Honouring wartime servicemen

9:12am Thursday 26th April 2007

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An ex-servicemen's club in Catford is organising a memorial event to remember the men killed aboard HMS Hood. KERRY ANN EUSTICE finds out more.

HMS Hood was a British battlecruiser sunk on May 24, 1941, during an encounter with the German warship Bismark.

It is thought a shell pierced the cruiser and penetrated 200 tonnes of highly explosive shells.

Parts of HMS Hood were discovered a mile and a half away.

Members of Bellingham Ex-Servicemen's Club, Allerford Road, Catford, have formed a committee to organise a memorial event on May 20.

This will surround the unveiling of an HMS Hood Memorial plaque in Memorial Garden, also in Allerford Road.

The committee comprises Bill Simmons, Bill Went, Tom Healy, Jeff Phillips, Tony Green, Duncan MacDonald-Heaney and secretary Harvey Hicks.

It formed to ensure the event carries all the weight the HMS Hood heroes deserve.

The plaque has been renovated by Mr MacDonald-Heaney and Mr Green, who used his skills as a traditional signwriter.

Club members were inspired to hold the event after Mr Green discovered an old letter a few months ago.

It was penned by Ray Raymant, who lived near the club in Kentwell Close.

The letter was written to mothers in the area whose children were killed on HMS Hood.

Mr Green and the other club members thought a memorial service would be a fitting tribute.

Some of the crew are known to have lived in south-east London and Kent.

A number of crew members and their families lived on the Honour Oak Estate, which is on the border of the boroughs of Lewisham and Southwark.

The committee hopes to hear from more families who had relatives on the ship.

Mr Green and Mr MacDonald-Heaney started to trace HMS Hood's connections with theirmcommunity after finding the letter.

Mr MacDonald-Heaney said: "We checked the 1939 to 1941 electoral register at Lewisham library archives and cross referenced this with the printed casualty list from HMS Hood.

"There was not much from the papers of the time because HMS Hood's sinking was not a widely publicised event.

"Of the 1,418 crew members on board HMS Hood, three survived.

"These were Able Seaman Ted Briggs, Able Seaman Robert Tilburn and Midshipshand William Dundas."

As the only living survivor, Mr Briggs has been invited to the event.

The London and Greenwich sections of the Sea Cadets are set to attend the event and the committee plans to invite the Royal Marines.

Committee members would also like the memorial plaque to be unveiled by naval personnel.

A vicar will perform a blessing at a traditional naval memorial service, which will feature hymns and a reading of the letter.

The committee hopes to run a memorial annually.

Mr Green added: "Ours is the only memorial in London. The only other is in Portsmouth.

"Many of those who died were local boys.

"They deserve their place in history and they are going to get it.

"This memorial will make it happen."

He added: "We've really enjoyed the process.

"It has been a privilege and an honour to be involved.

"The more research we did, the more we realised how close to home the issue was."

Families or descendants of HMS Hood servicemen are invited to contact the committee.

For those who would like to find out if they have a descendant who served on the battlecruiser, the club is willing to check the HMS Hood's Roll of Honour.

On the day of the memorial, a parade will start from Callender Road, opposite Catford bus garage, at 1pm.

Anyone involved in the parade should arrive at noon.

The memorial service will be held at the club at 1.30pm. For further information, call 020 8698 4202.

• Send your history stories to Will Davies by calling 01689 885711 or emailing wdavies@ london.newsquest.co.uk