INTRO and UPDATE

A very warm welcome to the first Royal Navy Communications Branch Museum/Library website

  As most of you will know, HMS MERCURY closed in 1993 and moved from Leydene into HMS COLLINGWOOD.  Sadly at that time there was no dedicated space allocated within HMS Collingwood to display all the exhibits (mainly documents, books and photos) and consequently all the items were stored in various small store rooms, cupboards etc.  The late Chris Rickard, did a sterling job in keeping tabs on it all but often said that he wished we had a dedicated Library.

  On Chris's passing a concerted effort by Mark Gentry and Bob Ratcliffe  managed to identify a room within MERCURY Building (F15 - some of you will remember this as the RCP (Radio Communications Principles) classroom) and in June 2012 all the exhibits were brought together under one roof.  It was only fitting that the Library should be dedicated to Chris's memory.

  In its early days the library was little used due to the lack of a proper catalogue of documents and books. I retired in late 2012 and at a loose end, volunteered to act as the curator of the library. The first task was to create a searchable database of all the documents/books/photos which took many months but was achieved by the end of 2013, although this still left a 4 drawer filing cabinet full of documents which would be added over the next few years.

  Although I took over as curator in January 2013 the official opening didn't take place until July 2014. It was officially opened by Capt Steve Dainton R.N and ex WO(CY) Danny Streather with a dedication to Chris Rickard. The following 3 images are of the opening ceremony.

  The image on the right was published in the Portsmouth Evening News accompanied by the following:
TRIBUTE Captain Steve Dainton officially opening the library in memory of Christ Rickard. Historical Naval items have been given a new home in a library set up in memory of the sailor who collected them. Friends, family and colleagues gathered in HMS Collingwood in Fareham for the opening of the Chris Rickard Communications Libary. ;The idea began in the 1980s, but it was Chris Rickard, a former Chief Yeoman and communications Instructor at the base, who began collecting the items with support from Mark Gentry.
  Over the years plans for the library encountered many setbacks and items were scattered and lost, then Chris became seriously ill and retired. Mark kept him updated about the library but the majority of its contents ended up in a storage cupboard. Chris later died and it was at his memorial service that Mark decided to open the library in memory of his friend. A memorial service was held before attendees were invited to view the historical items contained in the library. Mark said 'Chris was passioante about the libary. I knew we needed to do something.

  On taking over as Curator it seemed to me that there were three main tasks to achieve.  The first  was to continue to document and catalogue the remainder documents (which ran into a few thousand) and the photographs,  This took the best part of 7 years and continues to this day as more and more documents/photographs are donated to the library. The second task was to enhance the 'sparker' contrinbution which could only be achieved by adding radio equipment to the collection. It was at this point that the library morphed into a museum/library. The final task was to solve the problem of opening the museum/library to a wider audience.  Although visits can be arranged (but only after the necessary paper work has been raised) it is still very difficult to open the museum/library to visitors on a weekend (building security issues with keys etc).  Therefore, I decided to use social media (Facebook - HMS MERCURY FRIENDS, RNCCA, ROYAL NAVY COMMUNICATORS groups etc) as a start and then with this website.

  The website seemed to be the key to finding vintage RN radio equipment as within a year of the site going live, donations started to poor in. We now have radio equipment from the late 1899s to the 1980s. It would be difficult now to list here all the equipment that we have in the museum and to thank all those who donated it but just looking through the site will give readers a good idea of what we do have.

  It was decided at the very beginning that we would try to repair and refurbish all radio equipment so we could demonstrate it in a working environment. We can now show the live reception of HF RATT using a CJP receiver, TTVF(T) and a TGN. Using a computer we can also demonstrate the recepiton of an on-line RATT broadcast. At the other end of the scale we have an Undulator from the 1870s which receives more via a receiver or telegraph line and prints out on a tape (see Project Undulator on the site).

  We also support The Sustainability Centre, situated in the old HMS Mercury Sick Bay with the provision of flags, morse keys, morse buzzers etc for the courses they run from time to time for school children.

  The repositary of technical manuals for ex RN Communications equipment is now known worldwide and we get many requests for technical information from radio enthusiasts asking for help in the maintenance and refurbishment of various pieces of equipment.

  Most of you will be au fait or at least aware of the Godfrey (Jeff) Dykes website. Jeff is beginning to wind things down in regard to his website and asked if I would like to take any bits for the Comms Museum website. I have jumped at the chance as it would, in my view, be a sad loss to the Comms Branch and the Royal Navy should the information, gained by hard work and diligent research by Jeff, be lost forever. Over the last couple of years (2021/22) I have transferred various webpages (estimated to be around several hundred) and for this I thank Jeff.

  Although the website has now been up and running for the last 9 years the cost of hosting the website was becoming unsustainable and was in imminent danger of being taken down. A big thank you must go to ex WO(CY) Danny Streather of IT Computers Ltd who have now sponsored the site thus enabling it to be kept going as well as donating several laptops and a desktop computer in order to be able to run the database and provide simulated RATT Broadcasts for the TGNs.

  I must give thanks to the Clive Kidd, Andrew Sinclair and John Butcher who, on the sad demise of the Collingwood Heritage Collection museum, joined me to run the Communications Branch Museum/Library. There expertise in all things electronic/electrical has been invaluable in making the museum/library so successful.

  All credit for the images/photographs on this site go to the original photographers.  I would ask that if you download any image for publication elsewhere, then please accompany it with a mention of this site.

  Finally a plea, if you come across anything that you think may be worthwhile putting in the museum or on the website then please get in touch.  I am especially keen to find - photographs pre 1970s, especially Mercury Course photographs, any radio equipment especially any type of Creed teleprinter, terminal equipment e.g. TTVF(T)), Banda machine, and any ancillary equipment e.g. the spring clip that were used to hang tapes up.

Ken Sutton
Curator
Last updated 19 May 2023