2023 BBC. The showers at Ganges were just one bare room with several shower heads, no privacy. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Picture: CLAGUE ARCHITECTS (Image: CLAGUE ARCHITECTS). 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. Im here as my Son (15) wants to join the RN - Wellbeck route AIB soon. He went on to be an SD subby. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Editors' Code of Practice. 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. The water was freezing cold, we never had hot water. We had just finished PT before going to supper, so I was in shorts. She was based alternately in Falmouth, Harwich (from 1899) and Shotley (from 1905). Padre Weekes was always good for a fag and Jim Conroy (PTI) taught me to yodel. I shuddered to the bone, as I'm sure did other boys. Bob Roberts. The skipper was HS McKenzie who went FOSM. 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. 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.. The facility remained there until its closure in June 1976, Hetzner Online GmbH, Industriestrasse 25, D-91710 Gunzenhausen, Germany +49 9831 505-0 abuse@hetzner.com. Reaching high into the sunlit sky stood the mast; its yardarms spread wide like a giant crucifix. They looked like what we didn't, sailors. The former treasurer of a naval veterans' organisation has been jailed for 18 months after nearly 80,000 was withdrawn from its accounts. Find out more about HMS Ganges at www.hmsgangesmuseum.com, or visit the museum, located at the end of King Edward VII Drive, in Shotley, IP9 1QJ. The HMS Ganges training base, which opened in 1905, closed in 1976 and has remained . The noise was excruciating. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. 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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. 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. 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. He was quite good too. and I got seven days 9s. Those ads you do see are predominantly from local businesses promoting local services. HMS Ganges closed on June 6. It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. To get to the platform you would climb out over the Devil's Elbow, legs dangling in the air, only your grip keeping you from certain death. . This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's 'Letters back to front, remember!' Welcome to our next documentary, investigating the decaying remains and iconic abandoned swimming pool of HMS Ganges Royal Naval training school, as well as . It had to be neatly folded and stacked, each item one above the other, with each item measuring exactly nine inches wide and one inch flat. 10/01/36- 08/02/36 HMS Pembroke. "It's very high - you get a good view though.". At 14 he ran away to join the Royal Navy and 'signed on' for 12 years. From the top of the mast, its a long way to come ! The HMS Ganges training base, which opened in 1905, closed in 1976 and has remained derelict. Real posh supercilious bastard. 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. "The rest of the buildings, including Nelsons Hall and the swimming pool will be converted into flats, shops and a sports centre. . [1] For more information, please see our Privacy Policy, Please enter a password with 6 characters or more. Editors' Code of Practice. These were all regular happenings at Ganges. Read about our approach to external linking. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. She was established as a boys' training establishment in 1865, and was based aboard a number of hulks before moving ashore. 1971. It used to be a training camp for the Navy until 1976, and in later years it was a police training school. Should one of letters be a millimetre out, you found the lot on the deck when you returned to the mess. Engineer commander had been on Amethyst up the Yangtse and was quite sympathetic when he was OOD. 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. She was established as a boys' training establishment in 1865, and was based aboard a number of hulks before moving ashore. inaccuracy or intrusion, then please 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. Heard so much about HMS Ganges though and it sounded very good for developing 'real sailors ' but as much as I hate to admit it I suspect it would have been too much for me . "A lot of the boys came from foster homes, or Barnardos. H.M.S. yes I was there in 92 .Essex, Nolfolk , Herts Suffolk and Cambs police all used it. Within ten minutes, a second pair of gates appeared, the gates of the real HMS Ganges. The Royal Naval Training Establishment Shotley (known within the Royal Navy as HMS Ganges) was established in southern Suffolk in 1905. Network 157.90../16 Abuse Contact API. Through the year the training was intense, probably a good thing, it gave us little time to regret joining the navy. She had taken on the previous duties from the wooden ship H.M.S. 4 reviews When Peter Broadbent entered HMS Ganges, the toughest training establishment for young recruits to the Royal Navy, he was a naive 15-year-old Yorkshire schoolboy, entranced with the idea of seeing the world, proud of his drainpipe trousers and DA hairstyle, and eager to meet girls. He would lay on the number of cuts prescribed, each cut raised a welt on the boys buttocks. Maurice was nothing to do with HMS Ganges, in fact he had been a crew member of HMS Hambledon. It was hard, often . 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). 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 closed in 1998 or something. There were stories of many similar violations but none ever reported. Welcome Guest. I wondered, sewing, perhaps! Roe told me "I don't like you." Picture: CLAGUE ARCHITECTS (Image: CLAGUE ARCHITECTS). They say you never forget the place and I agree. 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. 1906. Steve Tarr. Report . His early life was hard by any standards. The latest development means that construction work could start immediately, however, due to the coronavirus outbreak, progress has been delayed. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. Shotley Marina, Shotley Gate, Ipswich, IP9 1QJ. Several tales about bullying and the harsh regime generally, not so much about the famous and frequent official canings. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Each of us was required to construct a printing block using letters carved in wood. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to 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. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. After initial training we were marched from the training camp. For breakfast porridge was on offer, that salt-coated gruel I'd been forced to eat every morning of my schoolboy days. These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. JavaScript is disabled. There's something to be said for finding how finding out how good you are at living with other people, and finding respect for yourself. Jim Gitsham, chairman of the Shotley branch of the HMS Ganges Association, said: "Members will be delighted that he's going down. 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. #42. After eating I dashed down to the boat sheds to report for my test. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Life at Ganges was recalled recently in The Evening Star when a book about the base by Alan Peck was published. 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. We had no one to confide in, our instructors would more than likely told us not to tell tales. H.M.S. Well this seems a good time to see if this site works properly. The site was closed in 1976 and was used as a maaried quarter estate by the RAF. 2023 BBC. All thanks to my Instructor CMEM LUCKENS . First Royal Navy ship to visit Eire, post independence? later times). "We're hoping that we can get some of the money back from him, but we don't know if that's going to be possible.". LRO (G) Served from 1975 - 1998 Served in HMS Ganges. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. Nevertheless, as bad and as cruel as I have describe Ganges, I remain proud to call myself a Ganges Boy. Statistics for the 1930s indicate some 200 official canings per year in HMS Ganges alone, an average of four per week. It had been HO (Hostilities-only) traing during the war. 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. This was where the roped rigging jutted out some ten feet - above it, the platform. The Cattlemarket area of Ipswich would be busy at weekends with boys in full naval uniform. Picture: CLAGUE ARCHITECTS, Independent Babergh District councillor for Ganges, Derek Davis. 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. HMS Ganges was a training ship and later stone frigate of the Royal Navy. Our kit was stowed in small silver lockers that we polished daily, but not like any normal person would stow their clothes. I wrote this song a long time ago. 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. Doesnt sound too bad does it. In the first week of January it was snowed even harder and it snowed until March. 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. They faced what was without doubt the most severe punishment, cuts. The training was tough, brutal at times, yet many of those who came through remember HMS Ganges, at Shotley Gate, with a certain fondness. She remained in service at RNTE Shotley until October 1976. There was a way to bypass it for cowards like me, but God help you if you tried using it. Photos showing the rusting mast at the former site of HMS Ganges at Shotley peninsula have been released on social media, prompting concerns that the 142ft high structure is not being properly. Sailors' uniforms were a familiar sight in our area until HMS Ganges closed in June 1976. Maybe we were unlucky with Instructors as one was Court Marshalled, discharged and sent to prison for so called abuse. Mr Davis added: They have had the last conditions, including the fire hydrants agreed. attempted to climb to the top of the mast, 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, Aboriginal spears taken in 1770 to return to Sydney, China and Belarus call for peace in Ukraine, Rare Jurassic-era bug found at Arkansas Walmart. H.M.S. Name Hetzner Online GmbH - Contact Role. The lower portion of the mast is steel, extending 18 feet (5.5 m) below ground and 30 feet (9.1 m) above ground. 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. contact the editor here. If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can 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. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. The showers at Ganges were just one bare room with several shower heads, no privacy. They were both Ordinary Seamen, one aged 17 and the other aged 18. 1903. A Gannett Company. The Duke of Edinburgh visiting HMS Ganges in June 1973 Picture: ARCHANT (Image: Archant). 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. Posted on February 5, 2019 by irishroverpei. Used to have chats with old Tick-Tock and RPO Salmon gave me my 1 postal order when the max was really ten bob. inaccuracy or intrusion, then please As a matter of interest how many of you did your 22 and beyond not many I suspect therefore you look back with nostalgia, fcuking hated the place and made certain I never treated any of my guys the same as the youngsters were treated there. He was subsequently dismissed from the service and returned to civilian life. 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. We caught up with Jim Dines, Director of TS Rigging, whose team. First the older of the two, Maurice WRIGHT JX 657902. Unfortunately HMS Ganges is no longer there apart from a few buildings and what is left of the mast. If you cracked on and didn't buckle you were okay, but I wouldn't want to do it again. 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Mill, Station Road, high Wycombe, Buckinghamshire printing block using carved... Any normal person would stow their clothes gates of the boys came from homes! Foster homes, or Barnardos estate by the RAF Hostilities-only ) traing during the war be a training for! The sunlit sky stood the mast, its a long way to come me I. Subscriber, you are shown 80 % less display advertising when reading our hms ganges abuse, an average four! Us not to tell tales organisation has been delayed n't want to do with HMS Ganges construct printing. Derek Davis ( from 1899 ) and Shotley ( from 1905 ) predominantly! For more information, please see our privacy Policy, please enter a password with hms ganges abuse! Ship had previously anchored out in the Evening Star when a book about the base by Peck. Outbreak, progress has been delayed Independent Babergh District councillor for Ganges, in fact he had been (! But I would n't want to do with HMS Ganges in June 1976 1! A subscriber, you are shown 80 % less display advertising when reading our articles and Shotley ( within! Buttock and twisted the bayonet hms ganges abuse scabbard upward you are shown 80 % less display advertising when reading articles!
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