Royal Navy veterans of HMS Fisgard visit museums at HMS Sultan in Gosport to view artefacts

In total, 10 former military personnel who were part of The Fisgard Association, explored the museums. They joined the Royal Navy at HMS Fisgard as Artificer Apprentices between 1954-1964.

After a year’s training at HMS Fisgard, trainees were offered the choice of training to become an Artificer – ‘tiffy’ – in one of five categories, namely Engineering, Ordnance, Electrical, Air and Shipwright.

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Among the group of visitors was Peter Davies, who spent a total of 35 years in the Royal Navy as an Electrical ‘tiffy’ between 1961-1996, finishing his career on Trident submarines. He said: ‘I’m very much into the nostalgia and this is probably one of the last places where the history and mystery of artificer training is celebrated, so I’m very pleased to be here.

‘Coming through Fisgard was a real shock, I remember being away from home for the first time, but we were in amongst a group of guys who were all in the same boat, sharing the same experiences.

‘There are so many happy memories, even in the toughest of times we had so many amazing experiences that 99 per cent of people will never go through and that’s what binds us together.’

HMS Fisgard ceased training in 1983 and the Fisgard Squadron was set up to accommodate the Artificers at HMS Raleigh. When the Fisgard museum closed in 2004, its collection of artefacts and memorabilia moved to HMS Sultan where the final Artificer training class had passed out in 2010.