Born in 1930 at Worthing, Tony Hammond moved at the outbreak of war to Findon village, just north of the town, to live with his gran. Then in 1944 he moved again, this time a short distance westward along the coast to the harbour town of Littlehampton to work in a boatyard there on a seven-year apprenticeship. Two other members of his family were employed at the boatyard, William Osborne's.

'My father and brother were transferred from Lady Bee at Shoreham Harbour to William Osborne at Littlehampton, and it was here that I started a seven-year apprenticeship as a marine engineer under the guidance of Ron Cobden, a first class mechanic who pre war had raced Austin Sevens at Brooklands.

It was 1944, I was 14 years of age and worked a 42 hr week for just 50p. It turned out that my very first job was on board one of the legendary MTBs (Motor Torpedo Boats). The four Packard engines were connected to what seemed to be miles of copper pipe and I had to fix electrical bonding strips to each of the rubber connections.

A trip to sea on board an MTB was an exhilarating experience when you were on deck, however the time spent in the engine room with those four Packards at full revs took the edge off the occasions. In addition to the MTBs I also worked on Tank Landing craft, which were drawn up a slipway on the west bank of the river Arun close to the harbour mouth. Their foundations can still be seen today.

At the end of the war, the private craft were brought out of mothballs, several of which had been used in the evacuation of Dunkirk and still carried a number of distress rockets on board. These were put to good use during the VE Day festivities.

Everybody cycled to work in those days, and cycling clubs once again started to flourish after the war ended. In 1946, together with my good friend Arthur Butcher, I joined the Lancing Athletic Cycling Club, and every Sunday a dozen or more of us would explore the roads of Sussex that were totally devoid of any traffic. The same year saw the welcome return of the August Bank Holiday sports meeting at the Littlehampton sports field. I managed to win the under eighteen one mile cycle race, and would you believe that the prize I received was a cigarette case and lighter!

Seven years of apprenticeship simply flew by and in 1951 I started my National Service in the water transport division of the RASC based on the Isle of Wight. The next two years were spent as a marine engineering instructor, partly in the classroom, and the rest of the time messing about in boats, where I was most fortunate to witness what went on in the Solent during the 1950s. There was the coming and going of the magnificent Cunard liners, the Fleet review at Spithead was a sight to behold, and the incredible ten engined Princess flying boat built by Saunders Roe at Cowes took to the air.

At the end of my National Service, much wiser, I returned to work at William Osborne's boatyard at Littlehampton for a further four years. On my return I took over the construction of the aluminium cabins for the RNLI lifeboats, a particularly satisfactory job.

There were also some very nice perks, such as ferrying private motor yachts to various parts of the country. The most memorable trip was when my brother and I crewed a magnificent yacht owned by a Greek shipping magnate to Monte Carlo, a wonderful cruise and ten days holiday in the principality was the life style that I could have easily adapted to! '