I found this link while browsing another forum and thought it was really interesting, I wonder how many Navy ratings went through these doors and look at it now its a shame. HMS Ganges - Suffolk - March 08 - UK Urban Exploration Forums
Very sad demise of a great establishment. Paid many visits the during the 60's as a teenage Sea Cadet for divisions on Sundays and the annual visits in the summer for the Sunset Ceremony and Mast Manning. Happy memories.
Yes, very sad indeed to see this once proud naval establishment in that state. I did my basic training there 4 months before it was closed in 1976. Regards Hugh
With the current financial crisis and the olympics looming the pool and accommodation look spot on. Dont mention the button boy , I did once but I think I got away with it. Did my training at Raleigh 1977 missed all the fun at Ganges
I was at Ganges in 1990, when it was a Police training school. It was cold, there was no hot water, the swimming pool roof was glass - swimming was a health hazard in bad weather! Great times, remember them fondly. It was really strange, it looked like the navy just locked up one day and left. After the navy left, it was taken over by a company who tried to use it as a holiday camp! I heard they had built on some of the site. Does anyone remember the theatre & stage, it had the complete 'you'll be a man, my son' verse each side of the stage. The church in the next village has the crew of a German bomber buried there, plus some of the boy sailors who were there and died, wonder if anyone puts flowers on their headstones? Regards all Pete.
Ah! I remember it well as a 15 year-old junior seaman. I trained there for a year 1962-63. The instructors were all WW2 veterans of a high standard and some of the officers were there because they had accidently beached their ships. Climbed the mast once a week and on Sundays for fun. I remember a Jock trainee caught spitting in the Long Covered Way that ran between the accommodation huts. He was disciplined in the traditional Royal Naval manner with six cuts. These were administered in the administration block. He had to lean forward over the back of a chair and grip the seat. Two GI's pulled out his trouser pockets and pulled them taunt across his rump while holding his head down. The third GI administered the cuts with a cane rod, announcing after each stroke 'One cut delivered sir' On completion of the cuts the unfortunate had to stand to attention and apologise to the attending officer for any noises he made during the punishment. The cane always cut or bruised the kin. The swimming test was an interesting experience. Standing naked on the high board we took our turns to jump in. If you sank, you were hauled out with a long handled hook and that qualified you for remedial swimming lessons. Kipling 'your are a man my son' writ large in the theater, which also doubled for the Gymnasium. This is in the background of the photo attached. Other than that I had a good time and grew up fast. There is a DVD and video out there somewhere with the 1962/63 demonstration of 'yours truly and team' climbing the mast and also some history on HMS Ganges.
Lord Haw Haw (William Joyce) proudly announced that Germany had sunk HMS Ganges !!!! as they still had their cap tallies showing in the early days of war.
Used to go there in the 70's when I was in the CCF. With our longer (believed to be fashionable) hair we used to get the P*** taken out of us big time in the General Mess at meal times. Having said that we always got on well with the Junior ratings and every trip was enjoyable. Our school had a Harbour Launch that was used to ferry people across the river when we wern't using it. I seem to recall the Navy sinking though dsspite all the remodelling and extras we put on it. Jim
