Kevin Parry, probably unknowingly, saved an important piece of personal and RN history when, in 1979 and still at school, he asked his Uncle Jerry about his time in the navy. At that time he little realised that he would tread in that Uncle's footprints but he did exactly that when, eight years later, he entered GANGES, by then a Police Training Centre.
 
Uncle Jerry aka Ernest Lake P/J105205, had made his mark at Shotley 65 years earlier in 1922 and you can read his letter to Kevin and follow his ship-by-ship travels right through to 1946 if you read on.

1987 and a Class picture (Kevin centre row 4th from right) on the 'Quarterdeck'

Of GANGES Kevin said "We used to do physical training and self-defence in the old gym. I remember the old parquet flooring and Rudyard Kipling's 'IF' was stencilled on one wall. There are some steep steps down to the Orwell estuary at the back of the site we called them 'Faith', 'Hope' and 'Charity'. We were beasted up and down those bloomin' steps until we were fit to drop"
"The area in front of the mast was used as the Parade Square and for all drill practice. Our passing-out parade was held there. We were all warned not to go near (and certainly not UP!) the mast. The punishment was instant dismissal. I remember Uncle Jerry saying he was a 'button boy' on one occasion and that the privilege of standing right on the highest point earned the lucky fellow an extra shilling!" 

Kevin also set a challenge as he sent me this picture of a building at GANGES. It has the date 1906 painted on boards on the eaves. Looks like a sports pavilion/store - can you tell us where & what it was?

Of the responses I have had the one (from Andrew Harris) strikes a chord.  It was a chalet set aside to give overnight accommodation for next-of-kin visiting any seriously ill boy at GANGES.  That said, I seem to think there was more than one of chalet. (Webmaster 3/05)

 Here are Uncle Jerry's service documents and his letter to Kevin.

Ernest Lake's letter to Kevin in July 1979 describes his 'Drafts' that took him around the world; into the cockpit of a Fairey IIID aircraft as a Telegraphist Air Gunner (TAG) and through WW2

This picture came from Kevin's Uncle Jerry.

You will find more wartime records in the HMS BERMUDA, HMS OBDURATE & HMS ECHO pages.