A long way home for officer Chris

A NAVAL officer is set to hotfoot it home to the North East to see the hospital where his son underwent a heart operation

As almost 2,000 family and friends gathered to welcome home the Royal Navy’s fleet flagship HMS Ocean after a six-month tour, Petty Officer Chris Orkney rushed off the ship to be met by his cheering wife Nicola and their children, three-year-old Declan, who is recovering from a heart operation, and one-year-old Locklan.

The helicopter carrier and amphibious assault ship was returning to HM Naval Base Devonport in Plymouth, Devon, after being deployed in the Mediterranean and the Gulf.

Mr Orkney, from Morpeth, Northumberland, is planning a ‘yomp’ from HMS Ocean in Plymouth with shipmates to Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital, where Declan had his operation.