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London nautical school - Woolverstone

72K views 193 replies 25 participants last post by  mozza62 
#1 ·
Any old boys from LNS Woolverstone around?

We are all getting on a bit, but the memories are fresh! the uniforms, the discipline, the fences, the ' liberty bus' and the weekly matches against Ganges in cricket or football - not to forget the boating on the river Orwell.
 
#2 ·
last one



Looks like I am the last onr standing... ( switch off the lights?) I did go back in the 80's when it was a boarding school, and all the old Nissan huts had long gone, and it was all grassed over. Quite an eerie feeling.

For the record , the boys in 12 Dorm were Alex Loveday; Peter Lightbody; Jack Wesson; Mick Mann, yours truly, and a few others.
 
#51 ·
Oh no you're not!.

Looks like I am the last onr standing... ( switch off the lights?) I did go back in the 80's when it was a boarding school, and all the old Nissan huts had long gone, and it was all grassed over. Quite an eerie feeling.

For the record , the boys in 12 Dorm were Alex Loveday; Peter Lightbody; Jack Wesson; Mick Mann, yours truly, and a few others.
Hi Alan,My name is Leonard Attwood,I joined LNSW on 6/9/48.I was in Foretop Div.The furthest Nissen hut from the school in the front row. There were eight if my memory serves me right,two rows of four.I remember Commander Wiseman,always immaculate,Mr Mathews,Palliser he of the very heavy hand/fist!.Mr Croot,could pick up a football in one hand.Mr Young took woodwork classes,vaguely remember our Navigating instructor was Scandinavian,Mr Jones did inspections after showers!.Memories!.Bleaching blue collars,stretching lanyards,proper Jackmatickler papers weren't we?.Ganges patrols in Ipswich were not too happy with our uniforms!.This will do for a start.Cheers(Scribe)
 
#6 ·
Woolverstone routines



I remember the name.

I ended up in charge of 12 Dorm and from memory the 'new' lads were 11 yrs old? Can recall some of the names - Gilbert, Day, Evans. Day was a tubby lad.

My claim to fame was the daily task of hoisting the flag at the morning Divisions. and was assisted by a boy called White.

Presumably you had a few years in civilian clothes, and later had a career starting at sea?

Cheers/Alan Rawlinson
 
#16 ·
Life after 'square rig '

I often wondered what the regime was like after the nautical school ceased. I left in 51, the last year that the nautical regime operated. How different was it, I wonder? No uniforms, but what about being called to the showers by a bugle call ( 4 blasts for the quarterdeck) Did that stay the same?

Divisions?
Dormitory inspections?
March to church?

I gues the ' liberty bus' into Ipswich at weekends became a plain old minibus!
 
#17 ·
I often wondered what the regime was like after the nautical school ceased. I left in 51, the last year that the nautical regime operated. How different was it, I wonder? No uniforms, but what about being called to the showers by a bugle call ( 4 blasts for the quarterdeck) Did that stay the same?

Divisions?
Dormitory inspections?
March to church?

I gues the ' liberty bus' into Ipswich at weekends became a plain old minibus!
We still had CPO Matthews getting us out of bed but other than that everything nautical disappeared.We kept the sailing dinghys and did eventually get a Sea Cadet Corps going but it mainly became ,whilst I was there,a typical boys boarding school.
 
#28 ·
Woolverstone teachers/lecturers

I can recall a couple.........

Grout (Geography) - A huge bloke with 'club like' hands which he liked to use to cuff us round the head, frequently. ( Not allowed today, of course)

Lidster - Maths, and a bit of a tyrant in my book.

The Head ( name escapes me) appeared some 15 years later on the bridge of the ferry I was on - bombing along in the dark, and he came up the bridge ladder, a bit worse for wear. After a few minutes we had established our common time spent at Woolverstone, and then I had to get him removed as he was draped over the auto pilot.
 
#29 ·
I can recall a couple.........

Grout (Geography) - A huge bloke with 'club like' hands which he liked to use to cuff us round the head, frequently. ( Not allowed today, of course)

Lidster - Maths, and a bit of a tyrant in my book.

The Head ( name escapes me) appeared some 15 years later on the bridge of the ferry I was on - bombing along in the dark, and he came up the bridge ladder, a bit worse for wear. After a few minutes we had established our common time spent at Woolverstone, and then I had to get him removed as he was draped over the auto pilot.
Was that the same maths teacher who used to throw the blackboard wooden duster at anyone he perceived not to being attentive.

jim
 
#35 ·
Jim:
On another forum you mentioned getting a chit for kitting out at Monnerys,I to received the same chit and was told there was a fund for boys who entered the Merchant Navy which even carried over after LNS was finished.It included No.1 uniform,battledress,working gear,heavy weather gear and a No.10 uniform(which never saw the light of day.)E#verything a seagoing Apprentice needed.
 
#38 ·
Don't recall him. The Woolverstone boys that I know went into Bankline were:-

(Mick) Mann- back in 1949
Weston - around 1950
Brian Lucy - Not sure. Brian says he was in 12 Dorm when I was there, but I don't recall it, so this is a complete mystery to me. Does anyone remember him at Woolverstone?
Jim - 1952

I left in 1951 to join the Forthbank.

I'm sure there were many more.

In my time, Mason went to Union Castle, and Wesson went to BP tankers.
 
#46 · (Edited)
My name is ron vizard, and I was one of the tiresome 11 year olds in 1950, and I stayed on till 1955. There is an active WHOBA site.
There was some discussion as to the history of the LNS.
To my knowledge it is briefly as follows.\
London Poor Law districts buy the hulk Goliath from the Admiralty in 1870.
It burns down in 1875.
Admiralty donates Exmouth in 1877.
Declared unseawothy in 1905.
Exmouth ll built by Metropolitan Asylum Board; purpose built.
LCC takes over from Asylum Board.
School goes shore based at Burnham on Croach in 1939.
Exmouth acquired by admiralty for service in Scapa Flow in 1942.
School moves to Lydney Glouc. in 1942.
School moves to Bray in 194?
To Woolverstone 1947?
LNS closes 1951, Boarding school opens.
School closed 1992.

The LNS in Stamford St. shared a governing body with LNSW. There is still some Exmouth paraphernalia there. They used Exmouth for training in the summer holidays pre war.

I was in Forecastle.
Hope this was of use.
 
#48 · (Edited)
Hello Jim

Were you Jim Ferrier?.

No, I didn't go to sea; I burst my eardrum whilst at WH, and I didn't realise how badly till after I started an apprenticeship, hated it, went to join a special entry to the RN with ONC, signed on for 12years with an option for 18, only to fail the medical.

You must of known Ray Boulding. He has just got in touch with the WHOBA site; I have, I hope, steered him to this. I am on that 1951 photo. I'll have to sort it out. (Just looked; I'm back row, third from right looking at photo., David Harrington is to my right.

You could try
www.whs-photo-archive.net/
Go to Life at WHS, then look at WHS Archive Photos, there's a list of year photos, plus some early pics I sent in.
 
#53 ·
cant remember if it was LNS or woolverstone hall,but i remember representing the school at the area and district championships .I then went on to the county championship which was held in Bury St edmonds,and thats where I met my match as i came forth in both the 880 yards and the mile.

Alan ,dont know if we had a table tennis team when you were still there?We also had a basketball team and we were quite good ,but always got beat when we played the ganges divisions.

jim
 
#55 ·
cant remember if it was LNS or woolverstone hall,but i remember representing the school at the area and district championships .I then went on to the county championship which was held in Bury St edmonds,and thats where I met my match as i came forth in both the 880 yards and the mile.

Alan ,dont know if we had a table tennis team when you were still there?We also had a basketball team and we were quite good ,but always got beat when we played the ganges divisions.

Jim

Don't recall table tennis or basket ball. Was always in awe of the Ganges boys and the tough regime they had.
 
#62 ·
on the way down to the mess hall just passed the main building there was a wooden hut,cant for the life of me remember what it was used for,but it was there that I remember getting the news that Scotland gor thrashed 54-0 by the Boks,dot think it was the tuck shop as I think that was down in the dip behind the messhall.

Now if you were good at sports you would get an extra portion of vermacilli pudding twice a week,and if you were hopeless you got an extra portion every day.

jim
 
#63 ·
Jim,

Do you remember the occasional rabbit pie, with lead pellets still in it? Also the slab cake. Mine went over the wire to the chickens that were outside for a while.

I remember the hut you mentioned. I think it was used as a tuck shop at some stage.

Another memory - some of us wandered down to the river bank at the weekends, and enjoyed a rope swing out over the water...
 
#65 ·
Generational Gap!



Hi Ron,

Agree with your comments, and came to the conclusion that there is not much we have in common. Comes about partly because of the status of the school which changed considerably. I thing we were all ' rough ****s ' in the late 40's! A few years ago a kind Gent took the trouble to send me lots of information ( through the post) about Woolverstone history and about WHOBA. Several old boys have made their mark in sport and politics with MP's and an English Rugby player etc etc.

Then there was a lull online, and now WHOBA seems to be thriving - but mainly with the 60's and 70's boys who recently enjoyed a reunion at the Butt and Oyster pub in Pinmill. They were celebrating the 40 year anniversary, but here comes the gap, because it would have been a 60 year one if there had been enough of us alive and kicking and willing and able to organise such a reunion. It all seemed a bit posh to me when I read it, old Git that I am!
 
#66 ·
I'm not too sure about the posh bit. Certainly the base line changed, in the sense that the original ship ( the Goliath) had boys like Charlie Chaplin's brother as 'pupils', i.e recruits to training ships came from poor law institutions. In the early 1930's the LCC took these over and closed them down, but via the Essex still recruited from, as you say , the ragged end.
This recruiting policy continued through from 1951 when the boarding grammar school started, the difference being that until the school went comprehensive, boys from serving personnel of the BAOTR (British Army of the Rhine) attended.
So the thing that changed the most, I think, was the base level of poverty as things improved at large, but the priority of recruiting promising boys from a mostly difficult background continued.
 
#67 ·
Exmouth



The floating establishment prior to the LNS shore bases, was the Exmouth, latterly at Grays in Essex. The log books were kept in the crypt of Woolverstone Hall, and could be seen by any adventurous boys on a mission out of bounds. There was an entry I remember with physical punishment for the offence of " throwing the post boy overboard " ! Quite recently I managed to get hold of a copy of some of these entries which make interesting reading...

Re the calibre etc of boys - I got into hot water a few years ago for saying online that the Exmouth was a reform type institution, but this is in fact correct. Some of the ex RN instructors were still with us at Woolverstone , and frequently referred proudly to this scenario. The chairman of the existing Exmouth Association took issue with me, but it was all quite good natured. ( I think!)
 
#72 · (Edited)
That was one of a number of blogs/articles etc. which I have assembled under the heading, From Goliath to Woolverstone, a shared History.
I've managed to acquire a few anecdotal reminiscences, but only from Exmouth sources.
That blog is a good example of the sort of thing; bit of home background, impact of Woolverstone, what it led to. Couple of A4 sheets is enough.
Anybody up for it?

The collection will be uploaded on to Chris Snuggs site, and I'll tell you the link when 'tis done.

It should be posted, in its current state, within a month or so. If anybody wants a DVD of the current files, then I'll be happy to send one, with the payment being a blog or contribution.
 
#82 ·
Hi Doug,as a buglar you will remember getting a shake on dark freezing mornings so as to sound shower calls.As I remember them it was the call followed by the division call ,1 short for foxc'le,2 for foretop ,3 for maintop and 4 for quarterdeck

Never quite made the band as I kept on breaking the reeds on my clarinet.

jim
 
#129 ·
I remember you

I have only just come across this site, but I see that the last posts were 2008, from Alan Rawlinson.
Is anybody still there?
I also left in 1951, the last of the Naval uniformed pupils.
Hallo Brian

Your surname rings a loud bell in my memory, but like most of us I could be getting mixed up. Were you a brainy one? I seem to remember a Franks going to Dartmouth... Was it you, perhaps?

Will send a PM s I see you don't access very often here.

Cheers/Alan R. ( author of 'Any Budding Sailors?' which has a chapter on Woolverstone days between 1948 to 1951.)
 
#86 · (Edited)
shipmates/schoolmates

Have just come across this site. Enjoyed reading the various posts, brings back a lot of memories.
I was at Woolverstone Hall from 1947 - 1949.
310 Pearce (Reg) and was known as Pi R. (Foretop)
Went into the Merchant on leaving the school.
Hallo Pi R - great to see your post and think there are now a few of us from those long gone days. Can you recall any names of the other lads in your dorm, ot maybe in your class? In 12 dorm we had a Keenan who for some reason was moved to the fore top dorms. He was a friendly sort. His pal was a Mick Mann from our dorm and they both left in 49. Jim Mason was also a leaver in 49.

The names I recall from 12 Dorm are

Alex Loveday
Peter Lightbody
? Ring wood
? McCarthy

Instructors

Matthews
Pamphlin (snaky)
Denton

Teachers

Lidstone
Young
Grout
Johannson

I'm straining the brain cells here!

Cheers/Alan. 717. ( Rags, at Woolverstone)
 
#87 ·
I sailed with a Peter Lightbody as Old Man on Jebsens Sealnes in the 70s. Really good person to work for. I have a nice Husun magnetic compass from Woolverstone Hall sea school. All the nautical equipment was put in the back of the shed built into the river bank below the Cat House. The sailing staff were tasked to get rid of it so I presume a lot of homes on the Shotley peninsular may have given bits a home.
 
#89 ·
Tony Brown Joined LNS in 1948 and left May 1950 to join up as a Art/app. Have a photo of Pete Lightbody, Alex Loveday and myself taken in Ipswich to send home to Mum!! I was the drum major at the time Bandmaster Jones left and was given the job of running the band, I could throw the Baton but did not have a clue about music, but with the help of all we managed.
 
#90 · (Edited)
woolverstone memories



Hallo Tony - brilliant to read your post and news! We must have met up in those days as I joined 1948 and left summer 1951 to go to sea as an MN Apprentice in the Bank Line.

I always loved the band and the music. ( slow marches during inspection). and would like to have been a drummer. Never had the nerve to put myself forward. Can you recall the name of the slow march regularly played by the band? I can hum the first few notes, even today, but can't locate it on Spotify without a name.

Any chance you can post the photo of my dorm mates - Peter Lightbody and Alex ?

Jim Ferrier is on here, and was a bugler - do you recall him?

Cheers/Alan
 
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