Honour as longest-serving Wren retires
THE Royal Navy’s longest-serving Wren has been awarded the Armorial Bearings of Bridgend County Borough as she retires after 44 years of service.
Barbara McGregor wore her uniform for the final time last week as she laid a wreath at the cenotaph in Bryn, near Maesteg, where she is from originally, to pay her respects on Remembrance Day.
Barbara, who was the most senior Warrant Officer of the Royal Naval Careers Service, is a former pupil of Cynffig Comprehensive School in Bridgend and has returned there several times to give talks to youngsters.
Barbara, who lives in Aberkenfig, Bridgend, joined as a radio operator in 1977, serving at HMS Heron, Yeovilton, HMS Dryad and HMS Rooke, Gibraltar. This was later followed by the first of two deployments at HMS Raleigh, Cornwall, where she trained new female ratings.
Her second period at
HMS Raleigh was during a time of change for the Royal Navy when female and male recruits were trained together and women first went to sea.
More recently she became the Regional Development Manager for the Naval Regional Command Wales and Western England, which encompasses 15 Armed Forces Careers Offices. She was also involved with the Nato Summit when it was held in Cardiff in 2014.
Plans to officially mark her retirement have had to be put on hold due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Bridgend Council’s Armed Forces Champion, Councillor Richard Young, said: “On behalf of the council I would like to offer our sincere congratulations to Barbara on her retirement after an exemplary 44 years of service in the Women’s Royal Navy. She should be rightly proud of the many years of dedicated service she has given to her country.”