A Royal Naval Reservist who has dedicated more than 40 years to the navy is having a final year in uniform to remember after taking part in events to celebrate the Armed Forces.
Petty Officer Lynn Reed joined the Royal Navy aged 17, serving at RNAS Culdrose, in Cornwall, on various Sea King and Merlin Squadrons from 1981 to the present day.
She also had a two-year stint at RNAS Portland, in Dorset, on 772 Search and Rescue Squadron in the mid-1990s, and at HMS Daedalus during her aircraft engineering training.
She said: "Both my parents, my uncle, and my grandad served, I wish they were still with us to see where their influence got me.”
Currently working for the Ministry of Defence, Lynn has 42 years of experience, working on and around Royal Navy helicopters, which has given her a wealth of knowledge.
As a reservist in HMS Pegasus, she works as a Merlin Avionics Instructor at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose, near Helston in Cornwall.
She added: “As a Reservist I get to train current Royal Navy personnel to load torpedoes to Merlin helicopters, how many can say that?”
PO Reed and her partner Lieutenant Commander Graham Mains, an Aircrew Officer Observer in the Royal Navy, also based at RNAS Culdrose, recently got to celebrate their time in the Royal Navy by representing the service at a gala dinner.
Lynn was invited to represent HMS Pegasus at the occasion held as part of the 2023 Armed Forces Day in Falmouth, Cornwall.
She said: “I was lucky enough to be selected for an invitation to the official Armed Forces Day Gala Dinner representing RNAS Culdrose reservists of HMS Pegasus, along with my partner. Graham, a current Regular, took great delight in being called my plus one."
The dinner was a major event held as part of a packed weekend of activities to celebrate the Armed Forces with local dignitaries, business owners, veterans and serving personnel from all three services attending.
Lynn and Graham were welcomed with an exclusive reception at Events Square where they were entertained by the Band of the Royal Air Force.
The Gala Dinner took place in the National Maritime Museum, Cornwall, with guests surrounded by the hanging flotilla of small boats in the iconic building accompanied by music played by the Royal Marine Band on the second floor.
Lynn added: “I felt very privileged to have been able to attend the Gala Dinner and honoured to be wearing my evening dress and medals in such prodigious company one last time."
This is Lynn’s last year in uniform, she will leave the Royal Navy and Reserves next March after 43-and-a-half years’ service.
