Ivor Nicholas (SH 44-49) kindly sent in a photograph he took around 1948 of a youthful Douglas Bader seated on the steps near the school war memorial after presenting a book to J.C. Fecitt (SH 44-48). Also shown in the picture is the deputy headmaster, P. Graham Gow. Ivor writes:

 “The photo shows Bader wearing the uniform of a Group Captain, the rank he held on his retirement from the RAF before taking a job in the oil industry with Shell. He had joined up in 1928 but lost both his legs in a flying accident in the thirties. Shot down over France in 1941, he escaped from several prisoner of war camps before being imprisoned in the notorious Colditz Castle from where he was released in 1945.”
(Having gone through all the school magazines and Bulletins from 1945, I have found no mention of Bader’s visit. Presumably it was on a Speech or Inspection Day. Can any reader throw light on the date?  Ed.)

 Please CLICK HERE to see photograph