Navy chief is given MBE after 34 years’ service
ROYAL Navy Commander Heather Rimmer, from Rochdale, has been awarded the MBE for her 34 years of service.
The award, presented by HRH the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace, was particularly in recognition of the period she was Training Commander at the Maritime Warfare School at HMS Collingwood in Fareham.
The former Oulder Hill School pupil joined the Royal Navy in 1985 and received the clasp, given for a further 10 years’ service, to the long service and good conduct medal she earned in 2018.
She is also the recipient of the former Yugoslavia Medal, 1992, and the BMATT (British military advisory and training team) South Africa Medal, 1996.
Cdr RN Rimmer, 55, said: “I was very honoured to have been awarded an MBE in recognition for 34 years’ service to date, but could not have achieved it without the unstinting support of my family and colleagues.”
Looking back over her long career she said that the stand out moment was her time in Cape Town, South Africa monitoring the integration of members of the African National Congress into the South African Navy following the dis-establishment of apartheid as a member of a BMATT team.
Commander Rimmer has two children Thomas, 21, and Natalie, 16.
She is currently serving at Fleet Headquarters in Whale Island, Portsmouth as project manager for a training services contract for the Royal Navy.