Saturday 31 March 2012

Work out at the gym


The gymnasium at the Royal Naval Barracks, Devonport (west Plymouth in Devon, England) shown on a postcard dating from about 1906 when the gymnasium was completed, with a space for correspondence marked "This space may be used for communication for Inland Postage only, NOT Foreign".

The men are standing in a most peculiar position.  I don't know what sort of exercise it was, possibly for flexibility, but I feel sure the gymnasium will look very different these days.


A post for Sepia Saturday.  A click on the button will take you to the blog.
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18 comments:

  1. I have a friend, Diane Croad that lives in Devon. I have sent her a link to this blog. Have an awesome weekend.

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  2. That does seem an awkward position for a work-out, unless they are rehearsing for a musical show. Then it all makes sense.

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  3. Just popped over here at Odie's suggestion! Hi there. It's a small world, isn't it, as I was born in Plymouth, Devon, and live just 10 miles away now. I was wondering how you came across the postcard. Nice to meet you.

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    1. Nice to meet you, too. :) I came across it in a collection I bought at auction. the cards seem to have been collected by someone in the navy, first based in Portsmouth then moving around the UK with a few from Gibraltar. All early 20th century. I'd love to know who they belonged to originally.

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  4. What a nice twist on the theme - working out.
    An interesting photo. Ouch that position makes my back ache.
    Nancy

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  5. Absolutely a great place to work out, then and now!

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  6. Since everyone is dressed alike, I wonder if they're rehearsing a dance number for some show.

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  7. I wonder whether they called it "working out" back then.

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    1. I don't think they would. :) I used it to give me a tie in.

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  8. Perhaps they were practicing for being twisted and thrown from one end of a ship at sea to the other. Whether working out or drilling, it looks like hard work to me.

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  9. I suspect that it was harder than it looked. Is that another squad against the wall waiting their turn?

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  10. They're just limbering up for climbing up the rigging!

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  11. O.K., that does it - I'm off to the gym. Can I expect to find a group of young men there stretching like this? Unlikely.

    P.S. Thanks for noticing my disappearing blog yesterday. My blog was indeed deleted (but not by me!) I found out at the help forums that it's not such a rare occurrence. They don't always come back. Once my blog returned (whew!) I quickly backed it up and put up a post today on how to back up a blog.

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  12. This reminds me of an old book I have from the early 60s when military exercise was being sold to everyone as the way to go. I remember we had to do them in school. As I recall the book I have is for some odd reason Air Force exercises which considering we were a Navy family....

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  13. It sure does look like a dance routine. But I can't imagine those "he men" doing it. Just imagining the next step makes me laugh!
    Barbara

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  14. That place is huge! What a great action shot, really. Thanks for sharing this one with us Sheila.

    Kathy M.

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  15. Maybe they were rehearsing for some outdoor performance?
    :)~
    HUGZ

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  16. "Y" MCA! :-) Jo

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Welcome to my postcard collection! I love hearing what you think of the cards - but spam WILL be deleted.

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