Now i know why! Shotley Marina, Shotley Gate, Ipswich, IP9 1QJ. HMS Ganges moved moorings from Harwich to Shotley. Outbreak of World War One. Padre Weekes was always good for a fag and Jim Conroy (PTI) taught me to yodel. They looked smarter, more confident, or even downright dejected. Mr Youngman, who joined the navy aged 15 in 1965, said he had previously climbed up to the top of the mast but "couldn't wait to get back down". 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 were stationed. Boys normally signed up to a contract of 12 years, which would leave most of them aged in their late 20s after their tours. Those ads you do see are predominantly from local businesses promoting local services. She remained in service at RNTE Shotley until October 1976. "In 1860 she was decommissioned and laid up, and in 1866 she was turned into a training ship, and her guns were removed. Recruits are shown how to stow a hammock - date of photograph unknown. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. Some 100 boy-sailors were in the canteen, chewing and chattering; clattering knives forks and spoons against plates and bowls. A Gannett Company. 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. 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. For breakfast porridge was on offer, that salt-coated gruel I'd been forced to eat every morning of my schoolboy days. 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. The lower portion of the mast is steel, extending 18 feet (5.5 m) below ground and 30 feet (9.1 m) above ground. The former treasurer of a naval veterans' organisation has been jailed for 18 months after nearly 80,000 was withdrawn from its accounts. Richard Dunn. Yes, I got it wrong! Did my intro to Pusser at HMS Raleigh in ' 52 . Every letter of our names had to be perfectly in line. It was named after a pre-existing training ship by the same name that was launched from Bombay and based at Shotley. 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. He was quite good too. It may not display this or other websites correctly. Some boys failed the initial inspection which only lengthen their time in the freezing conditions. 1905 to 1976 saw 150,000 recruits pass through HMS Ganges. contact the editor here. 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. Through the year the training was intense, probably a good thing, it gave us little time to regret joining the navy. Early in 1940 Admiralty decided to close Ganges as a Boys Training Establishment and in April it became a Hostilities Only Training Establishment. I knew only when it was over would I then be able to call myself a true Ganges Boy and, some years later, a real sailor. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Report abuse. At 14 he ran away to join the Royal Navy and signed on for 12 years. Royal Navy 238217 Boy 1st Class HMS Ganges II. 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. Ganges Tales of the T.R.O.G.s Paperback - 22 Nov. 1995 by John Douglas (Author), John Wheatley (Illustrator) 6 ratings Paperback 12.00 8 Used from 8.90 H.M.S. 1927. Aerial artist's impression of one of the green spaces earmarked for the former HMS. contact the editor here. While I was going through the various calls I felt his hand slipping up the back of my shorts. Used to have chats with old Tick-Tock and RPO Salmon gave me my 1 postal order when the max was really ten bob. Review of a book of anecdotes about legendary UK boys' naval establishment HMS Ganges, which at any one time housed as many as 2,000 trainee sailors in their middle teens. So as I have said already, we kept our heads down aiming for that final day when wed be drafted to a ship. ( Royal Naval Detention Quarters RNDQs Portsmouth), Listen to No Flowers for Geordie on SoundCloud. On his 15th Birthday he was sent, with 2000 other boys, to the notorious HMS Ganges training establishment at Shotley Point where a harsh regime held sway. The cinemas would be packed with rows of Ganges boys in uniform and the caf at the corner of St Stephen's Lane would sell them many cups of tea as they waited for their bus back to Shotley. Mr Jones said: "There is a lot of truth to the statement that you entered as a boy, but left as a man. It closed in 1998 or something. First time ever looking at any RN sights. The noise was excruciating. According to the HMS Ganges Museum, her timbers were used to make objects including a grand staircase on an estate, and a cocktail bar in a small hotel, both in Devon. 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. Steve Tarr. I arrived at Ganges in the late afternoon on March 15th 1955, along with roughly a hundred other fifteen year old boys. 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. 1907. This site is part of Newsquest's audited local newspaper network. Rather than do the two as a pongo I signed on the dotted line for a dozen , best thing I ever did and I regret not staying in for the full time . His early life was hard by any standards. 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. Royal Navy 238217 Ordinary Seaman HMS Niobe . He deserted on numerous occasions and willfully disobeyed orders . I heard many boys saying things like , dont bend over in front of the seamanship officer, or always face him dont turn around. By creating an account you agree to us emailing you with newsletters and discounts, which you can switch off in your account at any time. We had just finished PT before going to supper, so I was in shorts. Picture: CLAGUE ARCHITECTS, The Duke of Edinburgh visiting HMS Ganges in June 1973 Picture: ARCHANT. It was as we crossed the parade ground the whole bunch of us suddenly froze and spun to face a huge aircraft-hanger-of-a-building running along its length. I knew a gentleman who said when he was at Ganges in 1947 he had his first taste of hot food. A planning application for the site was submitted and outline permission was granted in 2015. Each time I let it go off it popped, falling to the deck with a clatter. 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. Was anything in this navy free from fear? Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. 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/ It was easy to spot those who had been here the longest. "It's very high - you get a good view though.". This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. Doesnt sound too bad does it. I joined Ganges 30th June 1955 also as a boy telegraphist. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. H.M.S. Real posh supercilious bastard. Welcome to Forces Reunited the place where you can find information and friends from HMS Ganges. The cold water often caused some boys to duck in and out of the water quickly or sometimes not at all. St George IOM Boys training 3/5/45 Christmas leave 45 took all kit and returned to Ipswich station, then by the ubiquitous 3 ton Bedford to Shotley where we reopened HMS Ganges as a boys establishment. The money belonged to the HMS Ganges Association for people who served at the former naval training base at Shotley Gate near Ipswich, Suffolk. 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. MT2 Served from 1965 - 2021 Served in HMS Ganges. Helpful Report abuse Kindle Customer Sorting The Wheat From The Chaff Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2014 Life at Ganges was recalled recently in The Evening Star when a book about the base by Alan Peck was published. 1976. Thanks again, D. R. WALTON the only O.E.M. 1959 and what a bugger Ganges turned out to be. This site is part of Newsquest's audited local newspaper network. For spite I think, because it wasn't compulsory. #42. ", The honours board from the HMS Ganges, showing the victories of all the Royal Navy ships bearing the name (Image: HMS Ganges Museum). Two other ratings are recorded as 'drowning' whilst on the books of HMS Ganges and both were in 1944. I would imagine it will be a number of years before we see the final product but Ive seen first hand how quickly they can actually make progress once the builders get going. Ganges training establishment. It. This punishment was something I never witnessed and can only describe from what other boys told me. Mast erected using the foremast of HMS Cordelia, which was broken up 1904. Restoration of the historic HMS Ganges Mast is well under way at Barrelmans Point in Shotley. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to "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? Maybe we were unlucky with Instructors as one was Court Marshalled, discharged and sent to prison for so called abuse. She was based alternately in Falmouth, Harwich (from 1899) and Shotley (from 1905). joined in '63 Dreadnought in the Annexe and Duncan in main camp, Went swimming at Vincent before colling-grad got its pool, and sailing if my memory is not totally shot, I sometimes considered climbing to the top of the mast a tossing myself off. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Jon Sparks. 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 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. I wrote this song a long time ago. Picture: SARAH LUCY BROWN (Image: Archant). BBC Blue Peter presenter John Noakes attempted to climb to the top of the mast. I joined up in 1968,three years after my brother, he hated it I was one off the sad ones that loved it, even the kit musters on the mast! Picture: CLAGUE ARCHITECTS (Image: CLAGUE ARCHITECTS). GANGES; the ship had previously anchored out in the harbour below, at Shotley Gate, on the east coast opposite Harwich. Captain Tremlett, the Senior Officer of training ships, was ordered to investigate the situation and reported that Commander Stevens 'had given punishments . HMS Ganges Museum is dedicated to the 160,000 boys who went through the gates as boys and marched out as men, from its inception as a Royal Navy Training Establishment in 1905 to its closure in 1976. I shuddered to the bone, as I'm sure did other boys. I wondered, sewing, perhaps! 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. The mast was erected in 1907 for boy entrant training purposes using the lower foremast (steel) from HMS Cordelia (1881) with other sections from the mizzen mast of HMS Agincourt (1865). If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to Allegations of Abuse. Name Hetzner Online GmbH - Contact Role. Network 157.90../16 Abuse Contact API. Maurice was nothing to do with HMS Ganges, in fact he had been a crew member of HMS Hambledon. You are using an out of date browser. 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. [1] Read about our approach to external linking. The association said it had about 3,000 members and at the time of the offences its income from membership fees was about 30,000 a year. In 1907, its famous training mast was erected on the parade ground. 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