At Veterans Outreach Support (VOS), our wellbeing activities can take you places you never thought you’d go! In October alone, our community has signed up to try a wide range of adventures including axe throwing, wrapping paper printing, alpaca walking, and this recent visit to a unique WWII era submarine.
Our visit to the HMS Alliance maintained by the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust offered a group of our service users the unique opportunity to dive into history and see firsthand how this sort of sub works.
The tour was a journey through time guided by one of VOS’ resident experts, Peter Vallender. Pete, a former submariner himself, brought a unique perspective to the tour. He shared some expert knowledge in a real authentic and engaging style that brought the submarine and its history to life. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, Pete!
HMS Alliance is the only remaining RN submarine from the Second World War era, making it a very important symbol of British naval history. The veterans attending the tour had the unique opportunity to look through the original periscope and hear the stories of those who served onboard. They were able to see where the crew slept, witness how the mighty engines rumbled, and learn about the day-to-day life onboard a submarine.
All in all, an excellent day! Here’s what attendees had to say about it:
“Thank you for your hard work and dedication supporting service veterans. Our group this morning very much enjoyed our visit to the submarine museum.”
“So much to learn. What a hard life it was for the submarine service. In the background we enjoyed the banter and the spirit of comradeship.”
“Peter the guide was excellent. Full of humour and knowledge.”
“The museum made us feel most welcome.”
“A really good day enjoyed by us all.”
You can learn more about Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and its treasures, including the Submarine Museum and HMS Alliance here: https://historicdockyard.co.uk/discover/
Would you like to learn more about wellbeing activities at VOS? All registered VOS Service Users (and their spouses/partners/carers) can take part. If you’re not registered with VOS but you would like to attend these activities, please sign up by following the directions below.
If you’re a veteran from the UK Armed Forces or the Merchant Navy (from any time of service) or a partner, spouse, or carer to one, VOS would love for you to join our community. We are here to offer our support: call us on 02392 731 767, visit an upcoming drop-in, or email admin@vosuk.org to get started.
