HMS Ganges in Shotley Gate, Suffolk, was a land-based training centre for recruits between 1905 and 1976. Bob Roberts. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Richard Dunn. This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Observer career path/ real life experience. 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. You are using an out of date browser. Even by naval training standards life there was controlled by a very strict regime. It was named after a pre-existing training ship by the same name that was launched from Bombay and based at Shotley. Developers Wavensmere Homes and Galliard Homes plan to build almost 300 homes on the site and include a restored mast in the development. 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. Yes, I got it wrong! "A lot of the boys came from foster homes, or Barnardos. Read about our approach to external linking. 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A Gannett Company. JavaScript is disabled. It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. "They had a hard life, but they were fed and looked after. and for those of you who served at ganges and who have't joined the association go on..nothing to lose and you'll find a lot of old shipmates there!! The mast has been a local landmark since it was. 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. 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. Roe told me "I don't like you." They faced what was without doubt the most severe punishment, cuts. View of the iconic mast at the former HMS Ganges site in Shotley Gate. 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 boys climbed the mast whenever the base received high-status visitors, and as part of their training (Image: HMS Ganges Museum). The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. This was where the roped rigging jutted out some ten feet - above it, the platform. I arrived at Ganges in the late afternoon on March 15th 1955, along with roughly a hundred other fifteen year old boys. 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. His fellow recruit, Phil Bridge, said it was "a sad day, because it means a lot to us", but he was looking forward to a restored mast being returned. It began snowing on Boxing Day. Im here as my Son (15) wants to join the RN - Wellbeck route AIB soon. She was based alternately in Falmouth, Harwich and Shotley . George Douglas Blake HMS Warspite. Life at Ganges was recalled recently in The Evening Star when a book about the base by Alan Peck was published. 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. The HMS Ganges site was initially opened in 1904 acted as a boys training facility for the Royal Navy. We are the largest and fastest growing community of UK forces veterans on the web with over 500,000 members! The kindly chef asked me whether I intended to eat the mountain of food I'd heaped on my plate or climb it! Observer career path/ real life experience. Royal Navy 238217 Boy 1st Class HMS Ganges II. H.M.S. ", HMS Ganges as a warship (Image: HMS Ganges Museum). In 1905 when the Ganges vessel was finally retired (and towed away to Chatham), the training facility, still named HMS Ganges, moved ashore. 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. 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. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. This page is dedicated to the memory of Tony whose commitment to the Royal Navy and especially HMS Ganges was unlimited. Download Citation | On Feb 1, 2023, Olivier Champagne and others published Future change in amplitude and timing of high-flow events in a Canadian subarctic watershed | Find, read and cite all the . Read about our approach to external linking. 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 . 10/01/36- 08/02/36 HMS Pembroke. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. 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. 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 After eating I dashed down to the boat sheds to report for my test. He deserted on numerous occasions and willfully disobeyed orders . However, in the meantime we were still at the mercy of our instructors. The Duke of Edinburgh visiting HMS Ganges in June 1973 Picture: ARCHANT (Image: Archant). Nevertheless, as bad and as cruel as I have describe Ganges, I remain proud to call myself a Ganges Boy. Ganges training establishment. 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. At 14 he ran away to join the Royal Navy and signed on for 12 years. There were stories of many similar violations but none ever reported. Several tales about bullying and the harsh regime generally, not so much about the famous and frequent official canings. They say you never forget the place and I agree. Down the road we proudly thundered, the first time any of us had seen the outside words since the day of our arrival. Martin Foster, 54, of Haig Road, Uxbridge, had already admitted two charges of fraud by abuse of position. HMS Ganges was also known as Shotley Training Establishment . When I say there was sexual abuse Im speaking from personal experience. 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/ Mr Davis added: They have had the last conditions, including the fire hydrants agreed. The facility remained there until its closure in June 1976, Sad to see such an establishment close as it was so full of history and meant so much to so many. H.M.S. 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. Editors' Code of Practice. HMS Ganges. 1959 and what a bugger Ganges turned out to be. Tony Hayden. LRO (G) Served from 1975 - 1998 Served in HMS Ganges. Click here to remove banner ads from this forum. 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. 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. She was based alternately in Falmouth, Harwich (from 1899) and Shotley (from 1905). Picture: CLAGUE ARCHITECTS, Independent Babergh District councillor for Ganges, Derek Davis. 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