News0 min ago
I Was Rubbish At . . .
. . . climbing up ropes in the gym at school.
Were you?
Answers
I can't recall being required to climb ropes at my schools.
However,when I joined the Police Cadets at Hendon Police Training School at the age of 17 years we had to perform various physical exercises wth some pretty beastial PTI's who were happy to give us a 'beasting'
40 ft rope climb to the roof of the gym was,at the time, beyond my physical capabilities so I was placed on remedials whilst my fitter friends would be enjoying themselves elsewhere in the evenings (probably in a local hostelry which of course was tabbo.) Within 2 weeks I was scaling those ropes like a monkey. just to escape the remedials and the sadistic PTI's. Incidentally, there was a rumour put about by earlier police cadet intakes that the Gym at Hendon was haunted by a young police cadet who hung himself on those bloody ropes.I never saw him.
Oh yes. I have been to sea many times as a blue water sailor. I recall having to repair our old Decca radio direction finder aerial on the top of our mast which was damaged in a storm in Biscay. I was hauled up in a bosuns chair by the mainsail halyard and constantly got earholes full of water as the the vessel pitched over and I constantly got ducked in the oggin.
As a kid yes, haven't tried for years. One time as a youngster we could chose ropes with knots in or without... I had climbed the without knots many times all the way to the top, one particular time lost grip near the top and slid down like a pole... we had to wear gym shorts... talk about raw.... wow my thighs were on Fire!.
Thanks for all the posts.
10CS:
I was brought up in Ipswich, where the highlight of nearly everyone's year was the big Co-op Fete, which was held in Christchurch Park, right in the centre of town.
One of the attractions was always a dispay of gymnastics by the boys of HMS Ganges (which was only just down the road from Ipswich). I always prayed that my parents would never consider sending me there!