HMS GANGES ASSOCIATION Noticeboard

Cenotaph Parade - Spare tickets plus Volunteer Required

A long, long time ago in 1970 a young boy aged 15 years old heard the call of the sea,
leaving his small country village home made haste to the wilds of Suffolk to seek
the land based ship complete with mast at Shotley.
After being given uniforms to make boys look like sailors the holiday reps called J.I.s,
G.I.s, P.O.s, C.P.O.s, P.T.I.s spent all their waking hours moulding them into sailors.
Part of the uniform we all received Boots one pair marching for the use of and boy did
he get to know them well, hour after hour staring lovingly into toes as he polished them,
one pair became to be known as PETER and SIMON.
Peter and Simon and their wearer survived the Ganges experience including the little jogs
up and down laundry hill,the gentle strolls along Faith,Hope and Charity,
the many trips along the long covered way ,the gentle exercise taken at the local fitness
centre and the picnics taken on the sports ground by the rivers.
The next stage of training was interrupted with a visit to "Gods country" called
Whale Island to train for Remembrance parade 1971 Cenotaph, therefore Peter and Simon
needed to be properly dressed for the visit and were gently fitted with a sole full of studs
and a horseshoe heel.
With a daily routine of drawing greatcoats and weapons which must have been special
because the mild mannered gentlemen instructors insisted that only clean white gloves be
worn at all times whilst learning the rigours of the Lord Mayors Show and the Service of
Remembrance, the marching, the long wait (not the one you were sent to the dockyard
store for), twiddling toes, flexing knees and how to faint by numbers.
Then the big let down, Peter and Simons feet were not old enough to go on the excursion
to London, instead the sunny Southsea seafront in November was the alternative.
Sick as a parrot, all that hard work for Southsea.
The story jumps 34 years to 2005 the HMS Ganges Assoc. requested volunteers to form
a contingent for the Remembrance Parade 13th November 2005, Peter and Simons hands
with great haste completed and sent in their request chit. After what seemed a long, long
wait their ticket to attend arrived.
To remind themselves of what a wonderful experience whale island had been and the
bodily adornments they still wore, they had kept all the original training notes plus
due the fact they didn't often get the chance to wander around warships being metal studded,
both were both still in peak condition, so 34 years on from being trained Peter and Simon
are finally going to get the chance to march down Whitehall and remember all the boys and
boots that had been through the Ganges experience and given their lives,
"WE WILL REMEMBER THEM."
So while you are watching the Service of Remembrance on television and the Assoc. goes
past think of us Peter, Simon, Peter, Simon, Peter, Simon, EYES Simon, EYES front,
Peter, Simon, Peter, Simon..........................

Selby boys celebrate the Trafalgar dinner in our local meeting place the Albion Vaults in Selby.  We had a good time and honoured our own naval hero in the traditional way Les Bryan <libryan@tiscali.co.uk>