My Name is Vic Cliffe. I was born in Manchester in 1944 and lived in Ardwick and Gorton, attending Ross Place and Ardwick Technical School. At 17(1962) I joined the Royal Navy and served until 1971 when I joined North Wales Police (called Gwynedd Constabulary then).

I retired in October 2001 after 30 years and now lecture on Drink Driving offences and carry out Mental Health reviews as a Lay Manager. I currently reside in North Wales.

While in the Navy I had been on HMS Aisne for two years and after a six month trip around the Far East and West Indies the ship was being paid off and was to be scrapped.

Our last port of call in November 1968 was to Londonderry, and whilst there the ship's company were to be told where their next draft was to be. My wife was due to have our first child in February 1969 and I was hoping for a long awaited shore draft back in Portsmouth where we had lived previously.

My draft came through after most of the others and I was surprised to be posted to SHAPE HQS Paris. What as I will never know. I was a Leading Mechanical Engineer with no other skills other than a basic school French. I was to go in the January with my wife, and the baby would be born in France -- simple.

I was not too sure about this and began to have second thoughts about this plum posting. I need not have worried, for the Student riots in France at that time made the authorities worried and so the Shape HQs was moved to Brussels and there was no need for another 007 such as me.

Where was I to go? Luckily for me my Engineer Officer convinced the Drafting clerk that Portsmouth would be the place for me to go, followed by a draft to Singapore after the birth of the baby.

My wife and I moved into Shackleton Road on Rowner Estate six weeks prior to the birth. We were a young couple with no family and friends, and about to give birth. The midwife organised us well and the baby duly arrived after a home birth with little formality and we were a family.

My memory of the birth was the family planning lecture given by the midwife to my wife and me as the contractions increased, a bit late for that I thought, and the instructions for cleaning up the 'mess' because the Navy would inspect the married quarters when we vacated.

I was to be posted to the Fleet Maintenance Unit in Singapore and we arrived after a small delay waiting for the baby to be old enough to fly, and at two months old Michaela Anne left Hampshire to live in Singapore for the next two years.

When asked now for her place of birth, she in a rather posh voice states 'Gosport, Hampshire', and has been known to acquire a southern accent even though she has lived in North Wales ever since returning to the UK.

Vic Cliffe, North Wales, 2002. See also Vic's memory under Ardwick, Greater Manchester.