Surprise visit from Navy Lynx delights schoolchildren

Children from St Alban’s Primary School, Havant couldn’t believe their eyes when a Royal Navy Lynx flying overhead landed on their playing field and the crew got out to say hello.

This was a huge surprise to the children but teachers at the school had been working behind the scenes to arrange a visit designed to give pupils an insight into life in the modern day Navy. Sailors from Portsmouth based HMS Daring brought life on board a Type 45 warship to school through a virtual tour of the ship and a quick lesson in fire fighting.

HMS Collingwood based Physical Training Instructor LPT Craig Sutton gave a PE lesson Royal Navy style which the children thoroughly enjoyed Ava Spencer, ten, said: “It was really fun. We had to work as a team like you do on a ship.

The crew of the Royal Navy Lynx - Lt Cdr Alex Sims, Observer 702 Sqdn and Lt Adam Rudkin, Pilot 815 Sqdn - treated excited pupils to a tour of the helicopter and answered questions on what it’s like to fly a helicopter in the Navy.

Headteacher Alice Wood said: “We are great believers in children learning from first hand experiences and this visit from the Royal Navy has been really exciting. We talked a lot about the armed forces in our work on remembrance so this is a great follow up to that for our children.”