OT Training at HMS Ganges and the Button Boy

[ReadyR]

I've never been in the armed forces. However I have a great deal of respect for those who have. Was just Remembrance Day in Canada and I bumped into the following photo and video on Twitter. Thought I would share. It is no wonder the Royal Navy ruled the waves for so long with training traditions such as this...

Blue Peter HMS Ganges John Noakes Mast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSuZXlUxwbk

[sstevens06]

Very entertaining. Thank you for posting ReadyR.

[Chris21wen]

HMS Ganges was a boys training establishment in Shotley, Suffolk that closed in 1976. As a 19 year old I never went there, to old, I went Raleigh in Plymouth.

From what I can vaguely remember from talking to those that did all trainees had to climb over the button to complete they training. If true I'd never have completed it, heights are not my thing, hence doing things at sea level.

I beleive this tradition carried on until it closed but maybe wrong about that. Those at the top were selected from the passing out year with the button boy a volunteer?

Look up H.M.S. Ganges Museum for correct info.