For more information, please see our Privacy Policy, Please enter a password with 6 characters or more. She was established as a boys' training establishment in 1865, and was based aboard a number of hulks before moving ashore. It would seem those boy-sailors who were seconds ago shoving sausages into smiling faces, had all disappeared into that terrifying building, and by the cries belching from its belly were being eaten alive. Jon Sparks. Jim Gitsham, chairman of the Shotley branch of the HMS Ganges Association, said: "Members will be delighted that he's going down. While I was going through the various calls I felt his hand slipping up the back of my shorts. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. To get out of the showers we had to stand before our instructor legs apart arms raised for inspection. At Gagnes they spent 12 months training, and they learned everything you need to do to run a ship. HMS Ganges moved moorings from Harwich to Shotley. We were ushered in as a group of naked boys and told to wash thoroughly. 1959 and what a bugger Ganges turned out to be. It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. Royal Navy 238217 Boy 2nd Class HMS Ganges II. Please Login or Register. Sad to see such an establishment close as it was so full of history and meant so much to so many. On the parade ground the order went something like On the command fix! The left hand went behind the cheek of your left buttock and twisted the bayonet and scabbard upward. She was based alternately in Falmouth, Harwich and Shotley . The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The one chippy bugger who thought it good fun to make you spar with him in the wash room (Annexe) I met up with in the Far Flung and gave him more than he gave me. Padre Weekes was always good for a fag and Jim Conroy (PTI) taught me to yodel. I joined Ganges 30th June 1955 also as a boy telegraphist. Peter Ohara. what an incredible article, thanks for that dave, how far did you get up that mast? It. JavaScript is disabled. After sewing on a tag and sporting a proud smile as I offered it up for inspection to that gorilla-of-gunner, I was sent scurrying away, ears ringing from slaps and vehement words, asking myself, 'How the hell did I mange to sew the tag on upside-down?'. The previous evening I'd arrived at HMS Ganges training annexe, with an assortment of other would-be-sailors, and was placed in the capable hands of a spotty-faced junior instructor and a bullet-proof gunnery instructor who wore crossed guns on both lapels. I allowed my head to tilt backward, sending my gaze to the very top, to the lightning conductor where the Button Boy stood on ceremonial occasions. www.amazon.co.uk/H-m-S-Ganges-Dozen/dp/0906418003/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269273975&sr=1-1, www.navy-net.co.uk/Forums/viewtopic/t=134/postdays=0/postorder=asc/start=0.html, www.veterans-uk.info/vets_badge/vets_badge.htm. 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. 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. Boys were permitted to march through the streets of Ipswich with bayonets fixed. 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, . Standing at 143ft, the mast is made up of three main parts; the main 75ft mast came from HMS Cordelia, a steam corvette built in Portsmouth, the top mast of 47.5 ft wooden ruffle box from HMS Agincourt, which was renamed HMS Boscawen, and then Ganges II. Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 13 March 1653 - Death of Simon de Vlieger (c. 1601, Rotterdam - buried 13 March 1653, Weesp) Simon de Vlieger (c. 1601, Rotterdam - buried 13 March 1653, Weesp) was a Dutch designer, draughtsman, and painter, most famous for. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. The former treasurer of a naval veterans' organisation has been jailed for 18 months after nearly 80,000 was withdrawn from its accounts. Not to the required half-moon, but to the first platform, where, when authoritative eyes were averted, I dashed to the other side and climbed back down.. HMS GANGES AT HIGHNAM COURT, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, 1940 - 1942. In the first week of January it was snowed even harder and it snowed until March. Editors' Code of Practice. Discussions between developers and Babergh District Council planning officers have been concluded five years after plans for the huge project were given outline planning permission in December 2015. Change). It was hard, often . HMS Ganges was the name given to several Royal Navy ships since from 1779, but in 1905 it was chosen as title for a new training base at Shotley Gate, near Ipswich where about 500 boy recruits. the top rung of a six foot ladder is about my limit! I shuddered to the bone, as I'm sure did other boys. Click here to remove banner ads from this forum. Looking pretty in candy-striped pyjama bottoms and naked chests, we were ordered across the parade ground, through the snow and ice, to the 'heads', that grown-up potty land, which had neither doors nor partitions around the bowls for privacy, to partake in our morning ablutions, a most embarrassing experience. yes I was there in 92 .Essex, Nolfolk , Herts Suffolk and Cambs police all used it. Harry and Meghan told to 'vacate' Frogmore Cottage, Explosive found in check-in luggage at US airport, Fungus case forces Jack Daniels to halt construction, Rare Jurassic-era bug found at Arkansas Walmart, China and Belarus call for peace in Ukraine. 2023 BBC. 1905 to 1976 saw 150,000 recruits pass through HMS Ganges. The mast has been a local landmark since it was erected a century ago this year at the end of the Shotley peninsular. A historic Grade II listed former Royal Navy training mast has been taken down ahead of restoration work. Those ads you do see are predominantly from local businesses promoting local services. Restoration of the historic HMS Ganges Mast is well under way at Barrelmans Point in Shotley. The cold water often caused some boys to duck in and out of the water quickly or sometimes not at all. Ronald Carr. She had taken on the previous duties from the wooden ship H.M.S. Boys normally signed up to a contract of 12 years, which would leave most of them aged in their late 20s after their tours. (LogOut/ in the RN with the nickname Doc. "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? There was also a degree of sexual abuse going on at Ganges, but we boys were too scared to ever complain or report such incidents. Were you a 'button boy'? In 1905 when the Ganges vessel was finally retired (and towed away to Chatham), the training facility, still named HMS Ganges, moved ashore. It began snowing on Boxing Day. The kindly chef asked me whether I intended to eat the mountain of food I'd heaped on my plate or climb it! I was at Ganges in 1955 and went to visit Shotley in 2005 and was surprised to see police signs near the old swimming baths. I arrived at Ganges in the late afternoon on March 15th 1955, along with roughly a hundred other fifteen year old boys. We are the largest and fastest growing community of UK forces veterans on the web with over 500,000 members! "Most of what was on the site went to the naval museum in Portsmouth, but we have the honours board and figurehead from the original ship. Did my intro to Pusser at HMS Raleigh in ' 52 . From it came bloodcurdling cries of command, so frightening that I most surely would have obeyed them myself, if had I understood what they meant. The HMS Ganges site was initially opened in 1904 acted as a boys training facility for the Royal Navy. He was an Electricians Mate Class 1 and served in, 12/03/35-09/01/36 HMS Ganges. Welcome to Forces Reunited the place where you can find information and friends from HMS Ganges. Statistics for the 1930s indicate some 200 official canings per year in HMS Ganges alone, an average of four per week. Steve Tarr. In 1907, its famous training mast was erected on the parade ground. 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. Old men on the HMS Ganges Facebook page and it helps keep alive my time spent there. He was subsequently dismissed from the service and returned to civilian life. 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. GANGES; the ship had previously anchored out in the harbour below, at Shotley Gate, on the east coast opposite Harwich. The skipper was HS McKenzie who went FOSM. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Helpful. However, for most of us boys, qualifying meant we could wear the Bosuns chain with our uniform instead of a lanyard. Artist's impression showing the view across a residential street at the redeveloped HMS Ganges site in Shotley Gate. This site is part of Newsquest's audited local newspaper network. CPO (OPS) (EW) Served from 1966 - 1991 Served in HMS Ganges. It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. It may not display this or other websites correctly. His early life was hard by any standards. Royal Navy 238217 Boy 1st Class HMS Ganges II. Tangible progress to transform a former Suffolk naval training base into nearly 300 homes, a sports park, shops and a GP surgery could be seen once the coronavirus lockdown is over. . Im here as my Son (15) wants to join the RN - Wellbeck route AIB soon. The next six years passed with regular naval detentions, ( Royal Naval Detention Quarters RNDQs Portsmouth) exhausting punishments, solitary confinements, ending with a twelve month sentence in the infamous HMP Corradino, Malta. Engineer commander had been on Amethyst up the Yangtse and was quite sympathetic when he was OOD. Commander was Trick and a good egg. 5.0 out of 5 stars A real trip down memory lane. She remained in service at RNTE Shotley until October 1976. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. HMS Ganges - part of front gate Having completed the New Entry training over at the Annex (I think it took six weeks), we then marched over to Drake 39 mess over in the Main Establishment. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. 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