Wheres all the WRANS
During my time at the Tross so many Wrans come and went never to be heard of again some only stayed in a couple of years max and moved on Of course there were those that stayed in for some time MERLE BALLANTYNE,MONICA EGGNIG, MAXINE STONES, KELSIE GARSIDE are a few that come readily to mind. Through the word of mouth i know what and where some of the wrans have got to but gee there are plenty that i dont, they have fallen through the cracks a lot of them If there are any ex wran cookies out there who read this forum please submit a brief sitrep it would be good to catch up so far we only have a couple of ex wrans that submit on a regular basis a few more woulld be nice so some stories from the wrans would be welcome. Some times i think i'm hogging this site a bit and seem to be submitting on a regular basis i hope you dont get sick of me its just the Mark Twain coming out of me and those that know me know i could always gibber a fair amount of manure. You can always tell me to shut up but i know you cookie monsters are to polite for that hahhaha Regards quinny

Merle Ballantyne (Felmingham) is alive and well in Townsville. I believe she is a Rocky Chief and cooks around the place for a living. I have had some limited contact with Merle and rest assured she will drop in and say hello to all as soon as she picks up some pc skills. She is fairly well known in ex pussers cook circles up that way. I have a recent photo of Merle with some ex pussers,including Tim Cahill at the Townsville RSL. I don't know why a lot of ex Wran Cooks don't keep in contact with us? We were so nice to them and treated them with utter respect. happily pissed (4) (2)

stop brown nosing cliff we all know thats a fib when i think of it they did put with a lot from the boys no equal opportunity employment in those early 70s And sexual harassment laws hadnt been heard of the things we used to say and get away with it dosent happen now but mind you the wrans gave as good as what they got and i have many fond memories of many of them .At the end of the day we ended up in the wets having a brew or 2 it was like that in those days Cheers Quinny

Quinny was speaking to Merle recently in the supermarket. She is currently working in North Ward. I will give her a call and tell her to get herself onto the computer. Cheers Jude

Good one Quinny , would love to talk to Maxine , last I knew she went back to Tassie and opened a bed and breakfast .

hello
I was in the Navy but after the WRANS were no inexistance. 2000 - 2004. I'm still one , yeah? I'd love to hear from other cooks. I've read a book about WRANS can't remeber the title. It was about WRANS from the start to the finish published acouple of years ago.

Erica, There's a book called "Ships Belles" about the history of the Wrans, not sure if that is the one you are talking about.

+Thanks for the info on merle jude i will give her a call i have her number now Inote that you were in pussers when the writers still used biros Them were the days now its all done on computers and the scribes just sit at their computer terminals and type away no pay day musters no early pays now just direct debits mind you i didnt mind not lining up and saluting for my pay keep well love and i catch you later Regards quinny

Mate, When Jude was in pussers they did'nt have Biros or pencils even. They used Slates . :P

Why thank you Cliff :grin: but not quite right, used slates in kindergarten then it was dip pens into the inkwell and used blotting paper. I was in in the days of manual typewriters, carbon paper and stencils so you had to be a good typist and speller not like today where the computers can correct you, and then again they're not always correct. Sorry Quinny I never worked in pays :grin: so you can't blame me for any mistakes. I did work in the Movements Office at NO so if you were drafted to somewhere you didn't want to go to then it was all because the dart hit the wrong ship :lol:

Writers never made mistakes they were just too good you ask any one of them they will tell ya. Quite a lot of wran writers out there jude and like the cooks branch they had quite a few that come and went never to be heard of again would'nt mind getting a copy of that book you mentioned in one of your posts be a good read keep well' regards Quinny glad to see you have got rid of your slate and chalk and gone all techo on the computer couldnt resist that quinny

That's right Quinny. The late Salty Eckel used to say that about whiteout, he said that Writers never used it because we never made mistakes....................and of course all Writers will say the same. I've caught up with a few of the older Wran Writers over the past few years whom I haven't seen for years at a couple of the Writers Reunions and WRANS Luncheon in Brisbane. Been good to catch up with the news and hear of a few more along the way. It always seems like it was only yesterday that we all saw each other. Luckily I have kept it touch with a couple of WRANS and see each other every so often. Regarding the Ships Belles, we had a copy donated to our Cadet Unit by a Wartime Ex-Wran. I will find out who wrote it and the ISN Number. Think the only place you will see it will be the Library unless the library in the RSL has a copy. Cheers Jude

Thanks for the info on the book Jude. I live a stones throw away from an RSL retirement home and they have a good library there and if my memory serves me correctly I saw that book there . Im sure I will find it - given time. I think we will get a few more on line, patience is a virtue so slowly we go I never got to know you in pussers you had come and gone by the time I joined I joined in jan 71. I can vaguey remember Salty Eccles but did'nt actualy meet him. He seemed to be talked about a bit and was well known in the Writers branch. Must away keep well till then. Regards Quinny. (about time you wrote a sitrep of what you have done since you got out, be good to read, I started the thread in the Forum). Thank you in anticipation to a favourable reply to my request Quinny

I rember when I was on Stalwart with CPOCK Geraghty during his rants one of his favorite comments was " Listen son I joined the navy when the ships were made of wood and the men of steel now sadly to say it is opposite" Thank God I did my time and enjoyed it immensley as if I was still in and had Jims mentality I would be saying ( God forgive ) "Listen son I was in Baghdad while you were in your dads bag " To this very day I am trying to track down Jim My best mate and still until this very day was Joe Palfy and between us we used to make Jims life hell (behind the scenes of course ) and blame it on Dutchy Holland and Lyndsay Best Those were the days

If anyone sees Merle say hi from me, She was my POCK instructor at the cookery school in 89, she pulled me out of the do do a few times as well. More to that saying as well Highlander "in Bagdad in uniform" when you were "in dads bag in liquid form"