‘I’m just so proud’ – South Shields Mum’s joy as her 16-year-old son completes Royal Navy training during lockdown

Kirsty Robson, 39 from South Shields has spoken of her pride after her 16-year-old son Luke completed his basic Royal Navy training during the coronavirus crisis.

Luke has been away from home for the last ten weeks – undertaking the first part of his Navy career and seeing him in the pass out parade was an emotional day for the family.

However, due to the coronavirus restrictions, Luke’s parents were unable to travel to HMS Raleigh in Plymouth to share the special day with him in person.

Mum Kirsty said: “The day has had highs and lows as we wanted to be there.

“Instead, we were sent a link so we could watch the ceremony.

“One good thing about it was we were able to share the link with the whole family so everyone could watch.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Luke was unable to travel home during his training, something which Kirsty said pushed him on.

She added: “Usually they get two weeks off during training however because of lockdown, he has had to work through it.

“It drove him on to do it for himself as he was looking forward to us meeting his senior officers.”

Luke is now home for nine weeks before heading off to HMS Sultan to undergo 29-weeks of training to become an aircraft engineer.

“I’m just so proud of him,” Kirsty added.

“He went in a boy and has came out a sailor.”

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