Troy, Tea and the Trincomalee

Tea Time with Troy, ship companions, L>R Phil Cordell, Gill Cox, host Peter Troy, Rosemary Smith, Rev. Ron Smith.

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Sarah-Jane Hollands reports on the second Tea Time with Troy, photographs by Donald Davison.

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In the beginning , the cups were being rattled as the tea was being served, Jason Ramsay and his three able bodied colleagues were rigging up recording equipment kindly supplied to us by Radio Hartlepool.

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With the best laid plans of mice and men, the event was soon underway but hastily halted with cries of "stop, it's not working!" After subsequent scenes resembling 'It'll Be Alright On The Night', Peter Troy welcomed his guests aboard HMS Trincomalee, docked at Hartlepool Historic Quay in the North East of England.

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The not so motley crew and Jason Ramsey (in cool ear phones) enjoy the companions tea time comments.

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The vessel, built under orders issued from the Admiralty in 1812 as part of the building up of the British fleet to combat the threat of one Napoleon Boneparte.

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Peter Troy knowledgably pointed out that by the time the ship was launched in 1817, the Napoleonic difficulty had been resolved and therefore the Corvette class vessel was dispatched to the West Indies and the Carribean.

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The vessel later sailed the length of the West Coast of America, then visiting such notable places as San Francisco, Valparaiso, Concepcion, Vancouver Island and later, Honolulu and the Falkland Isles.

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Tea Time companions around the Captain's table were Gill Cox, media consultant, Phil Cordell, health coach, Rosemary Smith, actress and The Reverend Ron Smith, vicar of Brookfield Church in nearby Middlesborough.

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Despite sending his apologies for his absence, former MP Piers Merchant, was much discussed in relation to his prominence on a number of occasions in the British media for his particular aptitude for personally blending politics and sex scandals. Piers has promised to attend future Tea Times with Troy.

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The cabin's nineteenth century ambience contrasted with the twenty-first century controversial issues raised by Troy's Tea Time companions and a not very motley crew of specially invited guests.

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Many topics were covered, specifically the desirability or otherwise of media intrusion into the private lives of politicians, tabloid sex scandal exposes, Creation (Darwin-V-Genesis), blasphemy, the decline of standards both on television and in everyday affairs, too much or too little government, who actually governs Britain and cricket (the social cohesive effect therof) and of course, the British weather.

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Our clearly well-informed and well-educated guests waded in to the near mutinous debate (led by Able Businessman Bowler), but 'Captain' Troy managed to keep control (just about) of both his crew and the conversation and the afternoon proceeded in an orderly, ship-shape fashion. (Click here to hear - soon!)

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Thus, with the sun firmly over the yard arm (and the Hartlepool Nuclear Power Station) and having discussed Genesis, Darwin, Boneparte, Flintoff, Trafalgar, the Merchant of Scandal, patriotism, and the BBC, we retired to the alehouse satisfied that if we hadn't actually made a difference we had perhaps in the end, made a different type of radio programme.

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Details of future Tea Times with Troy will be posted on this blog.

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Very British Productions Ltd, producers of Tea Time with Troy are grateful to the Trustees of HMS Trincomalee (www.hms-trincomalee.co.uk) and Radio Hartlepool (www.radiohartlepool.co.uk), without who's co-operation, the recording of Tea Time with Troy at Hartlepool would not have occured.