Royal Navy 238217 Ordinary Seaman HMS Niobe . Thanks again, D. R. WALTON the only O.E.M. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy, Please enter a password with 6 characters or more. Ganges training establishment. Bob Roberts. Real posh supercilious bastard. On October 28 the White Ensign was lowered for the last time and the ships figurehead was transferred to Royal Hospital School, Holbrook. Attempts have been made to contact developers Haylink Ltd but have been unsucessfull. BBC Blue Peter presenter John Noakes attempted to climb to the top of the mast. I took a bowl and ate the lot. Mr Jones also offered reassurance around the historic mast, despite fears about its dilapidated state. First the older of the two, Maurice WRIGHT JX 657902. 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. I was out of there in an instant, but never said a word to anyone, I was just happy it was over and I had qualified. We were ushered in as a group of naked boys and told to wash thoroughly. 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. Within ten minutes, a second pair of gates appeared, the gates of the real HMS Ganges. The inquiry was carried out by Hampshire Police after debit card transactions of 4,200 and cash machine withdrawals totalling 74,000 were made from the association's bank accounts between August 2010 and June 2012. He deserted on numerous occasions and willfully disobeyed orders . Mast erected using the foremast of HMS Cordelia, which was broken up 1904. Jon Sparks. Observer career path/ real life experience. Drake 39 mess At least the cubicles in the heads had doors on this time. "The rest of the buildings, including Nelsons Hall and the swimming pool will be converted into flats, shops and a sports centre. The pipe (whistle) was used aboard ship for passing orders and instructions. HMS Ganges is a little bit different though, because they have to get the spine road in first and do some prep work. 2023 BBC. On the remainder of the command 'Bayonets' the left hand pulled the bayonet from the scabbard, placed it on the barrel of the rifle and, with a quick twist of the wrist, secured it in place. Mr Davis added: They have had the last conditions, including the fire hydrants agreed. I shuddered to the bone, as I'm sure did other boys. 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. We had no one to confide in, our instructors would more than likely told us not to tell tales. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. We can reunite you with your friends who served at HMS Ganges and we have a wealth of information on different units, bases and ships in the site. ", The sailors in training doing exercises outside the gym (Image: HMS Ganges Museum). For spite I think, because it wasn't compulsory. The kindly chef asked me whether I intended to eat the mountain of food I'd heaped on my plate or climb it! "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? Editors' Code of Practice. However, in the meantime we were still at the mercy of our instructors. Dave Walton RN retired. 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. Former recruit John Youngman said it would be "nice to see it restored to its former glory". The boy was made lower his trousers, but kept is underpants on, he was made to bend over a chair. Recruits used to climb the 143ft (44m)-high mast in formation, with the "button boy" standing on a small, circular platform at the very top, hands-free, but with his legs resting against a metal supporting bar. Among his many punishments, he suffered cuts, a particularly brutal form of Naval punishment. The facility remained there until its closure in June 1976, If not, you would do it repeatedly, until you dropped dead if necessary. 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. (LogOut/ We are the largest and fastest growing community of UK forces veterans on the web with over 500,000 members! Realizing his mistake he fought back and with no way out he had no choice but to work his ticket. During the third disastrous week, it spent so much time on the deck I thought I might as well leave it there! After eating I dashed down to the boat sheds to report for my test. Babergh District councillor Ganges, Derek Davis, said: From my own personal perspective I have seen how closely our officers and our planning team have worked with the owners of the site and I can imagine that once the lockdown is over and the guys get started, progress will be made very quickly. Royal Navy 238217 Boy 2nd Class HMS Ganges II. These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. Life on the ship was extremely hard, with a memorial in Mylor, Cornwall, recording the names of 53 people who died while training on it between 1866 and 1899. It was easy to spot those who had been here the longest. But this was Ganges, we never got away with anything. 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". HP10 9TY. Were you a 'button boy'? A history of the Royal Navy Training Establishment HMS Ganges. 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! Every letter of our names had to be perfectly in line. Probably running away was the worse decision, they were always caught and returned to the camp. 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. Read about our approach to external linking. . Down the road we proudly thundered, the first time any of us had seen the outside words since the day of our arrival. 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. One not only suffered the punishment such as doubling up and down the steps of laundry hill with a 303 rifle held high. These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. He was sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court. HMS Ganges closed on June 6. the reason i remember the date is that it was my 15th birthday, We got shipped out to Suez in October 1956 cutting short our training by a couple of months. She was based alternately in Falmouth, Harwich and Shotley . inaccuracy or intrusion, then please Initially, training continued to be carried out on the vessel, but after the completion of a shore-based facility at Shotley, the ship was sent to be broken up. HMS Ganges being broken up after training was transferred to the land base at Shotley (Image: HMS Ganges Museum). H.M.S. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. 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.. It began snowing on Boxing Day. Read about our approach to external linking. He was the officer that tested us when we endeavoured to qualify with a bosuns pipe. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Rumour had it many years ago a boy did fall, bouncing off the safety net and through the Post Office roof. Each of us was required to construct a printing block using letters carved in wood. Our abuse contact API returns data containing information belonging to the abuse contact of every IP address on the Internet. There was a seamanship officer at the boat sheds. HMS Ganges was a training ship and later stone frigate of the Royal Navy. 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?'. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Change). These were all regular happenings at Ganges. It would not be an exaggeration to say not one of us had the slightest idea of what lay in store for the next year. The mast has been a local landmark since it was erected a century ago this year at the end of the Shotley peninsular. The training was tough, brutal at times, yet many of those who came through remember HMS Ganges, at Shotley Gate, with a certain fondness. Nevertheless, as bad and as cruel as I have describe Ganges, I remain proud to call myself a Ganges Boy. She remained in service at RNTE Shotley until October 1976. However lessons, culminating in a test, were much more difficult. She was based alternately in Falmouth, Harwich (from 1899) and Shotley (from 1905). Even by naval training standards life there was controlled by a very strict regime. The rest of the class were not pleased to suffer because of one boys stupidity and sometimes made a cruel point of letting the culprit know. GANGES was the shore training establishment for boy entrants into the Royal Navy from 1905 until 1976. David Colwill. 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. 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. There was one hell to come, the Ganges mast! 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. Click here to remove banner ads from this forum. The noise was excruciating. 1959 and what a bugger Ganges turned out to be. contact the editor here. We had just finished PT before going to supper, so I was in shorts. Contents 1 Foundation and early history 1.1 Allegations of abuse 2 Ganges at Harwich 3 Ganges at Shotley 3.1 1906 changes 3.2 Later developments 3.3 First World War 3.4 Post war developments 3.5 Ganges in the Second World War 3.6 Postwar and closure 4 References 5 External links HMS Ganges as a training ship in the 1900s (Image: HMS Ganges Museum). The Royal Navy training mast in Shotley Gate, pictured in 1936, was erected in 1907, A photograph of the base taken sometime in the 1950s (left), with recruits on the mast in 1937, with one recruit just about visible near the very top, John Youngman said his training at the site stood him in good stead for the rest of his life, Warning: Third party content may contain adverts, A pupil band from The Royal Hospital School performed at the event, It is expected to take at least a year to restore the mast at the tip of the Shotley peninsula, across the water from Felixstowe and Harwich. This site uses cookies. The Royal Naval Training Establishment Shotley (known within the Royal Navy as HMS Ganges) was established in southern Suffolk in 1905. Write to Dave Kindred, Kindred Spirits, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich IP4 1AN. We caught up with Jim Dines, Director of TS Rigging, whose team. Ganges Museum is located at Shotley Gate near Ipswich, in what was the Enright Block, on the foreshore of the former H.M.S. Picture: SARAH LUCY BROWN, Artist's impression showing the view across a residential street at the redeveloped HMS Ganges site in Shotley Gate. During Ganges's time in Cornwall allegations of harsh and brutal treatment were reported to the Admiralty.One wardroom steward shot himself over the matter, and the reports aroused indignation in the local community. He was subsequently dismissed from the service and returned to civilian life. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. Statistics for the 1930s indicate some 200 official canings per year in HMS Ganges alone, an average of four per week. First Royal Navy ship to visit Eire, post independence? She was based alternately in Falmouth, Harwich (from 1899) and Shotley (from 1905). The HMS Ganges Museum previously said restorers would remove the wooden part of the mast for refurbishment off site and they would then check the condition of the steel lower mast. It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. His early life was hard by any standards. inaccuracy or intrusion, then please Two other ratings are recorded as 'drowning' whilst on the books of HMS Ganges and both were in 1944. 1906. Crowned on June 2, 1953, at the age of 25, Elizabeth II went on to have the longest reign for a British queen. Restoration of the historic HMS Ganges Mast is well under way at Barrelmans Point in Shotley. The showers at Ganges were just one bare room with several shower heads, no privacy. HMS Ganges was a training ship and later stone frigate of the Royal Navy. Today lots of those instructors (JIs and Badgeboys included) would be in front of the beak for various abuses, harassment and bullying. It had been HO (Hostilities-only) traing during the war. She had taken on the previous duties from the wooden ship H.M.S. they said. "In 1860 she was decommissioned and laid up, and in 1866 she was turned into a training ship, and her guns were removed. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to Steve Tarr. 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. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/hms-ganges-swimming-pool-shotley-may-2015.t96792, Anniversary Toast - HMS RALEIGH 25th Oct 2009, Telegraph: "Captain Peter Grindal Obituary", Future Ford vehicles could repossess themselves, 10 myths told by Covid 'experts' now debunked. Boys were permitted to march through the streets of Ipswich with bayonets fixed. Anniversary Toast - HMS RALEIGH 25th Oct 2009, Telegraph: "Captain Peter Grindal Obituary", Future Ford vehicles could repossess themselves, 10 myths told by Covid 'experts' now debunked. 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. If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can I was ordered to report for my test one evening after supper. HMS Ganges moved moorings from Harwich to Shotley. 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. RO1 (T) Served from 1970 - 1975 Served in HMS Ganges. Editors' Code of Practice. Sad to see such an establishment close as it was so full of history and meant so much to so many. 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. An appeal by Woolverstone Parish Council was turned down two years later. However, for most of us boys, qualifying meant we could wear the Bosuns chain with our uniform instead of a lanyard. 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. Ip4 1AN local landmark since it was so full of history and meant so much on. 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