Ardent

Don't know about that far back but I can confirm from bitter experience that the rate of pay for a junior in 1981 was ?7.25 per day!

Just a thought but I notice there's a 62 CSM in the group - could the "mysteriously untraceable" bar be a NI gallentry award? I know (from personal experience) that many of these awards were not Gazetted for the security of the person and operational requirements

The Royal Ulster Constabulary also received the George Cross

The 50th of Foot (West Kents?) were known as the Dirty Half Hundred due to the black facings on their tunics

Won't guarantee anything without reading up on it later but certainly looks like the WWII commando Special Service Brigade which was disbanded due (in part) to its assumed similarity with the German SS at the time As for the other badge it's certainly representative of a Fairburn Sykes fighting knife which is universally connected with commando forces rather than the winged sword (not dagger) of the SAS Regiment

STUFT vessels included much smaller craft such as tugs and "others" and the RN crews were issued with "HMS" cap tallys

Most likely Royal Marines as the principal battle honour is Gibraltar and is worn above the globe and laurel (the laurel representing all the other battle honours world-wide) and PER MARE PER TERRAM is the Corps motto

The Golden Jubilee medal seems an odd one - various rules allow it to be placed differently from other jubillee/coronation medals and I've seen people wearing them in all sorts of positions on the bar

I last saw it in use about 4 years ago - a Superintendent from Surrey - the satin facings were purple if I remember rightly - other than that it was much like Naval mess dress

Special Service Brigade - not really a forerunner of the SAS dispanded due to undue similarity with the German SS

Royal Naval Air Service operated the first armoured car battalions in Belgium during the 1st World War - could be that's where the badge came from (seem to remember seeing it before but not as a cap badge - perhaps over the rate badges of Senior Rates)

VHF aerial?

Although not strictly true it did refer to the passage to India rather than America so they could see coastline

Actually, women were carried onboard at sea - the term show a leg was so that hairy-legged seamen (as opposed to hairy-arsed stokers) would have to turn to but smooth-legged women could stay turned in