A retired headmistress has been presented with a Naval cap to mark her 100th birthday, after saying that she had always wanted to join the Royal Navy.
Margaret Grey had a successful career in education, but told staff at St Monica Trust’s Charterhouse Care Home in Keynsham, Bristol, that it had always been her dream to follow in her father’s footsteps.
Her father had joined the Royal Navy aged 16 and sailed the world on a number of warships as a chief petty officer, before moving to Bristol and working as an electrician on HMS Flying Fox.
Ms Grey was looking forward to earning her own cap, but her parents became unwell, meaning she was unable to join the Navy and she trained as a teacher instead.
Last month she celebrated her 100th birthday with family, friends, former pupils and staff at the care home, as well as representatives from the Royal Navy.
Royal Marines Warrant Officer John Morrish, from the Naval Regional Command Wales and Western England, presented Ms Grey with her cap from HMS Flying Fox to mark her birthday.
She was also given a cap from Colston’s Girls’ School, now named Montpelier High School, where she began her teaching career after graduating in English literature from Bristol University.
After celebrating her caps with a glass of prosecco, Ms Grey said: “My father would have been very proud to see me wearing my cap today. ‘That’s my girl’, he’d say. He was a very, very lovely man.”
Ms Grey continued: “I’d studied my A-levels to join the Women’s Royal Naval Service and become a Wren. I was so looking forward to earning that lovely cap with the white stripe.
“Unfortunately, both my parents became seriously ill, which meant I couldn’t join the Navy, as I wouldn’t have been able to go overseas and leave them on their own.
“Despite not being able to become a Wren, I did eventually warm to teaching and quite enjoyed it. But I’d never have become a teacher if I’d been able to go and serve overseas.”
As a child, Ms Grey lived with her mother’s family in Northumberland while her father was at sea. His three-year postings meant she did not meet him until she was a toddler.
She described seeing her mother talking to a “strange man” in the parlour, and went to ask her grandmother who he was. Her grandmother replied: “That’s your father.”
Warrant Officer Morrish, who presented Ms Grey with the cap, said: “It’s a really great honour to be able to present this Royal Navy cap to Margaret and chat with her about her wonderful life.
“It’s genuinely inspiring to meet her and share memories of her father’s time in the Royal Navy and serving on board HMS Flying Fox.”
After moving to Bristol, the family lived in the Whitehall area. Ms Grey remained there until she moved to the care home in June 2022.
Ms Grey moved to work at St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School after the death of her father, becoming deputy headmistress at the school.
She then become headmistress at Merrywood Girls School, where she taught until her retirement in 1984.
Gail Stone, care home manager at Charterhouse, said: “After hearing how much it would have meant to Margaret to have been able to join the Royal Navy, we thought it would be a nice idea to arrange something special as part of her birthday celebrations.”
She said she could not thank Warrant Officer John Morrish enough for “making Margaret’s dream of ‘joining’ the Royal Navy finally come true”.
