Trainee sailors impressed with new accommodation
12 Nov 09
Facilities for Royal Navy recruits undergoing their professional training at HMS Raleigh have received a major upgrade with the opening of two new accommodation blocks.
Able Seaman Pete Brown unpacks his belongings in his new mess deck
[Picture: Dave Sherfield, Crown Copyright/MOD 2009]
The three-storey buildings will accommodate eight trainees per room - an improvement on the previous accommodation where trainees slept up to 24 to a mess.
Each room has its own utility area, common room and washing facilities.
Offices for instructional staff and a lecture room, complete with state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment, are situated on the ground floor of each building.
Captain Jonathan Woodcock, Commanding Officer of HMS Raleigh, said:
"The new blocks will be used for trainees who have completed their nine weeks basic training and have progressed to their professional courses in logistics, seamanship and submarine operations.
"The buildings are a major investment in HMS Raleigh and form part of an ongoing modernisation programme to improve the facilities here.
"As part of this, over recent years we have also seen the construction of a new dining facility and single living accommodation blocks used by our permanent staff and experienced sailors returning for long-term career advancement courses."
The first trainees to occupy the new blocks have now moved in and are already impressed by their modern surroundings.
Trainee Logistician Emma Holliday, aged 22, said:
"This is such an improvement on our old accommodation. It's a massive, massive step up. There is plenty of space and it's like living in your own flat."
From left: Trainee Logisticians Beyonce Morgan, Gemma Insley and Heidi Telford outside Antelope Block
[Picture: Dave Sherfield, Crown Copyright/MOD 2009]
For Trainee Logistician William Boyes, aged 17, the improvements to the communal areas are a welcome change. He said:
"It's quieter at night because you don't have the constant snoring of other people and we no longer have 24 people fighting for four washing machines, because there is one per eight.
"The designers have obviously thought about it and given us everything we need."
While Logistician Leanne Roberts, aged 21, is pleased to have more personal space. She said:
"It's great to have a little more privacy. Also because the blocks are brand new, we all want to keep them tidy, so when it comes to cleaning, there's little to do."
The new blocks have been named Antelope and Ardent after the two Devonport-based frigates that were part of the UK Task Force involved in the Falklands conflict in 1982.
As a continuation of the Falklands theme, the trainees accommodated in the new blocks form Corporate Squadron, part of the Royal Navy's divisional care system. 'Corporate' was the name of the operation to recover the Falkland Islands.
Work on Antelope and Ardent blocks began in 2008. The building project has been overseen by the Fleet Royal Naval Estates Organisation. VT Group has been the prime contractor, with building work being carried out by Mansell Construction Services Limited.