Chris Groves – The feeling of completing Perisher, the handshake and Perisher Breakfast

Simon: We’ve come to the end of Perisher and then how would you describe the feeling the handshake on successful completion?

Is it describable? I guess there’s a bit of euphoria around it and there’s also a huge sense of relief. ‘Cos it’s such a seminal moment.

One, it’s something you’ve been working towards for a long, long time, two there’s a big bit about kudos and self-worth and having achieved it, and you’re joining this Club which even today, I mean this has been going since 1917, the Submarine Command Course, the Club’s only got I think about 1000 people in it.

There’s only about 1,000 people that have gone through it. I don’t know what the numbers are now.

We had the Centenary of the Perisher Course in 2017, and it was 900 odd people were members of that Club. And that’s not those that are alive, that’s have ever been members of that Club, so it’s a pretty elite Club, and so there’s an element of kudos in that even if it’s only in your own mind. And of course, it means al of a sudden from a career perspective and a progression perspective you’ve got some security, which is important I think. It was a brilliant day.

I can remember you get off on a boat transfer and we got onto a ship called ‘The Adamant’ which is one of the Support Ships that did transfers of personnel and stores to submarines at sea, and we got on at the Cumbrae Gap, which is about 25 miles away from Faslane Naval base, and she would steam, I guess she did about 12 knots or something like that, maybe a bit faster, and somebody had got a couple of cases of beer and it was a sunny day. I’m trying to think, it was probably June or July …

We steamed up the Clyde and had a few beers, and then you end up going into what’s called the ‘Perisher Breakfast’ and it’s usually not at breakfast time, although in olden days it had been, so you have a traditional breakfast which tends to be a submarine type of breakfast with full English plus a few bits and pieces, and a few speeches and a reasonable amount of alcohol, and it ends up … we ended up in a place called the Resolution Bar which is one of the Bars underneath the Wardroom in Faslane, celebrating into the small hours. It was a very happy day, a really happy day.