The school was originally based onboard the HMS Conway, moored in the Menai Strait, but more use of the school's base at Plas Newydd was made after the ship was destroyed in a fire in 1953.

The National Trust have put together an HMS Conway exhibition in Plas Newydd coffee shop, formerly the school mess room, where some of the 'Old Conways' gathered for the opening and reminisced about their schooldays.

Elfed Roberts from Perth, Australia (1951-53)

Most of the boys from my home village of Abersoch wanted to go to sea. I got the first scholarship offered by Caernarfon County Council to attend HMS Conway when I was 14. I hadn't really left Pen Llŷn before coming here; it was a bit of a shock.

Even though there were boys from all over the world - Australia, America, Hong Kong - it was an English school. There were about 12 of us from the area, but others didn't really like us to speak Welsh.

I happened to be on the ship when she went aground. I was hauling ropes on the tugs which were pulling her from Plas Newydd to Bangor for a refit. The tides are extremely strong in the Menai, so we'd waited 10 minutes for the right time to pull her between the bridges.

But the tide suddenly changed on us in the most dangerous part of the Strait and there wasn't enough power in the tugs to pull her off the sand.

Only half of her was stuck, but when the tide went down, there was nothing to support her back half and she broke her back. So when the tide rose again, she didn't lift; water poured in and we had to get to work removing files and paperwork from the offices. We hauled everything up through the trees on the Caernarfon side of the Strait.

Because it was too dangerous to move her, the Conway stayed where she was until she went on fire some months later. No one seems to know how she was set on fire; it's a mystery to this day.

It was a weird feeling returning to school without the ship being there. They built huts on the Plas Newydd land and having the stableblock for classrooms was actually better, but we did miss training onboard ship.

I particularly remember Officer Brooke-Smith. Everyone really liked him. He'd never get stressed about anything. I remember climbing the mast for the first time and there he was, standing about 40 feet up on the part where you've got to climb out over the rigging.

He had on his smartest shoes, uniform, cap and glasses and was just holding on with one hand, helping the boys climb up with the other.

I didn't have a great time here, but you always look back more fondly on your schooldays.

There are Conway boys all over the world. I settled in Perth, Australia, working as a ship's pilot, and we've got an HMS Conway group over there. The relationship with the old school is still very strong.

More memories of life at HMS Conway
Take a picture tour of HMS Conway