Dear Readers

Firstly I should say I was a Raleigh Boy not Ganges.

I joined the RN March 13th 1961. However this lead me to serve with many ex Ganges boys and in HMS Cambridge Gunnery school and then on completion of courses transferring to our first ship HMS Salisbury 1962. Other Ganges boys joined her from other training bases at that time.

Many of us from that first ship remain pals today though alas many have passed over the bar, (Eds Note: passed away).

Which brings me to the point of my letter. In 1992 I was made redundant from my job as a Surveyor Estimator and found myself in a low paid security job at the National Grid Control centre nr Reading. During my time here I made friends with many of the staff who came and went through the main entrance hall. One in particular was the Reading Branch secretary of the HMS Ganges Old Boys Association and as ex RN we hit it off straight away.

During this time I acquired a massive book costing me a lot of money called The Navies of the World. I had occasion to lend it to this chap who was really taken with it. He said he was strapped for cash but would do a swap with me for it.

I asked what he had. He said the last biggest size ensign that flew from the mast when they paid off the establishment. When the flag was hauled down he was left holding it after the ceremony and nobody seemed to want to deal with it. The upshot is he kept it and now I have held it all these years in plastic bag up in my loft. I was thinking it should be returned to its rightful place. No names no pack drill.

Michael Carroll. Hampshire.