Recent cold snaps across the country brought mixed reactions from sailors on Navy duty.

A blanket of snow provided a picturesque but chilly backdrop for a visit to her home town by Sandown-class minehunter HMS Inverness – but it did not prevent her ship’s company from getting through a busy programme of events and visits.

Whilst alongside in the Highlands, the ship hosted a careers forum on behalf of Directorate Naval Recruiting (DNR), enabling local careers advisers to see what life at sea is all about.

Under the direction of LCH Dulson, chefs from a local catering college helped to prepare a lunch party of traditional Scottish fare.

The children’s ward of Raigmore Hospital, the affiliated charity of HMS Inverness, was also a beneficiary of the visit, receiving a cheque for money raised whilst the ship was deployed with NATO standing minehunter squadron MCMFORNORTH.

“It was a real treat to welcome the ship back. Inverness is very attached to the ship and her company, and we can’t wait for her return,” said the Lord Provost of Inverness, William Smith.

Further south, the sight of snow had four junior Royal Navy ratings jumping for joy, because WTR Nekisha Seaman and her friends have never seen the white stuff before.

Back home in St Vincent, temperatures were touching 30°C, but at JSU Northwood, the support arm of the Forces’ front-line command centre, they weren’t even reaching zero in the last days of January and early February.

Not that the four Vincentians minded, as the snow was a welcome novelty.

“We like the snow – although we’re not too keen about the cold,’ said Nekisha.

“This is the first time we’ve seen it. We couldn’t resist having a snowball fight. For us it’s a bit of an adventure, although we still miss the Caribbean of course.

“We’ve taken a few photographs to send home so our families can see what snow looks like.”

Four Vincentians are based at JSU Northwood – two writers in the Unit Personnel Office (UPO), a third in the registry and a chef in the wardroom galley.

The RN recruiting drive in the Caribbean paid off with around 150 Vincentians signing up, providing a fresh input of very hard working, enthusiastic sailors.

Vincentian WTR Jill John collected the JSU Efficiency Award for running a section – normally a position held by a fully-qualified writer – and will head to HMS Ocean this summer for her first sea draft.

“They’ve settled into the Royal Navy really well,” said UPO manager CPO Andy Drummee.

“The snow has actually been a real bonus for them. They loved it – they got really excited and it’s given them extra impetus.

“We find snow a pain – they found it amazing.”