Thanks Seaweed.
Not only was HMS Vernon founded by a Gunnery Officer ('Jacky' Fisher) as an offshoot of HMS Excellent in 1876 but the first RN divers were 13 Gunnery branch petty officers and seamen trained at HMS Excellent by Corporal Jones and his team of Sappers sent from Woolwich Barracks by Colonel Charles Pasley RE in 1844.
Wonderful pictures. As you know, they would have been taken during the 'challenge' part of the 1962 'Olympiad' between the Long Gunnery (G) Course at HMS Excellent and the Long Torpedo & Anti-Submarine (TAS) Course at HMS Vernon. The venue alternated each year and comprised the issuing of a challenge by one course (normally wearing some sort of fancy dress to reflect a chosen theme), followed by a response from the opposing course the next day. The event itself comprised imaginative competitive events (fixed so that the other side would host the following year) and wound up with an 'Olympiad' mess dinner in the relevant wardroom.
The 1962 Long TAS Course comprised: G J Dowling, J B Crick, L McAuley Jay, R M S de la P Hutchinson, J Harvey-Samuel, R P Burdett, P J Erskine, D B Davis, J A Hepworth, S C Fraser, D B Mansergh, A N G Smith, G A Hales, D H M Price, J D Foster, J N King, G R Lamperd, N J Stoker, J A B Lewis, I L S B Bradley, R P C Poole and J J Parry.
After the Long TAS Course was phased out in 1972, the Long Minewarfare & Clearance Diving (MCD) Course inherited the mantle on behalf of Vernon. My LMCDO course organised the competition and issued the challenge in 1976. The response came the following day when Cdr Frank Trickey turned up at Vernon driving a pony and trap and wearing full Victorian costume. The ensuing fun and games, culminating in the traditional mess dinner, were suitably aggressive. Thank goodness 'Elf & Safety' wasn't such a serious concern back then.
In 'blank years' when it was not hosting the Olympiad against Excellent, Vernon hosted the 'Bone of Contention' competition against the Submarine Officers' course at Dolphin.