A FORMER Basingstoke pupil who carved out a career in the Royal Navy has won national recognition for his work to increase diversity in the service.

Commander Joe Da Gama, 47, left Kenya with his family in 1969 at the age of 13. He spent eight years in Basingstoke, where his parents still live, attending Cranbourne School in Kings Furlong.

He joined the Navy in 1977 as a ratings officer and rose to his current rank in 1995.

Cdr Da Gama's success was announced in last Tuesday's Endeavour Awards for leadership and diversity. It is the third time this year that he has been recognised for his work to change the face of the Navy.

He said: "We have worked really heard to recruit ethnic minorities in the past few years.

"To continue that success we had to make the service more embracing. If we were to achieve the targets we had set for ourselves, we had to consider these things before we got the recruits in place. So we have been pro-active."

Cdr Da Gama said that, as a teenager in Basingstoke, he had been the victim of bullying. But he added that the problems now faced by the Navy were different.

"Take people like myself from Basingstoke. I lived in an area that was white and went to school with white children. So we try to change to be less visible.

"You can't change your colour but you can become more integrated.

"I have had 26 terrific years in the Navy and have never encountered bullying.

"I can honestly say bullying isn't rife, but I would be nave to say it doesn't exist. There's bullying in every part of life."

Since taking over as the Navy's diversity policy officer in 2001, Cdr Da Gama has made changes to improve life for all recruits, not just ethnic minorities.

He said: "What you do not want to do is alienate people and have the white majority say 'What about me?'."