OCAAA
The Old Caledonia Artificer
Apprentices’ Association
Welcome to boyart Country!
Definition: boyart - a boy entered into the Royal Navy as
an artificer apprentice
Welcome to the official web site of OCAAA - The Old Caledonia Artificer
Apprentices’ Association. Within these pages you will find information
relevant to our Association and also HMS Caledonia - Rosyth’s College of
Knowledge on the Hill - where the majority of our members dedicated their
youth to the pursuit of engineering knowledge, alongside other more leisurely
pastimes (as some of the pages reveal).
We hope that you enjoy your OCAAA browsing experience, but should you be
unable to find that which you seek, or experience technical problems with the
site, please do not hesitate to drop Spyda an email. You’ll find an email link
to him at the bottom of each page
Please note that “The Tiff’s Mess” is restricted to OCAAA members
only - so if you want the key to that particular door you must join the
association!
HMS CALEDONIA
HMS Caledonia, high on the hill overlooking Rosyth Dockyard,
in Fife Scotland. No longer a commissioned establishment of
the Royal Navy, it is today in the custody of the Defence
Infrastructure Organisation and known as MOD Caledonia.
The establishment has changed since we learned our trades,
much of our school having been demolished over the years to
make it safer and also more suited to today’s requirements.
We left our mark here and our alma mater left its mark on us
boys no matter what other features time may change. The old
adage stands.
You can take the tiff out of Cale,
but you can’t take the Cale out of the tiff!
YOUR DATA - AND CONSENT
Following the implementation of GDPR legislation for the
management and use of person identifiable data on 25
th
May 2018, we have generated a consent form for OCAAA
members. It is essential that all members complete and
return the form at the earliest opportunity, so that we may
maintain communication links with you all. The form can
be obtained by clicking here.
Friday 6th to Sunday 8th May 2022
To mark the 40th Anniversary of OCAAA, a very special
reunion will take place from Friday 6th to Monday 8th
May 2020. The venue is:
The Edinburgh Marriott Hotel
111 Glasgow Road, Edinburgh. EH12 8NF
Tel: 0131 334 9191
This is a modern hotel with first class facilities,
conveniently located near to Edinburgh Airport, with
excellent transport links into the city.
Our ScotRep, Lionel Fisher, has negotiated a very good
package price for the weekend, with additional days
available for those wishing to spend a little more time in
the area.
Booking for OCAAA opened on 1st May 2021 and
members should make reservations for their chosen
package direct with the hotel’s Events Manager. Alison
Solomon, on 0131 314 7501.
Plans include a visit to HMS/MOD Caledonia, which
will probably be the last opportunity to visit the
Caledonia site before it is put up for disposal. Transport
will be laid on to take members to Caledonia on the
Saturday morning.
The AGM will take place on the Sunday morning, as is
our historic practice.
Chairman Dave Blackburn and the OCAAA Committee
hope that this great gathering will bring together a large
number of members, their ladies and their guests, to
celebrate our Ruby Anniversary.
Full details of cost and booking arrangements are
contained in the Spring 2021 edition (through to Spring
2022) of the OCAAA Newsletter.