The Tim Heale Podcasts S3 E31 Mike Shrives Pt 3

This is a three part episode in which I chat with Mike Shrives who has had a brilliant career in the Royal Navy going from a Midshipman sea goer to submarines then as a pilot before serving in NATO Headquarters in Norway and ending up as the General Secretary to RNSA and President of TS Hornet.

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Transcript

0 (1s):
Tim Heale podcasts, ordinary people's extraordinary stories. <inaudible>

1 (15s):
Welcome to share is three of the Tim Heale podcasts in the last two shares. I've told you about my life. I've met many interesting people along the way who have become my friends and what they all have in common is they all have fascinating stories of their own, which they're happy to share with you now. Thank you for listening. Welcome back to the Tim Heale podcast for a third time with Mike. So retirement's looming. Yeah,

2 (47s):
So basically, so retirement was looming and as I said earlier, I needed to work and I was looking at either becoming a harbormaster or maybe a bird of, to school. And then the job of the general secretary of the Royal Naval sailing association came on my radar. Now, one of the things so out my career, which I haven't really mentioned, but saving was a big, big part of my career. And having got into Navy sailing mean, for instance, I did 25 services, offshore shore races, and, and I managed to do 10 fast nets of which I finished seven cause we had a mouse that went over the side of spending the 19 79 1, but I wasn't in the military then.

2 (1m 39s):
And we also had a rudder problem where we went into cork on another one of the races, but seven of them we finished. And that was including in a Nick Fitch five and one of the Sigma 30 eights, the Steven Jones, 75, as I mentioned. So a lot of service related races. And obviously with, with service teams, I'd also been the captain of one of the branches while I was done in, in Portland.

2 (2m 19s):
So while I was sewing there so effectively I ran a rent subbranch later on in the piece, I became the rear Commodore off shore for the Royal Naval setting association. So I had a lot of knowledge of how reds have worked and had been in a position as either sailing secretary or branch captain or whatever in a number of the organizations. As I went round included the air site as well, which was a virtual branch. And when the job came up, I applied and I was very fortunate. I went to interview, there were three of us who, who put, whoever selected to go to interview and managed to win the job, which was Superman.

2 (3m 6s):
And then it started off. That was in 2007. We then bought a house in Leon Sutherland because while, while we were away in Stavanger, we had a house up in Fareham, which we owned, but we, we, we sold everything and sold the house because the idea was to go to be as flexible as possible, depending on where in the country I managed to find work. And as I say, being a hub master, could it be anywhere? And so the idea was to, to then buy a house wherever I ended up for my second career, as such as it was, you know, getting the rights of job. We bought a place down in Leon silent.

2 (3m 47s):
And, and then I did just under 12 years as a general secretary.

1 (3m 55s):
Wait, so, so were you part of the, the initial transition to becoming the full on charity that is now?

2 (4m 5s):
Yeah, very much so. I mean, for the first eight years we ran it as an unincorporated association. It continued very much as it had always been. So I took over from a chap called Tim normal Walker and we had about 6,000 members at the time and effectively we continued to run the organization as it had been lots of branches, lots of different discipline, rare Commodores, one for windsurfing, one for off shore, one for cruising. And we had all the various different meetings to get it together, to deliver real communities.

2 (4m 46s):
Of course, that involved all the Naval assets as well, the Naval DS, the establishment yachts, running the services I'll show regatta clearly and the various different Diggy regattas. So that's, that's the way it was for, for the first eight years and just, you know, keeping business as normal. And then the idea came in to become a charity. And really a lot of that was based on risk because one of the things that transport is that if say there'd been a major accident whereby we were approved as the originators of suddenly the Whitbread round, the world rates, this is where it really came into that as the organizers and being responsible for the delivery of those of that race, that if a boat had gone down and say, the individuals on board then had sued the organization and say that they were a fault, cause they wouldn't have been there, had it not been for the organization.

2 (5m 60s):
Then the litigation could run into millions and as an unincorporated organization, then people were liable now of right. We had lots of insurance, we had officers and directors, you know, insurance up up to 10 million, but if that'd been a major case and that doesn't go far and the, and the law was that, then you could asset strip anybody who was in the management and indeed all the members, you know, if in the worst case scenario now obviously is very, very low risk because the chances of that happening are very, very small.

2 (6m 43s):
And in fact that we couldn't really think of any scenario where that would happen. However, the risk was still out there from the point of view of the general secretary as well. Every single boat that was out that was run by Renzo was in my name because as an unincorporated association, then you can't, the organization can't own the assets. So effectively it had to be in somebody's name by law as the MCA law. And therefore it was in the name in my name. That was okay because, you know, I basically had a, a letter that said it was not my property.

2 (7m 24s):
However, by the law, then it could be that if I suddenly dropped dead, then they were saying that if I, my estate, absolutely. So there are lots of good reasons to go down the channel route now, but the, the organization was quite complex in its own way with the layers of the layers of the branches and the red Commodores. And the fact that we had 285 moorings important with Harbor. We also have borings in the west country and Clyde, and then the different branch setups whereby some of them were still very much attached to a base like Clyde whereby you had a serving personnel industrials who were running the sailing clubs down to all the sailing centers and then other organizations.

2 (8m 19s):
So say it excellent whereby all the staff had been to peed. And so were run by whoever had the contract, the service contract at the time. And so look looking at it to try and turn it into a charity was quite difficult because of all the personnel that were involved in the organization and a huge amount of volunteers. But of course that's all being sorted out. And as you know, for Warrick is now taken over well, took over from me. And it was at that juncture that we had applied to become a charity, but actually it'd been rejected.

2 (8m 59s):
And then they, the, the, the organization went in it a different way and effectively mirrored the charity that the army had set up. And they were then that, that then passed muster with the charity commission. But what we were trying to do is make it make rent or a charity that reflected the organization as it was at the time. And that that was not possible to do because of the charity commission rules. And also if you think about it, you know, if you've got, say a retired Admiral, who's using a Royal Naval sailing association birth for his own benefit with his own yacht, then how is that charitable?

2 (9m 52s):
Whereas, whereas, and so what's happened with the moorings, that's become a limited company, which is fine because that also gives the, the governance and the protection. Whereas the main part of rent has become a charity. And that is totally in line with the army saving association. Who've been a charity for quite a number of years. So yeah, so very much part of that. And you can imagine that with all the different elements of any association that to go, to make that big change, you had quite a number of dissenting voice voices. So to keep everybody, you know, happy with the thrust and the, for the way ahead was quite a complex process and constantly explaining to people that actually it was for everybody's benefit rather than saying, well, actually, you know, I disagree, we should keep it as it is.

2 (10m 50s):
Hmm.

1 (10m 51s):
Well, we're going through exactly the same thing we own it. So it was decided to club at the moment to become an corporate limited company guaranteed. So yeah, and that that's hopefully going to come to fruition by the end of the year. Yeah.

2 (11m 6s):
And I think that's the right way to go, you know, and especially as I have fortunate enough to still sit on the committee, in fact, probably I've been the longest standing member of the Hornet full full committee of anybody because of course I attended every meeting while I was a general secretary of the Royal Naval setting association. And now as president of the sea cadets, which are, have got the new boat station that we built in four block hours three, then I attend the meetings in that role. So as an ex-officio member, so a, so I'd be sitting on the committee for a long time.

2 (11m 48s):
And actually I think that what's happening now with obviously new Commodore Richard Stokes and also Paul Worthington. Who's been putting it all together, having been a company secretary himself, then it is exactly the right way to go. And we'll put a Hornet services, sailing club limited as it will become on a very, very firm footing for the future.

1 (12m 15s):
Brilliant. Okay. Thank you very much, Mike. I think we're there.

2 (12m 21s):
Thank you very much. I'll need, unless

1 (12m 23s):
We add in another little bit, but the secrets and your involvement with secrets,

2 (12m 28s):
I can talk that through very quickly if you, if you like. Yeah. I mean, basically I've been years ago, there was a thing called the royalist regatta and there was a lady called John and Picton. There was a left-handed commander, sea cadet, and she had this idea to get a number of city slickers down to Portsmouth. And it was a two day event effectively whereby they chartered some sun sail boats to have a day of practice on the water to then have a day of racing and no, sorry, probably a day of practice and then a full Naval mess dinner.

2 (13m 16s):
So there was an element of actually showing the Navy to all these people in this phase, different companies in, in London, and then a day of racing with Ts royalist or the training ship royalist as our committee boat, and then back for a lovely tea with a big secret at cake. And then everybody just pays and it was the money spinner for the secret charity and, and very successful. So the first year they charged 1500 pounds, but boat, we had about 10 companies that, that came down, we had HMS excellent wardroom to run the dinner.

2 (14m 3s):
And, and Jonathan Todd at the time was the Admiral of the sea cadets. And it was a fantastic event, made lots of money, really good outreaching, and, and also showing all these organizations what the secret is about and Royal Navy. And so for more one-off it became then what we'll do it again. And then we did it again and we kept going for 16 or 17 years. And I was involved in all of them basically because I was the rear comment or off shore at the time when it started. And then that went on to my, you know, my, my time is serving elsewhere, but coming back for the secret at regatta or, and, and then when I was a general secretary, I was no longer entitled to sail on the boat because it was a Royal Navy entry, but I got involved on the committee and in fact, stood in as the assistant race officer and then became the race officer towards the end.

2 (15m 4s):
So that was my commitment with the sea cadets. And then again, having left the Navy, I joined the rotary, the local rotary, the gospel rotary, and one of the members of that was a retired Admiral called Tony Whetstone, who was an ex flag officer submarines. And one day he put, I was, I'll go back a little bit. Having, having, having left the service, Dave Evans, who was the chairman of south Hampton sea cadets, put his arm around me and said, I need a deputy. Would you come in and help me? So I became the deputy chairman of south Hampton seekers, but I also joined the rotary.

2 (15m 47s):
And then one night Tony Whetstone put his arm around me and said, I want to stand down as the president of the Ts Hornet. And I'm looking at you to take over, cause I'm a commander retired, he's an Admiral retired. What do you say? Yes, sir. And so I became the president of Ts Hornet, which yeah, I'll be doing that for about 10 or 10, 10 or 12 years now and, and had a fabulous role. So I stood down from south Hampton and then got very involved in Hornet. And as members will know, we got evicted effectively from Clarence yard where we used to have all our boat station.

2 (16m 35s):
But part of the package that came with that was some money from city deal as they called it, which was 400,000 pounds in order to build another boat station. But we were also told that we had three years, so this money wasn't there forever. We had to get on and crack on and do it. And with all the negotiations that went on and a chap called Colin pipe, who was one of our members on the unit management committee, who is a very, very good project manager currently working on the type player, 31 project. And with the unit management, we formed the little project team and including John Beavis, who was the local councilor.

2 (17m 18s):
So he had ins with the, with gospel council, we managed to get all the planning permission through and the build. And we spent the money, which is why now Ts Hornet have got their boat station on a four o'clock hour, three. And as, as the president, even though it is a normal role of, you know, a nice role to have, I do attend quite the majority of the unit management committees to keep a good involvement, you know, with what's going on. And also the unit as whole, which is luckily very healthy. You know, we're, we're a good unit. We would have waiting list of cadets.

2 (17m 58s):
And the current chairman side Bush's is doing a fabulous job as his pre predecessor pinky salmon. You know, he was, he was very good in the role. And before that, there was a lady called Hillary who was a leftenant SCC, but she got poached by the headquarters cause he was doing such a good job that they pulled her into, you know, that stuff. So that's the way it it's a fun thing. And the great thing about it of course, is that it is for the young cadets and, and, and the lovely thing about them is that a lot of them come from dysfunctional families, but they're all great kids and they're just the discipline and, and the activities within the sea cadets, all of them, you know, turn into very, very, very, very nice citizens.

2 (18m 55s):
And that's the lovely thing about it. And that's the real joy of, for me of being involved.

1 (19m 1s):
And I suddenly that gospel really natives really nice kids. Yeah. And, and the, the uni itself, or understand that still linked to climate shock, but that's going to move as well. So,

2 (19m 15s):
So yeah, I mean basically the, the unit, the main headquarters as we call it was the old telephone exchange in current yard. And that's on a peppercorn rent or a lease for a hundred years, which was all part of the development of the marina, where they were down there. So affective Barclay homes, you know, handed the telephone exchange over to the sea cadets on that hundred year lease. It's a very expensive building to maintain. Cause that's the only problem. It came with a full maintenance, you know, responsibility. And we are now looking now we've got the boat station, which was alongside it.

2 (19m 59s):
In fact, the boat station used to be the, the building where queen Victoria used to park her train when she went across towards borne house. So it used to get put into this, this, this little building that was alongside obviously the, the telephone exchange. So we could take the kids out and just take us through the main, the main gate down there. And then onto the water. Now that we've, we've moved into four block outs three, then what we'd really like is to co locate their headquarters with the boat boat station.

2 (20m 41s):
And so we're all on one site. So work is going on at the moment to say, right, that, you know, how do we go about that? And clearly the, the, the two, you know, the police barracks and the guard house are also within that, the scope of saying that if they are become, you know, fit for the purpose for the sea cadets to have as the headquarters, then clearly that would be a wonderful option, you know, for, for the sea cadets to be co-located on site.

1 (21m 14s):
Yeah. So hopefully that will come to fruition. So the roofs we had done on police barracks at the moment, and I think hopefully we're looking at progressing to get the inside done and also look at the, the guard room as well. And hopefully yes. And incorporate that into the sacred. Yes,

2 (21m 36s):
Indeed. I mean, the thing is that you have to watch a little bit about usage because the secret secrets only, well only I say, you know, they, they meet on two evenings of the week and then sometimes on the weekends. So effectively the boat station will be very much used, but that the other element, of course, of all this is saying, you wouldn't want to have a, a building like that, which has got such limited use to it. So it might be, might be that we come to a shared usage of a building. And that would be, that would be wonderful because that, because then of course the responsibility for the building would not just be on the secret as it, as it is now in current yard.

2 (22m 20s):
What happened in Karen's yard unsurprising is that we, we do lend out the building to other organizations and then they pay for the usage of, of the time that they're in the building. And that brings in enough funds in order to, for us to pay all the different bills.

1 (22m 42s):
Yeah. I know they're looking at four blockouts, one that's still up in the air, but they've got the air cadets on board there. And if it does close, they would be looking for somewhere else to, to locate. And maybe you could share the 100 builds with them. Yeah, indeed.

2 (23m 6s):
Obviously the air cadets and also as, you know, the offshore division and the secrets are in Fort block house one. So they would have to go, they had to have somewhere to go to. And so they've got a good organization at the moment as Andy defender as the current boss, but who knows what will, if they, if, for instance, they do close, full block as one, or sell it off, then they will need to go somewhere. And admittedly that, that the three ships that got wouldn't fit it along into a Hornet, but it might be that the actual administration might come into those buildings.

2 (23m 53s):
So I think there's, there's, there's good usage. And also the army setting association.

1 (24m 0s):
Yeah, no, they're very keen to come down the night, they fronted up some funds to, to, to, to hide that. Yeah.

2 (24m 8s):
And RAF sort as well. You know, I think that looking at the future, if we could get all the service savings associations together, rather like the fact that, you know, Hornet service, the same club, which was predominantly Naval and it's now try service. I mean, that's worked very well. And, and I felt during my time as general secretary, the closer that we could get to the other associations, it was also beneficial to service sailing as a whole. And, and if, if people were co located in the same office for the administration, well, it that's that's sole power to the middle, isn't it?

1 (24m 46s):
Absolutely. And it reduces the cost for everybody

2 (24m 49s):
Precisely. Yeah. Yeah. So, so I think there's some, you know, good practical ways ahead. That will be very beneficial to all the organizations C cadets and the associations. And we'll just see what, you know, what happens in the near future.

1 (25m 8s):
Yes. Let's hope it's the near future. Not the distant

2 (25m 11s):
Future. Absolutely. I agree.

1 (25m 14s):
I like that. Would've been fascinating, Mike. Absolutely loved it. So thank you once again. Well, thank you. Thanks Tim. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you for listening to my podcasts. If you have enjoyed them and your podcast app allows, please leave a comment and share it with your friends. The reason I got into this podcast malarkey is so I could leave a legacy for my children and my grandchildren in the years to come. So they will know what I did with my life. I wish my grandparents had done the same for me. Unfortunately they didn't in my latest series on giving people the opportunity to leave their own legacy for their children and families for the future.

1 (26m 5s):
If you have any criticism, positive or negative, and you wish to get in touch with me direct, you can email me timheale@hotmail.com. That's tim@hotmail.com. I thank you for your time and thank you for listening.