LOCAL girl Nancy Porter spent several months in the newsroom at the Cornish Times last year as she waited to join the Navy. The big day finally arrived and she joined up at HMS Raleigh two weeks ago! Follow her progress each week as she sends us her latest bulletin...
IN the words of our class instructor, 'Drill is a pill to be taken twice daily! ' This has certainly been true this week, as our class embark on our mission to become expert marchers. I really enjoy it down at the parade ground. We are having lots of fun, as individuals develop their own marching styles. All our work paid off when we were the newest recruits taking part in ceremonial divisions on Friday. Vice Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope was the guest of honour, and it gave us the chance to see what we have six weeks to achieve. I have done a serious amount of running this week. Our class narrowly lost the inter-division three mile cross-country competition, but we can blame it on being shattered after a fire alarm woke us up at 3.10am the night before. We have started doing more physical training, which so far has involved rope climbing, hundreds of sit and press-ups, and even more running. The pace has definitely increased, our kit has been inspected every day and a lot more is expected from us. We have been allocated cleaning stations, which we are responsible for daily. I have also done my first duty, which actually just meant that I spent two hours polishing my shoes, my new obsession! Next week we will be getting out and about much more. I am looking forward to the visiting HMS Ocean, and we are going to Pier Cellars to have a go at the assault course. We will camp overnight, and it will give us the much-needed opportunity to let our hair down, have some fun and take a break from the daily routine. Better try and finish my ironing, so I can get an early night!