I remember watching this in 1967 as a 14/15 year old. John was the daredevil of the BP team. He also climbed Nelson's Column to join the cleaning team. No harness, no safety gear of any kind. What is rarely, if ever mentioned, is that a cameraman had to go up before him. He had nerves of steel and never showed any fear whatsoever - of course it would never happen today - H&S would wet their pants just thinking about it. R.I.P. John - you were poorly treated by the BBC once you had left - wouldn't even let you use the name Shep (had to use 'Skip) for your dog so you could make a bit of money.
I have a friend who is trying to open Catalogue Muse but it just shows the loading circle and then disappears and it never opens up for him. What could be causing this?
My Paternal Gt Grandad, Willie Gregg, trained at Shotley in 1911 and would have climbed the mast regularly..... On 7 Oct 2023, I went to see the Mast, it's been restored by a Team who worked on the Mary Rose, it's been back up about 3 weeks. I also went to HMS Ganges Museum, at the Marina, an interesting afternoon if you like Naval history or are looking for Family Naval history there.
The mast has now been completely refurbished and replaced - great to see the return of such an iconic landmark and hats off to Wavensmere Homes for prioritising its restoration. It is a fitting monument to the 160,000 Boys who trained at HMS Ganges and served in the Royal Navy. There is a museum at Shotley Gate dedicated the history of the establishment - details can be found online.
I joined the mob in 85 at HMS RALEIGH but no way could I have climbed that mast. I don't like high places. In today's navy they would have them well harnessed up and rightly so. But I think they have went ott. It's not the same navy I joined.
I was part of one of HMS Ganges' final intakes in February 1976. What I remember the most was the hundreds of IRANIAN sailors who were receiving their basic training while I was there. Imagine THAT today!
Good old John Noakes. One of the "Holy Trinity" of Blue Peter presenters (along with Val Singleton & Peter Purves). I remember this along with climbing Nelson's Column, going on & falling off the back of an Olympic toboggan & being the first civilian to jump freefall with the Red Devils from 5 miles high. He was part of my childhood: so sad to read he died of dementia.
I know this couldn`t be done today for safety reasons and, well why risk lives for something that served no purpose other then ceremonial, but man it was certainly impressive
There is a lightening rod on the button which the button boy grabbed with his legs,You cannot see it from the ground,by camera at least,but it is there, I was up the mast a couple of times in 1971,mind you I did not like going up,and never went all the way to the button,but know what was up there
Noakes was a gutsy bugger, I still vividly remember being a young lad watching the episode where he climbed Nelson's Column and thinking he was mad, seeing him do this just confirms it! What a bloke.
We were not cadets,we were junior seaman.i was at Ganges in 71 eagle mess,then on to frobisher division we used to climb the mast for fun,though I never stood on the button I climbed up to touch it.
My father passed away a month ago, this is v special to me!! Duncan Smith Drake division 1957 Basic training then flew to Singapore to meet HMS Mounts bay for 18 month tour of the Far East! BTW Noakesy was a legend, just like the old man!❤️
770 class, 17 mess, Anson Division 1965. One of the worst winters in living memory, I learned to 'pull' a Cutter in a blizzard, and ended up hospitalised for pneumonia! Not my happiest hour. I was last there when it was a Police Training school. They let me walk around the Parade Square . Little could I have guessed, as a skinny and frightened 15 year old, that I would return 30 years later with money in my pocket, driving a posh car and having just flown half-way around the world...!
