Thought you might like these photos, probably from the late 40s or early 50s. I found the menu in my dad's things after he died.
My father, Peter French, joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Seaman at St. Vincent in Portsmouth on 29th April 1947 aged 15 years and 7 months.
He was discharged on 11 January 1957 as a Petty Officer Electrician and was then in the RN Reserve (but never active) until 10 September 1961.
His record shows that he left the UK on the 10th June 1948. I know for a fact that a ship he was on was involved in the Yangtze Incident in 1949 so was stationed in the Far East around this time.
He wasn't on the Amethyst but served on HMS Hart which was patrolling the mouth of the Yangstze, apparently it wasn't a very nice place to be as a young AB Seaman in 1949, something that would come back to effect him in later life.
It would have been around this time he would have visited the China Fleet Club.
He went on to serve on various ships such as Drake, Orion, Illustrious, and the Carrier Eagle. Whilst in the navy he was taught to box by the one and only Randolph Turpin.
He wanted to serve on submarines but was unable to sign on. The story goes because he only had a green pen and the papers had to be signed in black he missed the deadline.
