He deserted on numerous occasions and willfully disobeyed orders . Each time I let it go off it popped, falling to the deck with a clatter. If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can 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. 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 contact the editor here. 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 . 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. ", The boys climbed the mast whenever the base received high-status visitors, and as part of their training (Image: HMS Ganges Museum). 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. Those ads you do see are predominantly from local businesses promoting local services. HMS Ganges was a training ship and later stone frigate of the Royal Navy. One not only suffered the punishment such as doubling up and down the steps of laundry hill with a 303 rifle held high. 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. HMS Ganges is situated on the Shotley Peninsula in Suffolk. 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. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to I took a bowl and ate the lot. Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The kindly chef asked me whether I intended to eat the mountain of food I'd heaped on my plate or climb it! 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 wondered, sewing, perhaps! Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. Below are just some of our members who have served at HMS Ganges. (LogOut/ Former recruit John Youngman said it would be "nice to see it restored to its former glory". LEADING SEAMAN Served from 1961 - 1970 Served in HMS Ganges. Two other ratings are recorded as 'drowning' whilst on the books of HMS Ganges and both were in 1944. 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, . Ganges will for ever be the legacy of every young boy who passed through those distant gates to emerge as a sailor and a man. 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 . Was anything in this navy free from fear? 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. 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. 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. 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. At about 60 feet was the Devil's Elbow, the most dangerous and frightening part. A Gannett Company. and I got seven days 9s. 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. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Once the situation eases a bit there will be tangible progress to be seen.. Early in 1940 Admiralty decided to close Ganges as a Boys Training Establishment and in April it became a Hostilities Only Training Establishment. HMS Ganges was a training ship and later stone frigate of the Royal Navy. I knew a gentleman who said when he was at Ganges in 1947 he had his first taste of hot food. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Dec 30, 2016. 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. Mr Jones also offered reassurance around the historic mast, despite fears about its dilapidated state. yes I was there in 92 .Essex, Nolfolk , Herts Suffolk and Cambs police all used it. Welcome to our next documentary, investigating the decaying remains and iconic abandoned swimming pool of HMS Ganges Royal Naval training school, as well as . We caught up with Jim Dines, Director of TS Rigging, whose team. Our abuse contact API returns data containing information belonging to the abuse contact of every IP address on the Internet. I had thought that our group were the only sailors, if we dared call ourselves that, in this annexe, but I was soon to discover there was a continuous rotation of faces, each at various stages of initiation, a small factory taking in baby civilians at one end and throwing out almost sailors into the real HMS Ganges at the other. Indeed, I have never met a shipmate would ever claim otherwise. However, in the meantime we were still at the mercy of our instructors. So as I have said already, we kept our heads down aiming for that final day when wed be drafted to a ship. The noise was excruciating. HMS Ganges moved moorings from Harwich to Shotley. She remained in service at RNTE Shotley until October 1976. 1971. 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. When I say there was sexual abuse Im speaking from personal experience. Many spars are believed to have come from this ship too. If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can 2023 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. She had taken on the previous duties from the wooden ship H.M.S. Saw your message. 1905 - 1976 This punishment was something I never witnessed and can only describe from what other boys told me. 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. But this was Ganges, we never got away with anything. It was a facade hiding unknown treasures unknown tricks for us to perform, the first of which was to mark our kit with our names. The Royal Naval Training Establishment Shotley (known within the Royal Navy as HMS Ganges) was established in southern Suffolk in 1905. 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. Frederick "Ben" Rodgers author of "Lily & Me", "The Royal Navy & Me" and collector of Rover automobiles, Review from Newfoundland CraigChurchill. The culprit was brought before the Commanders table, the punishment was awarded as six or twelve cuts. The lower portion of the mast is steel, extending 18 feet (5.5 m) below ground and 30 feet (9.1 m) above ground. "In 1860 she was decommissioned and laid up, and in 1866 she was turned into a training ship, and her guns were removed. Editors' Code of Practice. In 1905 when the Ganges vessel was finally retired (and towed away to Chatham), the training facility, still named HMS Ganges, moved ashore. George Blake joined the Navy in 1935 and served up to 1950. Some 100 boy-sailors were in the canteen, chewing and chattering; clattering knives forks and spoons against plates and bowls. All thanks to my Instructor CMEM LUCKENS . (LogOut/ First Royal Navy ship to visit Eire, post independence? He was the officer that tested us when we endeavoured to qualify with a bosuns pipe. 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. "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? they said. I was ordered to report for my test one evening after supper. contact the editor here. HMS Ganges organisation of meals - covering the galley in the Long Covered Way/messdeck dining, and the introduction of the CMG block /communal dining - dated 1952. c. Punishment of Juniors (U) at HMS Ganges dated 1970. d. Restrictions on the caning of boys as a punishment dated 1929-1931. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. H.M.S. Discipline was severe, routine constant and fear of punishment loomed at every turn. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. His early life was hard by any standards. Unfortunately HMS Ganges is no longer there apart from a few buildings and what is left of the mast. Sad to see such an establishment close as it was so full of history and meant so much to so many. At Gagnes they spent 12 months training, and they learned everything you need to do to run a ship. . 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. They were both Ordinary Seamen, one aged 17 and the other aged 18. She was based alternately in Falmouth, Harwich (from 1899) and Shotley (from 1905). The white letters would then be transformed, by our nimble fingers, into red with silk thread using the chain stitch. [1] I joined Ganges 30th June 1955 also as a boy telegraphist. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. 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. The water was freezing cold, we never had hot water. We were ushered in as a group of naked boys and told to wash thoroughly. 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. 1906. If not, you would do it repeatedly, until you dropped dead if necessary. Martin Foster was treasurer for veterans who served at HMS Ganges training base in Sufffolk. ", The honours board from the HMS Ganges, showing the victories of all the Royal Navy ships bearing the name (Image: HMS Ganges Museum). Im here as my Son (15) wants to join the RN - Wellbeck route AIB soon. Back in the mess, this safe haven shielding us from those torturous sounds, the junior instructors' suspiciously cheerful faces greeted us. We had no one to confide in, our instructors would more than likely told us not to tell tales. The Duke of Edinburgh visiting HMS Ganges in June 1973 Picture: ARCHANT (Image: Archant). Jim Gitsham, chairman of the Shotley branch of the HMS Ganges Association, said: "Members will be delighted that he's going down. NO FLOWERS FOR GEORDIE, HE'S NOT HERE TODAYTHE SEA HAS CLAIMED MY GEORDIE BOYPLEASE NO FLOWERS TODAYFIFTEEN YEARS OF LEARNING, HE'LL NOT GO DOWN THE MINESO WE TOOK HIM NEAR TO IPSWICH TOWNFAR FROM THE SEAMS OF THE TYNEIN A PLACE THEY STILL CALL 'GANGES' WITH TWO THOUSAND OTHER BOYSHE LEARNED TO SPLICE AND SAIL A BOATTALL ORDERS WERE HIS TOYSTHE 'BULLY BOYS' CAME NIGHTLY, DID THINGS A BOY COUNDN'T TELLBUT THEY MADE HIM WRITE IN HIS LETTERS HOME MAMMA YOU'R BOY'S DOIN WELLTHEN NEWS CAME OF SOME FIGHTING IN A FAR OFF DISTANT LANDWE NEED THOSE BOYS THUS SPAKE FOUR RINGSIN OUR BIG SHIPS THEY CAN RIDEIT'S WRITTEN ON HIS PAPERS, TWAS NOT THE DEED OF A MAN BUT A WAVE THAT TOOK MY GEORDIE BOYFIVE MILES OFF PLYMOUTH SOUNDSO NO FLOWERS FOR GEORDIE HE'S NOT HERE TODAY THE SEA HAS CLAIMED MY GEORDIE BOYPLEASE NO FLOWERS TODAY. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. 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. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to Engineer commander had been on Amethyst up the Yangtse and was quite sympathetic when he was OOD. The HMS Ganges training base, which opened in 1905, closed in 1976 and has remained . As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. Finally he withdrew his hand and declared I passed the test. Other things we had to do included, clean a toilet with a toothbrush, polish a hundred square feet of block-wood flooring with a boot brush every night before going to bed, paint the inside of a dustbin white before putting your rubbish into it. It began snowing on Boxing Day. Yes indeed, they were the best of times and the worst of times. First Royal Navy ship to visit Eire, post independence? George Douglas Blake HMS Warspite. A Gannett Company. 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. 1927. 1914. 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. The master at arms held a long thin bamboo cane, the instrument of the punishment. 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. John Garrett. inaccuracy or intrusion, then please Picture: SARAH LUCY BROWN, Artist's impression showing the view across a residential street at the redeveloped HMS Ganges site in Shotley Gate. The former treasurer of a naval veterans' organisation has been jailed for 18 months after nearly 80,000 was withdrawn from its accounts. Observer career path/ real life experience. The training was tough, brutal at times, yet many of those who came through remember HMS Ganges, at Shotley Gate, with a certain fondness. The HMS Ganges site was initially opened in 1904 acted as a boys training facility for the Royal Navy. While I was going through the various calls I felt his hand slipping up the back of my shorts. 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. 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. 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. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. It was hoped that Developers Haylink Ltd would start work early this year, but their plans were scuppered by the Covid-19 pandemic. Steve Tarr. Peter Ohara. GANGES was the shore training establishment for boy entrants into the Royal Navy from 1905 until 1976. Report . Mr Jones said: "There is a lot of truth to the statement that you entered as a boy, but left as a man. Thus was the nature of Ganges harsh training regime. Please Login or Register. When the Gunnery Instructor was finally satisfied, you put the lot back in your locker as before. 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. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. "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. Thanks again, D. R. WALTON the only O.E.M. Aerial artist's impression of one of the green spaces earmarked for the former HMS Ganges site in Shotley Gate. what an incredible article, thanks for that dave, how far did you get up that mast? 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. My instructors were Nobby Clarke and Ted Roe. 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 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. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Real posh supercilious bastard. He would lay on the number of cuts prescribed, each cut raised a welt on the boys buttocks. . 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. She was established as a boys' training establishment in 1865, and was based aboard a number of hulks before moving ashore. Jon Sparks. The boy was made lower his trousers, but kept is underpants on, he was made to bend over a chair. 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. 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. H.M.S. Each evening after we had cleaned the mess, we took everything out of the locker rolled each item into a nine-inch sausage, tied white tape around both ends, and then placed every item on a blanket. HMS GANGES 6th May 2009 - YouTube. It. 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. BBC Blue Peter presenter John Noakes attempted to climb to the top of the mast. 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 . Each of us was required to construct a printing block using letters carved in wood. Some boys were home sick, some just tried to stay out of trouble, one or two ran away. CEM1 Served from 1972 - 1978 Served in HMS Ganges. This site is part of Newsquest's audited local newspaper network. 1937. . Ronald Carr. 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. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. JavaScript is disabled. He was quite good too. 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. 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. Sounds, the most dangerous and frightening part eat the mountain of food 'd. 1905 - 1976 this punishment was awarded as six or twelve cuts the Piano '. A better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding the former treasurer of a Naval veterans organisation! Indeed, I have said already, we never had hot water article... 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