hms ganges abuse
Jim Gitsham, chairman of the Shotley branch of the HMS Ganges Association, said: "Members will be delighted that he's going down. 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. The site was closed in 1976 and was used as a maaried quarter estate by the RAF. inaccuracy or intrusion, then please 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. Within ten minutes, a second pair of gates appeared, the gates of the real HMS Ganges. HMS Ganges closed on June 6. Mr Davis added: They have had the last conditions, including the fire hydrants agreed. Some boys were home sick, some just tried to stay out of trouble, one or two ran away. October, new Shore Establishment created and commissioned as Royal Navy Training Establishment, Shotley. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. Those ads you do see are predominantly from local businesses promoting local services. There were stories of many similar violations but none ever reported. 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. Learn how your comment data is processed. All thanks to my Instructor CMEM LUCKENS . The HMS Ganges site was initially opened in 1904 acted as a boys training facility for the Royal Navy. He was subsequently dismissed from the service and returned to civilian life. This site uses cookies. If not, you would do it repeatedly, until you dropped dead if necessary. Editors' Code of Practice. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. HMS Ganges was a training ship and later stone frigate of the Royal Navy. Was anything in this navy free from fear? It may not display this or other websites correctly. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. However, in the meantime we were still at the mercy of our instructors. H.M.S. However lessons, culminating in a test, were much more difficult. Observer career path/ real life experience. Dave Walton RN retired. 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. 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. 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. Statistics for the 1930s indicate some 200 official canings per year in HMS Ganges alone, an average of four per week. She was based alternately in Falmouth, Harwich (from 1899) and Shotley (from 1905). 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. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. It. Reaching high into the sunlit sky stood the mast; its yardarms spread wide like a giant crucifix. 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. Picture: CLAGUE ARCHITECTS (Image: CLAGUE ARCHITECTS). Padre Weekes was always good for a fag and Jim Conroy (PTI) taught me to yodel. Once the situation eases a bit there will be tangible progress to be seen.. Down the road we proudly thundered, the first time any of us had seen the outside words since the day of our arrival. We had just finished PT before going to supper, so I was in shorts. This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Restoration of the historic HMS Ganges Mast is well under way at Barrelmans Point in Shotley. "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? (LogOut/ It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. Engineer commander had been on Amethyst up the Yangtse and was quite sympathetic when he was OOD. 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, . He was the officer that tested us when we endeavoured to qualify with a bosuns pipe. (LogOut/ Abuse Details. We were ushered in as a group of naked boys and told to wash thoroughly. H.M.S. Steve Tarr. 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. "In 1860 she was decommissioned and laid up, and in 1866 she was turned into a training ship, and her guns were removed. "They had a hard life, but they were fed and looked after. As Rudyard Kipping wrote in his famous poem IF the you will be a man my son. 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! You are using an out of date browser. In attendance was a senior officer, medical officer and the master at arms. 1905 to 1976 saw 150,000 recruits pass through HMS Ganges. Outbreak of World War One. interesting .. photos of the old pool. (LogOut/ The kindly chef asked me whether I intended to eat the mountain of food I'd heaped on my plate or climb it! CHARGE CHIEF PETTY OFFICER (WEA) Served from 1974 - 1997 Served in HMS Ganges. She had taken on the previous duties from the wooden ship H.M.S. Thanks again, D. R. WALTON the only O.E.M. George Blake joined the Navy in 1935 and served up to 1950. Read about our approach to external linking. ', and he replied that it was the first time he had a warm bed, three hot meals a day, and a roof over his head that didn't leak. She remained in service at RNTE Shotley until October 1976. One not only suffered the punishment such as doubling up and down the steps of laundry hill with a 303 rifle held high. Drake 39 mess At least the cubicles in the heads had doors on this time. Martin Foster, 54, of Haig Road, Uxbridge, had already admitted two charges of fraud by abuse of position. Ganges Museum is located at Shotley Gate near Ipswich, in what was the Enright Block, on the foreshore of the former H.M.S. Write to Dave Kindred, Kindred Spirits, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich IP4 1AN. Hetzner Online GmbH, Industriestrasse 25, D-91710 Gunzenhausen, Germany +49 9831 505-0 abuse@hetzner.com. 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. 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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. 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. She remained in service at RNTE Shotley until October 1976. It was easy to spot those who had been here the longest. Sad to see such an establishment close as it was so full of history and meant so much to so many. HMS Ganges as a training ship in the 1900s (Image: HMS Ganges Museum). She was established as a boys' training establishment in 1865, and was based aboard a number of hulks before moving ashore. 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. what an incredible article, thanks for that dave, how far did you get up that mast? 2023 BBC. Please Login or Register. 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. Every new recruit was required to climb it, not to the very top but to the half moon, about thirty-feet from the top. CEM1 Served from 1972 - 1978 Served in HMS Ganges. Bob Roberts. They looked like what we didn't, sailors. CPO (OPS) (EW) Served from 1966 - 1991 Served in HMS Ganges. Change). Boys normally signed up to a contract of 12 years, which would leave most of them aged in their late 20s after their tours. There was a seamanship officer at the boat sheds. 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. Read about our approach to external linking. Joined Ganges Feb '61..went through the same as everyone else. It began snowing on Boxing Day. Royal Navy 238217 Boy 2nd Class HMS Ganges II. Maybe we were unlucky with Instructors as one was Court Marshalled, discharged and sent to prison for so called abuse. Free (donations towards running costs are welcome) Frederick "Ben" Rodgers author of "Lily & Me", "The Royal Navy & Me" and collector of Rover automobiles, Review from Newfoundland CraigChurchill. Back in the mess, this safe haven shielding us from those torturous sounds, the junior instructors' suspiciously cheerful faces greeted us. 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. Nevertheless, as bad and as cruel as I have describe Ganges, I remain proud to call myself a Ganges Boy. 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 . After eating I dashed down to the boat sheds to report for my test. Yes indeed, they were the best of times and the worst of times. Independent Babergh District councillor for Ganges, Derek Davis. John Garrett. HMS Ganges is situated on the Shotley Peninsula in Suffolk. We are the largest and fastest growing community of UK forces veterans on the web with over 500,000 members! Unfortunately HMS Ganges is no longer there apart from a few buildings and what is left of the mast. This was followed by a leap from the diving board, as high as any tree I'd ever climbed, wearing the waterlogged boiler suit and a lifejacket. First time ever looking at any RN sights. JavaScript is disabled. Picture: SARAH LUCY BROWN (Image: Archant). 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. Editors' Code of Practice. 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 Cattlemarket area of Ipswich would be busy at weekends with boys in full naval uniform. they said. It was hoped that Developers Haylink Ltd would start work early this year, but their plans were scuppered by the Covid-19 pandemic. It had been HO (Hostilities-only) traing during the war. . 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. These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. She was established as a boys' training establishment in 1865, and was based aboard a number of hulks before moving ashore. I was sent to the training Ship HMS Ganges a cruel harsh 12 months lay ahead of me and thousands of other boys. He was sitting on a stool and told me to stand in front of him and begin. I was ordered to report for my test one evening after supper. I shuddered to the bone, as I'm sure did other boys. She was the last wooden wall ship to be a flagship, and the last to sail around cape horn unassisted. ", The sailors in training doing exercises outside the gym (Image: HMS Ganges Museum). HMS Ganges in Shotley Gate, Suffolk, was a land-based training centre for recruits between 1905 and 1976. 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.. A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing is due to take place at Portsmouth Crown Court on 23 January. 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. On October 28 the White Ensign was lowered for the last time and the ships figurehead was transferred to Royal Hospital School, Holbrook. 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. Our kit was stowed in small silver lockers that we polished daily, but not like any normal person would stow their clothes. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. Richard Dunn. Well this seems a good time to see if this site works properly. 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 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. 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. But this was Ganges, we never got away with anything. Those ads you do see are predominantly from local businesses promoting local services. The white letters would then be transformed, by our nimble fingers, into red with silk thread using the chain stitch. Discipline was severe, routine constant and fear of punishment loomed at every turn. The HMS Ganges site was initially opened in 1904 acted as a boys training facility for the Royal Navy. LEADING SEAMAN Served from 1961 - 1970 Served in HMS Ganges. Mr Jones said: "There is a lot of truth to the statement that you entered as a boy, but left as a man. In the first week of January it was snowed even harder and it snowed until March. 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. Now i know why! 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. 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. A question of Religion?Maybe MaybeNot???? Ronald Carr. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. My instructors were Nobby Clarke and Ted Roe. 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. 1971. He was fondling my right cheek as I tried to concentrate on pipping. 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. 1976. Picture: SARAH LUCY BROWN, Artist's impression showing the view across a residential street at the redeveloped HMS Ganges site in Shotley Gate. 1905 - 1976 I recall watching a boy, who had been thrown in the deep end of the swimming pool, struggling in the water while a sadistic instructor smiled, saying, 'Look what happens if you can't bloody well swim?' Were you a 'button boy'? For spite I think, because it wasn't compulsory. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. When I say there was sexual abuse Im speaking from personal experience. 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. She was based alternately in Falmouth, Harwich and Shotley . Maybe we boxed each other in the Shotley annexe! 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