First off and absolutely nothing to do with the title of this page, just a little bit about SHOTLEY MEDALS. From as early as the beginning of 1906, medals had been designed and minted to cover a whole range of activities to be undertaken at Shotley. All were quality silver medals, with the early ones showing on the obverse [the front of the medal] the head of the Indian Prince and a banner on which the letters/words H.M.T.E. SHOTLEY were set. Later, Shotley had a name change to R.N.T.E., and all subsequent medals then said R.N.T.E. SHOTLEY. The medals stopped being issued to coincide with yet another name change to H.M.S. Ganges which occurred in 1927. On the reverse of the medal was a depiction of why the medal was awarded, and these included all sports, shooting, cross country, athletics, boxing, fencing etc etc.  Added locally as an engraving, was the name and service number of the medal recipient specifically noting his achievement, for example, 'Best Shot', 'Highest Runs Scored', 'Most wickets taken', and over the years, literally hundreds of these medals were awarded. For this reasons, although highly collectable {I have several} their monetary value is slight, this despite them being good silver medals. Some of the most valued of these medals were awarded for "Fives" {see this page A_1905_MAP_GUIDED_TOUR_OF_RNTE_SHOTLEY_IN_SIX_PARTS which shows you where the fives courts were, and then this page which describes what fives were all about HMS_GANGES_AT_HARWICH}. In addition to these types of medals, there was an individual medal which was much coveted and this was called THE SHOTLEY MEDAL. It was a very special medal only awarded to the very best of boys who out-performed all other boys in all forms of naval learning be it educational or vocational and including the 'whole boy' concept, so kit, appearance, were also taken into account. Needless to say, most of the recipients were Instructor Boys, but not all of them. Just like the war medals of those days, dropped for the second world war and reinstituted from 1946 onwards, they were professionally rim marked with name and date issued and ship served in at time of award. The letters/figures were deeply set and filled-in with black paint. Like the R.N.T.E., Medals, the award of The Shotley Medal ceased in 1927. The are extremely collectable and extremely rare [I have three] especially if the presentation case is in good condition along with the riband [of deep blue] and hanging silver brooch-bar. The medals are of 39mm with milled rim, and of high grade silver.  The obverse of the Medal [the front of the medal] was always intended to show the merit and efficiency logo, but some traders, who appear to follow the Royal Patronage Medal protocol of showing the Monarchs head on the front, have also tended to turn the medal around on its swivel ring suspension to put Admiral Nelson's head at the front, and that never was the intention. In the following PDF file, I am showing the obverse and the reverse [in that order] of The Shotley Medal, just in case you have never seen one before. You can use the zooming tool to have a good inspection but other functions have been stopped to avoid misuse.

THE SHOTLEY MEDAL.pdf

Add to this 'boys medal' a 'mans medals' namely the medals of pre and early WW1 medals. At today's value {2012} a NAVY SHOOTING MEDAL is now worth £1400.00 on the specialist market/auction, and a NAVY BEST SHOT MEDAL a tinge more at £1600.00. These two medals [and indeed all such medals] were withdrawn from issue before Jutland which was in June 1916.  These two medals in particular had the massive influence of HERBERT LOTT emblazed all over them.

Now to the reason for me writing this page.

I read with some interest the section in the Minutes of the HMS Ganges Association Committee Meeting held on the 10th December 2011, which said that the HMS Ganges Standard was being returned to the HMS Ganges Association Museum, by the Cathedral at Bury St Edmunds after it had completed it latest building enhancement.

I asked myself, WHAT STANDARD?

I didn't know HMS Ganges had one, but seemingly it was laid-up in the Cathedral in 1976 when the Establishment closed!

Even now, I can't possibly think what the Ganges Standard would look like and indeed why it had one.  Moreover, the laying-up of a Standard from a Boys' School or Boys' Naval Training School {Boys' being the operative word here} seemed rather strange and just a tad OTT [over the top] when one considers the dignity associated with Cathedrals per se, and with 99.9% recurring of Standards per se.

You might be asking yourself why I appear so flippant about this event [that is to the Cathedral and from the Cathedral] but I can assure you that there is a good and rational reason.

You see, Bury St Edmunds is my local town and the story which follows may surprise you - in any event, I hope it causes you to raise your eyebrows.

But first, a point of interest, because the point has data perhaps of a unique nature.

Suffolk has no motorways, very few electricity pylons, and no cities inter alia. It has several towns and Ipswich is The County Town: even in the West of the County, our post code starts with the letter IP standing for Ipswich. Now, Ipswich has a superior church house in which lives a Bishop, but the Bishop's Seat is in his Cathedral and that Cathedral is in the Town of Bury St Edmunds 30 miles away.  The Town is named after Edmund the Martyr who became a Saint and was believed to have been buried here, hence St Edmund's {Burial} Bury.  All secular people and those not engaged in local politics call the town Bury St Edmunds [or BSM or Bury for short] but the church and the local authority call it StEdmundsBury - yes, confusing to us too!

At this point I must tell you that my wife is the Chairman [chairperson?} of the BSM Royal British Legion Women's Section and that I was, until it went out of business, a member of the BSM Royal Naval Association. Both of us, and all associated with the two organisations mentioned, were of the opinion that the Cathedral did not have standards, not even the Standards of the Suffolk Regiment. Why therefore, did it have a Standard from a Boys' outfit? We find that very strange indeed.

Not far from the front door of the Cathedral is the Parish Church of the Town called St Mary's, famous in that it has the tomb of Mary Tudor.  I like to tell people that, and then to qualify the statement that she was King Henry's VIII sister and not his daughter who became better known as Bloody Mary for her persecution of Anglican's/protestants. Our Mary Tudor married the King of France and thus became the Queen of France. In this lovely old church, everything seems to happen whereas only 'posh' events seem to happen in the Cathedral. Of late we have witnessed the Afghanistan war dead of the Suffolk Regiment being brought to this church for their funeral ceremonies and this is the church wherein all Remembrance Services are held for the dead of all wars - not in the 'posh' Cathedral! It is also where one will find the Suffolk Regiment Chapel and names of their war dead and where ALL Standards are laid-up - not in the Cathedral!

Now, seemingly, BSM is a very busy place in terms of Standard's and although we have a Cathedral, a central Parish Church, two other large Anglican churches, a Catholic church and churches of the other denominations, there is only a finite number of places where Standards can be accepted either for dedication or for laying-up. Bury, not only has a large infantry regiment on its doorstep [the Suffolk Regiment] but it also has two very large air bases close at hand, one RAF and one USAF. Add to that the Base of those real tough guys, the RAF Regiment [the RAF's infantry regiment] just down the road, and in the town itself, the Royal British Legion and other Associations want their share of the action. The 'action' is a tangible thing because on Remembrance Day, our town is like a mini-Whitehall, with military bands from the Suffolks, the RAF Regiment and the USAF and marching troops in khaki  and air force blue often referred to as 'crabfat'. We also have a very strong bond with a nuclear submarine whose crew members attend functions in our town.

Have re-read the foregoing, I am happy that I have set the scene of the town for all to understand our 'military' connections, and with military connections invariably come STANDARD'S. We have absolutely no connection with Shotley or with Ipswich except that the Bishops lives there.

The Royal Naval Association is, or should be, well known to all my readers and some of you may belong in your own areas. Its Standard is hallowed amongst naval men, chiefly ex naval men, and being the Senior Service it should rank about all other main line Association Standards, but in BSM it didn't and doesn't!

In its hey day, our leader and President of our RNA was a much admired and charismatic naval officer, Vice Admiral Sir Ian McGeoch KCB DSO DSC, a very brave submarine captain who was badly wounded losing his right eye and with much facial damage, and although in his 90's, he still turned-out and put the RNA in the forefront of the Town's other Associations.  Sadly, on the 17th August 2007 he died when aged 93. Many others in the RNA were old, had exciting war careers, and bit by bit our RNA got smaller and smaller in active numbers. I was the youngest in my early 70's but next above me was an 83 year old ex LTO [Leading Torpedo Operator] known subsequently as a Leading Electrician.  Eventually, we couldn't muster the required officers to continue and we decided to call it a day. We still meet once a month in the town but now we call ourselves 'the seafarers' and we have no need of officers any more.

We therefore terminated our contract with the RNA HQ's newly moved to Portsmouth from London at that time, and our elderly Chairman, recovering from a knee replacement job, asked the Vicar of St Mary's if we could lay-up our standard in the Parish Church. The answer was a resounding "No, sorry. There is no room for your Standard". The Cathedral didn't do Standard's so we approached other churches in the town and received the same answers. Had Sir Ian McGeoch still been alive the answer would have been very different, but regrettably, he wasn't. I was appointed to write to the Vicar and also to the Head of the Towns RBL voicing our opinion, that our Standard represented the men from Bury St Edmunds and surrounding areas who had served their country in the Royal Navy, many of them giving their lives, but the response was still the same, only this time with an added caveat, that if one of the existing 'old standards' currently hanging from the walls of the church could be taken down, then ours could take it's place. Evidently, on being approached, none would give way, so our received rejection would stay on the statute books.

One of our Members had served in the navy for a short period many years ago as a Writer, and upon leaving the service had become ordained as a Minister of the Church. He had retired from full time pastoral care as a priest, and acted as the BSM RNA's padre, saying prayers before each monthly meeting began and conducting the funeral services as each elderly member crossed the bar.  He and I decided that the Standard could be laid-up in my own naval museum which I had built into the garage block at my home, but first he would have to 'bless the building' for the Standard should be in God's House.  That is where it is to this very day. I must admit that I find it demeaning, embarrassing and yes, disturbing, that a Boys' outfit Standard can be laid-up in a Cathedral, but ours, with the blood of many men from BSM on it [metaphorically speaking] can't find any church, let alone a bloody Cathedral.

The following photographs were taken in my mini-Musem.

Bury St Edmunds RNA Standard Laid-Up

To the right of the Standard in brown frame, the Inauguration of the Bury Branch RNA Certificate dated 1968. To the right upper in the silver frame is the dedication programme.

The silver framed laying-up ceremony conducted by the Rev Tony Stratta

Other pictures of the mini-Museum.

The large White Ensign came from HMS Ganges. The Union Jack came from Westminster Abbey and was used during rehearsals at Mountbatten's Royal Funeral in September 1979.	One of  four directors' chair's dressed with White Ensign's	Various original WW2 'damage control saved this ship' posters	The Navy picture covers the dartboard when not in use	Various world maps/sea area maps depicting stories and themes	Admiralty made model of the original, as built, HMS Bristol

A slightly closer view of the Bristol	A list of ships and types entitled  'The Navy and its Changes During Jeff's 30 year career', starting with Ships of the 1950's.  5th row up from bottom, just to the left of the billiard cue, you can just discern an image in RED. That is the Affray.	The list continues and the bottom half, shown in Green, is the size of the navy when I left in 1983. Note the four losses shown in RED at the Falklands. You can get a much better understanding of my pictures if you look here http://www.godfreydykes.info/navy_and_its_changes_during_my_3.htm	Picture of NAB Tower; Safe to Transmit Box from early Type 12 - Yarmouth, the first one; Crest and signal clip board for HMS Suffolk. Framed picture of HMS Gloucester	02 Deck Scuttle from HMS Devonshire