"The new tug was christened and launched at Hessle on 4th April 1962 by Mrs Ida Redhead, sister of J. F. Batey. The vessel was named APPELSIDER. Why or how this enigmatic name was chosen for her has not been discovered with certainty, but Sir Edward Elgar would have approved of the choice. Was it a deliberate play on the words "Apple Cider"? If so, was the spelling deliberate or a mistake not noticed until it was too late? Was a painter at the Dunston yard sacked about this time?! Whatever the intention nobody now, thirty years later, knows the reason nor will admit to knowing. It seems most likely that it was a deliberate play on the words "Apple Cider" following on from the previous naming within the grour of ROUGHSIDER itself a distorted reference to "Rough Cider".
John H Proud.
150 years of the Maltese Cross.
(Which contains the most complex Index of any publication known to man, designed by an Engineer, of course.)
Paul Hood. + WSS Tyneside Branch Hon Sec.