Learn how your comment data is processed. Rumour had it many years ago a boy did fall, bouncing off the safety net and through the Post Office roof. STANDING on a wooden disc about a foot in diameter, and saluting, does not sound too much of a challenge, unless it is 143feet above the ground and you only have a lightning conductor to grip between your knees. Those ads you do see are predominantly from local businesses promoting local services. ", The honours board from the HMS Ganges, showing the victories of all the Royal Navy ships bearing the name (Image: HMS Ganges Museum). Its really difficult to give a definitive time scale but once things get going I would imagine that progress will be very visible whereas a lot of the work going on over the past two or three years hasnt necessarily been seen by the public.. It was named after a pre-existing training ship by the same name that was launched from Bombay and based at Shotley. The master at arms held a long thin bamboo cane, the instrument of the punishment. last entry 16.30 We are also please to welcome visitors at any other time by prior appointment - please telephone 01473 788315 or 01473 788723 to arrange this. Was anything in this navy free from fear? Posted on February 5, 2019 by irishroverpei. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to She remained in service at RNTE Shotley until October 1976. The only thing I can remember of that awesome night, apart from collecting a kit bag and filling it to capacity with kit, was sobbing myself to sleep and that I ate the biggest meal I'd ever eaten in my entire 15 years of life. contact the editor here. LEADING SEAMAN Served from 1961 - 1970 Served in HMS Ganges. Sad to see such an establishment close as it was so full of history and meant so much to so many. I came across a clip on youtube that really saddened me and it tells its own story about the UK as it is now and the real fact that such things as pride, standards etc have long been lost and decay and neglect are the order of the day, I do not need to walk very far from my home to see with my own eyes the evidence all around me. Ken Smith, who now lives in Brighton, sent me memories of arriving at HMS Ganges in the severe winter of 1963 and his fear of the dreaded mast. It was hard, often . Finally he withdrew his hand and declared I passed the test. Royal Navy 238217 Boy 2nd Class HMS Ganges II. HMS Ganges was a "stone frigate" or land-based institution for the Royal Navy, and between 1905 and 1976 was one of the key training bases used to prepare sailors to defend Great Britain. No way would the Royal Navy let the opportunity to instill fear into a young boy pass them by, So began another nine months of laughter and tears, disaster and joy. Martin Foster was treasurer for veterans who served at HMS Ganges training base in Sufffolk. Aerial artist's impression of one of the green spaces earmarked for the former HMS Ganges site in Shotley Gate. Sailors' uniforms were a familiar sight in our area until HMS Ganges closed in June 1976. and I got seven days 9s. I told him "I don't give a flying feck!" Artist's impression showing the view across a residential street at the redeveloped HMS Ganges site in Shotley Gate. HMS Ganges was a training ship and later stone frigate of the Royal Navy. Write to Dave Kindred, Kindred Spirits, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich IP4 1AN. Captain Tremlett, the Senior Officer of training ships, was ordered to investigate the situation and reported that Commander Stevens 'had given punishments . HMS Ganges was the name given to several Royal Navy ships from 1779 onwards, but in 1905 it was chosen for a new training base at Shotley Gate, near Ipswich, where about 500 boy recruits were stationed. Peter Ohara. the top rung of a six foot ladder is about my limit! We were ushered in as a group of naked boys and told to wash thoroughly. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to Ganges training establishment. Even by naval training standards life there was controlled by a very strict regime. Dave Walton RN retired. Yes, I got it wrong! Doesnt sound too bad does it. These were all regular happenings at Ganges. HMS Ganges as a training ship in the 1900s (Image: HMS Ganges Museum). As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. Picture: CLAGUE ARCHITECTS, Aerial artist's impression of one of the green spaces earmarked for the former HMS Ganges site in Shotley Gate. Frederick "Ben" Rodgers author of "Lily & Me", "The Royal Navy & Me" and collector of Rover automobiles, Review from Newfoundland CraigChurchill. Real posh supercilious bastard. Graduating from Ganges held the promise of better times ahead, we would be real sailors, excited at the prospect of visiting far off and exotic lands. While the training ship was originally based in Cornwall, she was moved to Harwich, and then Shotley in the 1890s, in order to be closer to a centre of population. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Were you at HMS Ganges? Picture: CLAGUE ARCHITECTS, Independent Babergh District councillor for Ganges, Derek Davis. I arrived at Ganges in the late afternoon on March 15th 1955, along with roughly a hundred other fifteen year old boys. He deserted on numerous occasions and willfully disobeyed orders . It was hoped that Developers Haylink Ltd would start work early this year, but their plans were scuppered by the Covid-19 pandemic. Abuse Details. As Rudyard Kipping wrote in his famous poem IF the you will be a man my son. The training was tough, brutal at times, yet many of those who came through remember HMS Ganges, at Shotley Gate, with a certain fondness. I was so fearful of that oncoming event I was becoming a nervous wreck, each night reading the next day's daily orders, wondering if tomorrow would be the day I crapped my pants in public. Through the year the training was intense, probably a good thing, it gave us little time to regret joining the navy. It had been HO (Hostilities-only) traing during the war. 1959 and what a bugger Ganges turned out to be. Picture: CLAGUE ARCHITECTS, The Duke of Edinburgh visiting HMS Ganges in June 1973 Picture: ARCHANT. JavaScript is disabled. Free (donations towards running costs are welcome) From the annexe, I had sometimes seen it, partly hidden by snowy skies as it towered above the buildings, and it looked frightening then, but now, marching beneath its cobweb rigging, it looked truly awesome. I was ordered to report for my test one evening after supper. Old men on the HMS Ganges Facebook page and it helps keep alive my time spent there. A Gannett Company. The showers at Ganges were just one bare room with several shower heads, no privacy. Reaching high into the sunlit sky stood the mast; its yardarms spread wide like a giant crucifix. One lad, a Geordie, was drafted early to a Destroyer bound for the Mediterraniann sailed from Plymouth He was washed overboard on his first few hours at sea..His parents never knew of the misery he suffered at Ganges. While I was going through the various calls I felt his hand slipping up the back of my shorts. My DO was so unforgetable I can't remember his name, but he ponced around with his handky up his sleeve and a curled lip. This site is part of Newsquest's audited local newspaper network. HP10 9TY. Sadists most of them and that's from a 15 year old who was in a council care home before he joined, streetwise to fcuk and kept my head down. HMS GANGES AT HIGHNAM COURT, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, 1940 - 1942. The showers usually took place at the crack of dawn, summer or winter we ran from the barrack towel around our waist to the showers. They were both Ordinary Seamen, one aged 17 and the other aged 18. This gallery has been set up as a home for images that have not so far been added to the Museums Official Website https://www.hmsgangesmuseum.com/ Life at Ganges was recalled recently in The Evening Star when a book about the base by Alan Peck was published. The greatest fear was of messing up, this meant the whole class was punished. HMS Ganges 'He had the misfortune to be placed under the care of two particularly brutal and drunken instructors whose continual bullying and abuse proved too much for this emerging free spirit ' His early life was hard by any standards. Offenders, known in the Navy as "defaulters", were mustered every morning and went before the Captain for a formal hearing, where they could be "awarded" up to 12 "cuts" -- very hard strokes of This was the job of the button boy at HMS Ganges who had to shin up the last fifteen feet or so to climb on the button during ceremonial parades. Editors' Code of Practice. Helpful Report abuse Kindle Customer Sorting The Wheat From The Chaff Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2014 We caught up with Jim Dines, Director of TS Rigging, whose team. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Shotly Jan 7 1967 , 4 weeks in the annex, 11months in the main establishment,left the RN after 26 years, as C.C.MEA(P) and you could tell Ganges trained men a mile off, Regrets not a bit.Sorry for the lad in my class that drank a pint of pussers disinfectant (The black stuff that turned white when you added water) I believe he got his Discharge. Down the road we proudly thundered, the first time any of us had seen the outside words since the day of our arrival. Tony Hayden. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. Read about our approach to external linking. She was established as a boys' training establishment in 1865, and was based aboard a number of hulks before moving ashore. Back in the mess, this safe haven shielding us from those torturous sounds, the junior instructors' suspiciously cheerful faces greeted us. For spite I think, because it wasn't compulsory. Justin I saw the mast fully manned three times and it was a wonderful sight to see as it was so well choreographed and I was always amazed how the button boy could even get onto the button, when there was a breeze the mast moved a few good feet at the top of it and as I said all he had to hold onto was a knee high lighting conductor. After eating I dashed down to the boat sheds to report for my test. He was quite good too. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. This site uses cookies. CHARGE CHIEF PETTY OFFICER (WEA) Served from 1974 - 1997 Served in HMS Ganges. "I remember another of the Ganges boys, they were talking to a visitor at the museum, and she said 'it was quite brutal, wasn't it? Mast erected using the foremast of HMS Cordelia, which was broken up 1904. There was a seamanship officer at the boat sheds. 2023 BBC. Every letter, every strip of tape had to be in a perfect line. H.M.S. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. The culprit was brought before the Commanders table, the punishment was awarded as six or twelve cuts. It was at Shotley Point that the wooden ship HMS Ganges was berthed from 1899, and used as a cadet training ship for the Royal Navy. Work on the scheme, which would see 285 new homes, a 60-bed nursing home, a large retail space and areas for medical services, will not be started until a spine road through the site, which will take the bulk of construction traffic away from main roads, is built. RM B54PCM - Twiggy the baby elephant was half an hour late for her appointment to 'tow of the premises', the 47 year old Captain Derek Napper Napper, skipper of HMS Ganges the naval training school at Shotley Suffolk, and found she had been replaced by a couple of horses. The facility remained there until its closure in June 1976, I was sent to the training Ship HMS Ganges a cruel harsh 12 months lay ahead of me and thousands of other boys. But this was Ganges, we never got away with anything. Allegations of Abuse. I knew that once the weather was respectable, when it was no longer dangerous, my skinny little skeleton would be transported, step by trembling step, up that perilous rigging. Maurice was nothing to do with HMS Ganges, in fact he had been a crew member of HMS Hambledon. GANGES; the ship had previously anchored out in the harbour below, at Shotley Gate, on the east coast opposite Harwich. they said. HMS GANGES MUSEUM. Ganges Tales of the T.R.O.G.s Print length 264 pages Language English Publisher Second City Publishers, Penmarth, Cornwall Publication date 22 Nov. 1995 ISBN-10 090681605X ISBN-13 Some boys were home sick, some just tried to stay out of trouble, one or two ran away. First the older of the two, Maurice WRIGHT JX 657902. The showers at Ganges were just one bare room with several shower heads, no privacy. Did my intro to Pusser at HMS Raleigh in ' 52 . Probably running away was the worse decision, they were always caught and returned to the camp. 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