Navy Years continued

Faslane was my new home from January 1979. It was a more peaceful and relaxed existence. I was working in the sonar workshops. Here we kept a 100% complete and operational kit for all the different types of sonar equipment so we could fix any fault on any submarine very quickly. We also had specialist pieces of kit for use on selected submarines for special deployments; all very top secret stuff at the time.

This job could vary between having lots of submarines with problems in the base to having none. During the quiet times I could make use of the sports centre, gym and swimming pool, carry on with my enthusiasm for sailing and, for the first time since school I had the Scottish mountains close to hand and now made a lot of use of the navy mountaineering club. Over time I climbed many of the Scottish mountains and I also gained a significant amount of winter mountaineering experience.

In the Spring of 1979 an unexpected little notice on the notice board ended up having a massive effect on my life. There was an offer of about £15 per day (approx the price of a hotel room for the night at the time) for volunteers to live outside the navy base in hotels or wherever because the base did not have enough accommodation for all the sailors. Within about ten days I was renting a room from a friend in his house and paying about £15 per week instead of per day. I then bought myself a flat (cost £6K) and got on the housing ladder. The flat was cheap because of its poor condition but I soon put that right and about 18 months later sold it for £10K and moved up market.

So, in early 1981, I bought a four bedroom bungalow for 30K and then rented out the spare three bedrooms to navy friends. With my regular pay, submarine pay, hotel pay and rental income I was managing to save significant amounts even though I had a substantial mortgage.

For 2½ years now nothing much changed, I had work, lots of DIY on the house and plenty of sports. This included four mountaineering trips to the Alps during which I summated Mont Blanc, and I was also representing Scotland in some navy sailing competitions and occasionally representing the navy in sailing competitions against the Army and RAF.

In the summer of 1983 I decided to buy another flat, (cost £4K). This was purely to renovate (which it seriously needed) and sell for a profit.  I got most of the work done but then in early 1984 I joined the submarine HMS Valiant and although staying based in Faslane, I was away to sea often. Anyhow, I kept the flat and the remainder of the DIY progressed slowly.

At the end of 1984 I had a serious medical problem which resulted in the removal of a brain tumour. This was likely to make me unfit for submarine service resulting in a new navy career, however I will never know as in January of 1985 I was arrested and interviewed about having oral sex with another guy back in March 1984. This resulted in a full scale court marshall in front of the Admiralty on 1st May 1985 and my navy career ended, I lost all my friends, sold the bungalow and retreated into my small flat where I could live for very little money as I had no income. Next – what to do with the rest of my life, assuming I wanted to stay alive???