Glasgow And Ships Of The Clyde

All Hands - RNXS

ALL HANDS - By Lorna Campbell

Often while passing Ailsa House at South Crescent, Ardrossan, I had noticed the adjoining blue door with the large white initials, RNXS. I wondered what exactly the RNXS did.

One Monday night I went along to find out. I had arrived on the first meeting after the Christmas and New Year holidays and so it was a case of ?all hands on deck? as the members got to work with brushes, mops and buckets of water to clean the building.

Naturally, none of the members were wearing their uniforms or going through their usual routine, but Mr Donald Looseman, who is in charge of the Ardrossan unit explained that most Monday nights things were a bit different.

Members of the Royal Naval Auxiliary Services are trained in the communications, mine watching, plotting and seamanship among other things. Members take ?O? and ?H? level exams in various subjects and training in practical seamanship on board the RNXS vessel, ?BIRDHAM?, which is berthed at Greenock.

A purely voluntary organisation, the RNXS supports the Royal Navy and in peacetime takes part in exercises, has been known to assist with clearance of oil pollution, and even with the recovery of treasure.

The service is not called the RNAS because in the Royal Navy this abbreviation stands for ?Royal Naval Air Station.?

40 MEMBERS

The Ardrossan unit is attended by about 20 members on average a week, and there are about 40 members on the books. Members come from all walks of life and although some have had connections with the Navy, and several of the lady members are former WRENS, the majority have no such connections.

One member with no Naval connections is Roberta King. She said that she initially went to the RNXS out of curiosity but enjoyed it so much that she joined and has now passed her NXO exam. She is interested in the communications side and added that until she became a member she knew nothing about the subjects.

Another lady member, Marnie Parson, was in the WRENS, and is also interested in communications but said that she enjoyed the company and assured me that there definitely is a place for women in the service. She added that there was probably about 65 per cent women in the Ardrossan branch.

Mr John Cross said that although the training was extensive it was up to the members to decide how much they wanted to do, ?They can go on to become chief engineers if they want?, he added.

It has been know for people to decide to join the Navy or to go to sea through being members of the RNXS originally but members of the Ardrossan branch just enjoy the training and the company as well as doing something worthwhile.

The building in which Ardrossan RNXS meet and train has the plaque for HMS Fortitude, which was the name given to Ardrossan Harbour during the last war. One lady member who was a WREN working at HMS Fortitude during the war is Mary Owen, who was a petty officer, and so she is especially pleased the plaque is displayed at the RNXS.

PATRIOTISM

Area Commander of the RNXS Mr J. Robinson, feels that the service is very necessary. He said, ?People just don?t think there could be another war but as we have seen in India, Pakistan and other places it can happen again. People take out insurance on their homes, and in the same way this is one way of helping the defence of the country?. he added that every person trained in the RNXS could train someone else in the event of an emergency and could take over from active service ratings and reservists and enable them to be released for first line duties.

Mr Robinson feels that the members give up their time to train with the RNXS for a number of reasons, but said that he thinks it really amounts to patriotism.

Scribe Tango