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Shotley Gate
Shotley Gate photos
Displaying the first of 9 old photos of Shotley Gate. View all Shotley Gate photos
Shotley Gate maps
Historic maps of Shotley Gate and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Shotley Gate maps
Shotley Gate area books
Displaying 1 of 13 books about Shotley Gate and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Shotley Gate
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Shotley Gate.
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The Gates to 'Hell'
I remember Shotley Gate 1954/55. I wish I could erase it from my memory. 12 months of sheer Hell at the infamous Ganges. I enjoyed my Naval Service and I did well, but Ganges almost defeated me. I danced a jig when they demolished the place!
JW
Family History
My ancestors owned this public house in the late 18th century. Prior to this they were tenants of the Duke of Bristol and the head of the household was the ferryman. He was mentioned in a letter to the Duke from a disgruntled customer claimed that his attitude was unbecoming!
We have visited the area many times during my search for my ancestors.
HMS Ganges
Until the mid '70s Shotley Gate was the home of HMS Ganges, a Royal Navy training establishment. As 15 year old boys under training in 1964 we were allowed to visit the Post Office (see photograph in this collection) to draw money out of our Post Office savings books - usually to buy food of some sort as Ganges food was so bad!! The Bristol Arms was out of bounds to us boys but I did finally get a drink there about 30 years later.
Suffolk memories
Buying A New Drum For The Whitethorn Morris Band in Chelmondiston
In 2002 I had already been the band leader for the Whitethorn Band for more than twenty years and ithe musicians decided we needed a new drum. By chance we discovered Barry Askew in Chelmondiston who used his woodworking skills to hand make perfect drums suitable for morris musicians.
We commisioned a new drum and one fine Autumn day in 2002 four of our band drove for a day's outing to Suffolk where we met Barry Askew and tried his drums.
Having seen his workshop and completed our purchase we then had a splendid meal and dirnks in a river side pub at nearby Pin Mill. It was a lovely outing in a beautiful part of the country and our drum continues to give the Whitethorn Band excellent service.
Thank you Barry Askew and thank you Chelmondiston for lovely memories!
Raymond Edward Shaw
My father lived at Southbeach Mansion and apparently died in Ipswich Hospital in 1997. I have been searching for him all my life. I was hoping that someone would remember him and perhaps have some memories or memorabilia that they could share. He was in the RAF. Loved motorcycles, and as I remember when a child he had red hair. My Mother and he lived perhaps in the Cotswolds briefly. Do not know when they divorced. Would like very much to learn something about him, even though he is no longer with us, its an opening and a closure.
Holidays at Grandma’s
Memories are the garnish of our later years...
During my extreme youth, the closest we ever got to a summer holiday was a week spent with our maternal grandparents. My father would trundle us through to their near-seaside town in the family car; a vehicle of indeterminate age that he had lovingly restored, but to which he had never added a rear floor. We could see the ground whistle by beneath us as we hurtled along and my siblings balanced their feet on a single plank, slightly narrower than the chasm below.
Seat belts and child safety seats had not yet been invented, so I, the youngest, would be propped up on the back seat; my personal space (an invention of the distant future) invaded by suitcases and sundry luggage so that I didn’t fall through the gaps. At four, I could hardly be trusted not to let a foot slide through beside the plank.
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HMS 'Ganges'
I did my naval training at HMS 'Ganges' during 1952/53 and enjoyed every muinute of it. It was a super place and now, long retired, I think often of those wonderful days. Lots of discipline and back straigtening instruction. It was super and I would do it all again.
