The RNTE Shotley closed its gates to Naval trainees for the last time in 1976. I have to this day never visited the site and was living abroad at the time of the closure. Nevertheless, I felt a bit sad at the loss of such a long-established school - and of yet another seafaring link on the peninsular, the LNS at Woolverstone having closed in 1951 and the WHS Sea Cadets winding up in 1965.

I was always a bit surprised that given our proximity and the seafaring connection we did not have more contact with Ganges. There were only 22 rugby matches against Ganges teams, and that mostly in the 50s, but we did compete against them in athletics competitions from time to time. Otherwise the only contact was on buses to and from Ipswich - and occasionally in the city itself - when we never had any problems with them to my knowledge.

The following are a pot-pourri of photos and other souvenirs as the site is redeveloped for housing, though preserving the famous mast.

Wavensmere, the company redeveloping the site