Page 30 - The Cormorant 2018

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Taranto Night Celebrations Lieutenant Commander Charlie Fuller
THE EVENING’S CELEBRATIONS COMMENCED with a magnificent display by HM Band of the Royal Marines
(Portsmouth) who filled the College Forum with rousing music to introduce the other Services and our International colleagues to
what is always a slightly less formal Naval dinner and marking of the Feet Air Arm’s achievements
“
in November 1940. The Mess was introduced to the Taranto story by Lieutenant Commander Charlie Fuller before an Italian themed dinner that was interrupted by the occasional need to address inter-Service relations.
The guest of honour was Rear Admiral Keith Blount (Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff, Aviation and Carriers) who spiritedly took the assembled masses of the College through the build-up to the strike but also the foibles of the aircraft and the challenges that naval aviators contended with on that night some 70
years ago. The night was wrapped up with a rousing re-enactment of the Battle, led by ACSC’s Fleet
Air Arm contingent and friends. It may have been
a small display, but that was made up for through sheer acting prowess. The evening was topped by a brilliant performance by ACSC 21’s band, Knife Fight In A Phone Box. The evening was a unique insight into the Fleet Air Arm for the uninitiated, with some claiming they saw things that will stay with them for a very long time...
...they saw
things that will stay with
them for a very long time... ◆◆◆