Come Onboard

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Joining is straightforward, and we keep things simple

Who Can Join?

Full Membership is open to anyone who served aboard HMS Andromeda (F57) at any time during her Royal Navy service, from commissioning in 1968 to decommissioning in 1993. Any rank, any branch, any role.

It doesn't matter whether you were an Admiral or an Able Seaman, a Stoker or a Sparker, a Greenie, a Cook, or a Jack Dusty. Royal Navy, Royal Marines, or attached personnel, if you served in Andromeda, you're one of us.

Associate Membership is open to anyone with a connection to HMS Andromeda or her ship's company. That includes partners, spouses, children, grandchildren, and other family members, including the families of those who have crossed the bar. The people who kept life going ashore while we were at sea are just as much a part of Andromeda's story as anyone who stood a watch on board.

All members gain access to our private Facebook group, where you can connect with shipmates and stay in touch between reunions.

What Does It Cost?

Membership is £10 a year for both Full and Associate members, due by 31st January, but optional if you only want to join us for a drink at the reunion and not attend the more formal events (please see below - do I have to be a member).

That's it. No joining fee, no hidden charges, no escalating rates. Ten pounds covers everything: the website upkeep, event deposits, newsletters, wreaths, and keeping the whole thing running. Every penny goes back into the association. Nobody's getting rich off this.

What You Get

Membership gives you:

• An invitation to our annual reunion weekend in February,  the social highlight of the year, and the one weekend where the old ship's company musters again.

•  A place at the annual gala dinner on Saturday evening,  the formal high point of the weekend, and the one night we push the boat out. Membership gets you through the door; dinner costs are confirmed separately as we get closer to the time. 

• A connection to shipmates through our Facebook community, the conversations, the photographs, the dits that keep coming between reunions.

• For Full Members: eligibility to march with us at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday. There's no finer feeling than walking past the Cenotaph under the Andromeda banner with your shipmates beside you.

• For Full Members: the right to attend and vote at our AGM. It's kept short, it's kept to the point, and attendance is entirely voluntary. But it's your association, and your voice matters.

• The satisfaction of knowing you're helping to keep Andromeda's story alive , not just for us, but for everyone who comes after.

• And most importantly: the company of people who understand.

Do I Have to Be a Member to Come to the Reunion?

No. And this matters, so we want to be clear about it. The only requirement is that you served on her or have a valid association with the ship.

The reunion weekend is open to everyone, members and non-members alike. If you want to come for a drink, catch up with old faces over a DTS, or just spend an evening spinning dits, swinging the lamp in the bar, you don't need to be a paid-up member to do that. Just turn up. You'll be welcome.

Where membership does matter is for the more formal parts of the weekend. If you'd like to attend the AGM or the gala dinner, or if you'd like to march with us at the Cenotaph, we ask that you're a paid-up member. It's a fair exchange, your £10 helps make those events possible, and in return you get a seat at the table.

But if all you want to do is come along, have a pint, and see some old shipmates? You don't need a membership card for that. We'd genuinely rather see you for an hour as a non-member than not see you at all.

How to Join

Drop us a line. That's all there is to it. Contact the Membership Secretary at hmsandromedasecretary@gmail.com or fill in the form below, and we'll sort the rest. No ten-page application form. Just tell us your name, when you served on Andromeda and your branch / rank, and how to reach you.

If you're not sure whether to join or just want to ask a question first, that's fine too. Get in touch. We're shipmates, not a membership department.

We only ask for what we need. No fuss, no palaver.

Please complete the short form below: