This little gem popped up on the
Rotors over Gloucestershire website
By 1979 the Churchdown School magazine had a new name – Chant – and Matthew Price of E1 had this to report about the previous autumn:
"In November, the Royal Navy came to the school to give us a display. They were stationed on the ground as well as in the air. They had a Landrover and a trailer. First the helicopter landed on a rugby pitch, then flew off leaving a man behind. The helicopter came back and picked up a trailer, putting it down on the other side of the field. Then a man sat in a dinghy, pretending to be at sea, to be rescued by the helicopter team. I thought it was very exciting to watch, particularly when the helicopter waltzed around the field. It was funny when the man sat in the dinghy in the middle of the field and when later, dangling from the helicopter, he looked like a spider!"
I personally remember this event well, not least because the Royal Navy always seemed to have the slickest careers presentations of the three services. The rotorcraft in question was a blue Westland Wessex HU5 with the letters P and T in white either side of the blue and red roundel on the rear fuselage. Did this stand for Presentation Team perhaps? Perhaps someone made a note of the number too. What I always regret is going home to eat – as usual – that day. Apparently some of the Sixth Formers were given a ride during the lunch hour!