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I wonder if you can help me? I am doing some research into H.M.S. Vanity, I believe she was adopted by your village during the Second World War. My father served on her as a radar operator and he refused to say very much about it, strange given the ship's name ! He died eight years ago on the Fourth of October and all that we knew about his service was that the ship was in Antwerp during a V.1 Doodlebug raid. All I had to go on was three old photographs, one of himself, one of his Mess and one of the ship. These are wartime photos and they were censored, once the ship photo was cleaned up I could make out the pennant number L.38. After a great deal of searching I discovered the name and hence your web page. From reading the service records it would appear that the vast majority of her time was spent guarding the East Coast Convoys, not as easy as it sounds ! From reading accounts of other V & W Destroyers it woud appear that living conditions aboard were at best very basic and at worst, well.....
Perhaps that's why he just wanted to forget about it, although I did find a quote from someone who said of the Vanity " She was a happy ship and I was sorry to leave her " I f you have any more information about the ship or her crew it would be much appreciated. I must admit that untill I started this I had never heard of Winteringham, the village looks beautiful and you have an excellent web site, congratulations.
Kind regards,
Dave
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