad to think some of them died in the Second World War like many fine rugby players.   Anyway, Mike Charles, an old friend of Greg, sent this other picture  taken 1979. Greg is stood behind the Captain [holding the ball] on that guy's left. [he was a blond bombshell in those days!]    Gerard followed Greg and played with him and went on to play in Newfoundland. Gerard's son, Talan, continues the tradition in Havant. And Jack, Velia & Al's lad, plays in Ottawa. Velia never played but chased rugby balls from a very early age!

  When I completed the recent blog concerning the Dutch shipbuilder who sailed with us and fell in love with English puddings I went back on line to research his company. So I typed in IJesselwerf etc. and found this old friend.    The ship is now called the "Ocean Service" and now sailing under the flag of India and is registered in the port of Mumbai. At midnight yesterday the vessel moored in Sharjah in the Emirates. And, yes, it is the vessel "Ocean Shore" that I had the privilege to commission and command all those years ago.    She was a happy ship and performed all of her tasks well in those early days in the development of offshore oil and gas. She worked hard on the limits of the Norwegian Trench, a treacherous area to be anchor handling; Tina had a comfortable visit in Aberdeen - I had a nice day cabin, comfortable bedroom, and small neat shower-room, [she enjoyed the offerings from a superb cook/steward!]. The vessel went through ...