Bill Hartland

Bill Hartland served in the Royal Marines as a bandsman for 23 years. Bill has been a contributor to the The Band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines website for years. He served on HMS Gambia for her 1957 - 1958 commission and in 2003 he created the original HMS Gambia Association website wich was online until 2014. Without his help, this website could never have been created and when we finally met in August 2017, he very kindly gave me these photos:

Royal Marines School of Music. Boys Concert Military Band, 1953/4

Royal Marines School of Music. Boys Concert Military Band, 1953/4

Bill Hartland as Band Boy, October 1952 Bill during training at Deal in 1953. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland Bill's mess mates during training at Deal in 1953. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland Bill in February 1956 with the Royal Yacht Britannia in the background. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland HMS Tyne of the Home Fleet in Spain 1956. The group had driven up from Malaga to Granada, hence the white caps and khaki overcoats. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland Peter Hartell and Bill Hartland in 1957. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland Rock Hotel Roof Garden 1957/8. The Royal Marine third from the right was Bill's opponent in the 1955 Corps Welter-weight Boxing championships. Bill beat him on points. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland Aden in 1958. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland Aden in 1958. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland Concert in Victoria Park, Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1958. Erik Gaze (just see his forehead over music stand?) Graham Dench, Bill Hartland, Kevin Kesterton, Dave Clough, Selwyn Horner, Terry Collier and Russ Thomas. The head of Dave Macklin can be seen behind and between BH and Kevin Kesterton. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland The Royal Marines band on HMS Gambia in 1958. Crossing the Line ceremony. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland Peter Hartell and Graham Dench on 'B' gun deck in 1958. Graham later became a pastor to the Fishermens Guild in Scotland. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland Royal Marine Bandsmen Erik Gaze, ???, Bill Hartland and Peter Westaway. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland A party on an English liner at Bombay. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland Bill with his elder and only brother. The photo was taken in Bill's father-in-law's pub garden. It was in the pub that Bill first met his wife. She was the eldest daughter of the landlord. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland Bill and Joan get married, April 2, 1960 Colin Hunter and his wife Margaret, the padre of HMS Terror, will Bill and his pregnant wife in the NAAFI Club in 1962. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland Musician Terry Lampert. Terry wasa witness to Bill's son's christening on HMS Terror in January 1963. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland Jock Greig and Bill. They were Uckers champions (a board game very popular in the Royal Navy) on HMS Alert in 1964. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland Bill with his daughter Julie at their home at Johor Bahru, Malaysia in 1964. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland Bill and Joan Hartland in 2003. Bill in his garden on June 27, 2004. Bill Hartland with Jack Harker on April 6, 2006. Jack was the author of the book "HMNZS Gambia" which was published in 1989. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland. Bill Hartland at Lake Rotorua, New Zealand on April 6, 2006. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland. Alan Clements, John "Jan" Birch, and Bill Hartland in Glenelg (near Adelaide, Australia) in 2009 at the Royal Marines Band Reunion. Alan served on HMS Gambia's 1950 to 1952 commission and helped Bill with the original website pages. Jan lives at Whyalla Jenkins. Picture from Bill Hartland Bill at Eastbourne with HMS Gambia's 1952 - 1954 Commission Book, The Fighting 'G'. Picture from Bill Hartland After emailing each other for nearly 15 years Bill and Ray finally meet. Bill and Joan Hartland with Ray and Patty Thomas, August 2017. Photo kindly supplied by Bill Hartland

Uckers, a game similar to Ludo, has been popular in the Royal Navy since at least WWI. The Navy Song website (Internet Archive) discusses the game, its rules and their variants.