A dockyard workers reunion is to be held on April 1 to mark the 20th anniversary of the closure of the Chatham naval base.

Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, which runs the 80-acre historic section of the400-year-old base on the Medway, is planning the reunion as a time for nostalgia – and for looking forward.

Bill Ferris, the Trust’s chief executive, said: “The closure of the dockyard was a traumatic experience for everyone who worked there and for the Medway towns as a whole.

“The base was crucial to the local economy. But life had to go on.

“We want to give former workers the opportunity to look around, to take a trip down memory lane, and at the same time to see how much progress has been made in the historic part of the former naval dockyard.”

The event, supported by Medway Council, will also mark the opening of HMS Gannet to the public for the first time.

The dockyard shut-down was first announced in 1981, dealing a serious blow to the Medway economy.

Unemployment in the area rocketed as some 5,000 people joined the dole queue, but as the economy slowly recovered, so the Trust began to restore and preserve the yard’s collection of historic buildings while seeking to attract visitors to help pay for the costs.

Work also began to transform the 300 acre heart of the former yard, around Basins 1 and 2, into Chatham Maritime, which now consists of the showpiece St Mary’s Island housing development and office accommodation.

Chatham Maritime is under the control of the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), a Government-funded body.

The transformation of the old naval complex was completed with the creation of the commercial Chatham Docks at the Gillingham end of the former dockyard, run by the Medway Ports Authority.

Former dockyard workers who wish to join the reunion will get complimentary entry and access to lunchtime refreshments, but must pre-register, either by writing to the Dockyard Workers Reunion, Newsroom, Medway Messenger, Medway House, Ginsbury Close, Sir Thomas Longley Road, Medway City Estate, Strood, Kent ME2 4DU, or by telephoning 01634 227834 and speaking to Jenny Wormleighton, Editorial Assistant at the Medway Messenger.

There is also a coupon in the Medway Messenger newspaper.

Those joining the reunion must enter the site through via Western Avenue, opposite the old Pembroke Gate, not via the Main Gate.