It’s the 120th year of Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth and on Saturday they threw open the gates to visitors.

Well over 3,000 people attended and were treated to performances by the Band of the Royal Marines, the Dancing Beggars singing sea shanties, the BRNC Choir, canon demonstrations, fitness displays, drills, a static Merlin Helicopter from 846 Naval Air Squadron at RNAS Yeovilton, meet-the-Captain sessions, the Royal Navy Reserve from HMS Vivid.

There was a chance to see a state-of-the art ship simulator, go on tours, visit the college museum and call into the stalls.

Down on the town pontoon, there was a chance to visit two Vahana Officer Training Boats and HMS Exploit, an Archer-class patrol vessel.

The Commanding Officer of BRNC Captain Andy Bray joined the Navy as a logistics officer in 2002 and has spent most of his career at sea or in headquarters.

He previously worked on one of the Navy's largest ships, the aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, before taking command at Britannia Naval College.

Captain Bray trained at Dartmouth straight out of school with no degree and trained for a year before doing logistics training at HMS Raleigh.

Captain Bray has his advice for young people considering a career in the Navy: “It’s a great job, a great opportunity and great career.

“Be inquisitive and do your research.”

The Open Days themselves are well worth while for the Navy’s point of view as Captain Bray explained: “Open days are crucial for showcasing the Navy's work to the public, highlighting the Navy as a public service funded by taxpayers.

“It’s people’’s money used to keep everyone safe so it’s absolutely right that we share with everybody.”

Officer Cadet (OC) Chauhan described his training: “The full training period is 29 weeks.

“It splits up into two terms: first, militarisation is 14 weeks long, and then marinisation is 15 weeks.

OC Chauhan looks forward to open days:

“Obviously it’s a chance to interact with Officer Cadets and get their opinion.

“It's also really good for learning about the history of the college and the Royal Navy itself.

I think the college has a lot to offer in terms of history, just looking around there's numerous bits of artwork and plaques and regarding the Royal Navy as a whole, it's just really, really rich in history and culture, and it's important, in my opinion, to get that out there in public.

There is also a dedicated family weekend where the families come along and it’s similar to today with lots of different stalls around.

There's a speech by the captain, a drill demonstration, an Initial Military Fitness (IMF) demonstration as well.

It's really insightful and I think all the families, especially mine, really enjoyed being able to see what my training is like with the Royal Navy.”

The college would like to give special thanks to Dartmouth Town Council for the use of Coronation Park for visitor parking.