The HMS Courageous Association 2010 Reunion was held at The Holiday Inn Hotel, Armada Way, Plymouth Devon, over the weekend of Friday 5th, Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th of March 2010

March 7th 2010 was the 40th anniversary of the launch of HMS Courageous in 1970. On Saturday the 6th March 2010 a relaunch ceremony was held at the dockside, alongside Courageous, to mark her rebirth as a high quality exhibit presenting the tale of her life and the story of nuclear submarines to the wider public audience. The ceremony was attended by Lady Morris, who launched the submarine in 1970 and became the ship’s sponsor, Lord Morris, Patricia Fry, wife of the Late Captain Sam Fry  the submarine’s first commanding officer, The Deputy Lord Mayor of Plymouth, Commodore Jess - Naval Base Commanding Officer, past captains, officers and men who served in Courageous throughout her service. Many wives and partners also attended the ceremony which took place on a blustery Plymouth afternoon.  The celebration cake was cut by Yorky Crossland, the youngest of the past crewmembers and Mrs Enid Cannon, the wife of our guest for the weekend, Mr John Cannon, who was, as a boy, serving as Captain’s Messenger in HMS Courageous (aircraft carrier) when she was sunk by a torpedo fired by a German U-Boat in September 1939. John survived the sinking and, at the age of 87 years young, lives in Devon. It was our honour and pleasure to act as his hosts for the ceremony and, later, at our reunion dinner.

The ceremony also saw the launch of the book “Submarine Courageous - A Cold War Warrior”, the culmination of many years work by Michael “Pittk” Pitkeathly and, for the last two years, Captain David Wixon. This high quality book, full of tales, facts and pictures, documents the life of Courageous from keel laying to the current time. It is a fascinating read and will grace any bookshelf or coffee table.

The reunion weekend itself was the best attended since our reunions began with over 160 joining us for the reunion dinner on Saturday evening, many of those stayed at the hotel for one or more nights and, thanks a to a well negotiated discount on drinks throughout the weekend, a great time was had by all.

Presentations, consisting of crested paperweights, were made to our guests at the dinner, John Cannon and His Worship the Lord Mayor of Plymouth, as well as “Sugar” Cain who was honoured for raising significant funds to support the publishing of the Courageous Book.

Crested plates were presented to volunteer guides from the Submarine Courageous exhibit for services freely given.

The reunion organiser, and treasurer for the last 8 years, Roger Pescodd, who has worked tirelessly for The Association since it was founded, was honoured with the presentation of a silver salver engraved with the ship’s crest and a suitable inscription and, in recognition of her support to Roger, his wife Pauline was presented with crested brandy glasses as a sign of The Association’s gratitude.

Pictures of the 2010 reunion are contained in the album below and please feel free to view the full size images (click on the thumbnail image to open the full image) and, if you wish to take a copy of any image simply right click and select “save as” to download a copy to your computer.

The 2012 reunion is scheduled to take place in approximately March of 2012 in Barrow in Furness so please return to this page for updates closer to the date. Gary Nicholson and Associates have offered to look into the possibility of organising the 2014 reunion in Scotland, perhaps in the Faslane or Glasgow area.

Enjoy the album: