Tri-Service

Royal Navy Get Behind Red Nose Day

This Friday 13 March, the bow of HMS Victory, the HMS Warrior figurehead at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and The Yomper at the Royal Marines Museum, Eastney, are all getting the Red Nose treatment in support of Comic Relief.

Red Noses are also adorning some of the Royal Navy's principle ships. HMS Duncan, on her maiden deployment, sailed into Gibraltar proudly sporting a massive red hooter.

HMS Dragon's schnoz, crafted from the vessel's ' kill er tomato' seaborne training target can be spotted by seagulls in the Atlantic. Both ships will be hosting onboard fundraisers, raising money for charities including the Northern Ireland Children's Hospice and the Dundee Hospital Children's Ward.

Red Nose Day has a special resonance this year for the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) since a former Royal Marine is taking centre stage on the very first BBC People’s Strictly for Comic Relief. Lance Corporal Cassidy Little is well known to the Museum, having conducted some interviews in his role at British Forces Broadcasting (BFBS) with curatorial colleagues.

It was in this guise that he was invited to HMS Victory, one of the NMRN’s most important assets, to interview Commanding Officer Lt Commander Rod Strathern, little knowing it was a ruse to get him “ambushed” by the programme. A host of ballroom dancers, the Royal Marines Band, lead professional dancer Brendan Cole and former Strictly Come Dancing contestant Kimberley Walsh, of girls group Girls Aloud were aboard to give Cassidy a welcome that was seen by millions on the television.