HMS Montrose crew recognised

The achievements of the crew of a Royal Navy frigate with close ties to Montrose have been celebrated.

HMS Montrose has a long history with the town that shares its name and received the Freedom of Angus in 2002.

The commanding officer, Commander Conor O’neill, has been liaising closely with the Worshipful Company of Distillers to reinvigorate the relationship between the two organisations as the ship emerged from its refit last year.

As part of a wide package of support, the Distillers generously provide a prize fund which is used by the ship to reward those sailors selected for monthly, quarterly and yearly awards.

The ceremony took place while the ship was alongside in Devonport during a maintenance period after being at sea for several weeks throughout January and February, including a trip to Norway, flying training, filming for a TV series, gunnery firings and the assessment of trainee warfare officers.

Bryan Burrough, the Master of the Company for 2018, and David Raines, a past master, travelled down to Plymouth and came onboard to have lunch with the winners and conduct the presentation.

Mr Burrough presented each prizewinner with a set of engraved glasses and a 10-year-old bottle of whisky, with LET(WE) Daniel Perkin also receiving a print of HMS Montrose.