Andrew became the first West Hampshire Youth Section Chairman when he was elected to the position in October 1998. The ‘leader of the Youth Section had previously been the Youth Section Secretary.

Andrew had rallied with his parents, Alan and Anne and his big sister Claire since he was six years of age and had been an enthusiastic member of the Youth Section and Committee member before and after his time as Chairman.

Andrew joined the Royal Navy in 2001 but still attended rallies with his family whenever the opportunity arose.He attended rallies the annual Competitions Rally at Sparsholt College, Winchester in July 2003, the day before he tragically died in a road accident. Over 200 Centre members attended Andrew’s military funeral held at HMS Collingwood in Gosport. 

The Youth Section Committee met following this sad event and proposed that a memorial award should be presented to the Centre in Andrew’s memory. Following discussions with Alan & Anne it was agreed that, rather than a sporting award, an annual friendship award would be appropriate. The West Hampshire Centre Fellowship Award was first presented on behalf of the Youth Section to the Centre at the 2003 AGM.

On the same occasion, Alan. Anne and Claire presented the Youth Section with a solid silver Youth Section Chairman’s medallion in memory of Andrew. The ribbon of the medallion is Royal Navy blue.

Proposal and purpose for Andrew Port Fellowship Award Presented by the West Hampshire Youth Section

The Centre’s Youth Section wished to commemorate Andrew Port in a way that was fitting. The original suggestion was for a Volleyball trophy, but this could not be presented to 1 person. Following discussions with Alan & Ann, it was felt that a “Fellowship” award was more in keeping with the ideals that Andrew believed in, friendship and fellowship, Andrew was a friend to all of us young & old.

The purpose is as follows:-

The purpose of this award is for the members to nominate a West Hampshire member (whether young or adult) for their fellowship/ friendship at any given time during the year to the Centre and/or its members.

The person(s) nominating the member would write to the Honorary Secretary by the end of August of that year, explaining why they wish to nominate the member for this award. The Honorary Secretary would collate the nominations together for the Committee to consider prior to the September meeting before the AGM.

The Committee would then have had time to consider each nomination on its merit and a final decision would be made at that meeting.

The recipient would be presented the award at the AGM, and have the award for 1 year up to the next AGM, their name would be added to the Roll of Honour on the award.

This is the Youth Sections proposal, and on behalf of the Youth Section, I hope that this is accepted. The intention is for the award to be presented to Alan & Ann following their presentation of the chain of office to Charles Hurst at the AGM.

Dorothy Worley Youth Section Liaison