Book Launch at Thameside Theatre

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Where the Bad Boys Go is the first book by Peter Benson, which is also the first book about an English Training ship that was moored in the Thames off Grays, Essex. Included are many never published photos. Also covered throughout the book is a history of Grays during the period the Shaftesbury was moored off Grays.

The book follows the story of The School Board for London’s Training Ship Shaftesbury, moored in the Thames off Grays, Essex, from 1878 to 1906. It begins in 1854 at her launch as the P & O passenger ship, Nubia, and closes with the auction and subsequent last voyage to a breakers yard in Holland in 1906.

Research for the book was gathered from over 20 different sources and approximately 90 publications and documents, which include documents from the School Board for London Metropolitan Archives and Thurrock Museum.

Peter Benson was born and raised in the Orsett area. He went to Orsett C of E Primary School and then Torells Secondary School. After leaving school he went into retail management, then into sales. Health issues prompted him to leave sales and setup his own business in the legal profession until he retired. Peter is a volunteer at Thurrock Museum, where he is currently digitising their photographic archives and digitally restoring some of their older photographs.

For more information about the book, visit –

http://s494794855.websitehome.co.uk/