Photo: James Pasby

Photo: James Pasby

Photo: James Pasby

Photo: James Pasby

Photo: Janet Brown

Witherington

Presented by
The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty
to Durham
to commemorate the adoption of
H.M.S. Witherington
During War Ship Week Feb. 7th 1942

below the plaque is the Bell from H.M.S. Witherington which is inscribed:-

H.M.S. Witherington

I will not fail

Presented to the city of Durham
to commemorate Warship Week 1942

In Durham Town Hall there was a framed photo of H.M.S. Witherington together with a letter to the Right Worshipful the Mayor of Durham, Councillor H.L. Gradon, The Town Hall, Durham, England. which reads:

H.M.S. Witherington
24th October 1942.

My dear Lord Mayor
For a long time it has been the desire of the Officers and ship's company of H.M.S. Witherington to express in some form their gratitude to the City of Durham for their kindness in adopting the ship. We also wish to thank all those in the city who have given up so many of their leisure hours to the knitting of comforts for the Royal Navy in general.

I, therefore, on behalf of the Officers and ship's company request that you will accept this Ship's Bell as a token of our thanks. We at one time hoped it might be possible that representatives from the ship should visit your famous city to present it in person. But unfortunately the movements of the ship have prevented this.

We sincerely hope that one day in the not too distant future, when this war is won, we may perhaps have the opportunity of visiting you. We shall then personally be able to convey our very sincere thanks to all those who are doing such noble work at home; and those untiring efforts to help so much to alleviate the discomfort of our long and somewhat monotonous days at sea.
Yours sincerely,
(M.H.R. Crichton)
Lieutenant-Commander, Royal Navy
Commanding Officer.
The letter and photo were in storage in 2016.