BANK tubbing on Longholm Lake in 1948. "Fritz' Carling, master at Bedford School and a rowing coach, supervises the training of one of the school rowing eights.

   The school's 'first eight' took part in, and won, the inaugural 'Princess Elizabeth Cup' event at Henley Royal Regatta in 1946. It went on to repeat its success in the following two years. In 1948 the school met Radley in the final and won by three lengths.

Longholm Lake was dug in the 1930s and became a popular recreation area. In the winters, when the lake froze sufficiently to bear the crowds that descended upon it, skating on Longholm provided a pleasant but temporary pastime.

BUILDING the Bedford School Chapel started in 1906 and it was dedicated by the Bishop of Ely in 1908. The chapel lies on the eastern perimeter of the school land and faces the playing fields and sports pavilion.

The chapel choir was, and continues to be, one of the great assets of the school. It has on many occasions been invited to sing at services in cathedrals and major churches not only in the UK but also abroad. The choir recently sang in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. During the second World War ithe choir broadcast on several occasions on the BBC's overseas service.

(Photographs: The Chapel at Bedford School (left) in 1948 and (right) in 1969)

THE CHOIR outside the school chapel in 1947. The Director of Music, Dr W. Probert-Jones is seated between the two school chaplains. On Probert-Jones' right is the Rev. Canon H.C. Perry, who was also head-master of the Lower School (ages 11 and 12). Two masters shown with the group, Messrs Mackay and Symonds, often assisted the tenor and bass sections of the choir. The author is standing ninth from the left in the next to back row.

DR PROBERT-JONES was a much respected musician. In addition to directing the choir he was the organist at chapel services, pianist at morning prayers, gave lectures on music appreciation, taught piano to private pupils and organised large scale choral concerts in conjuction with the local girls' High School.

Probert-Jones also composed music on a small scale - one of his short orchestral works was performed during the war years at a private concert given to the school by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Adrian Boult. His son was also at the school during the 1940s and was a member of the choir (back row and fifth from the left in the choir photograph).

For more pictures (taken in 2003) and descriptions of Bedford School and its Chapel please go to the 'Bedford School for Expats' site by clicking here.








   (Photo left: Dr Probert-Jones)

DURING WORLD WAR II a number of service dignitaries arrived periodically at Bedford School to inspect and exhort the school's Officer Training Corps (later renamed the Junior Training Corps) both on the parade ground and sometimes during its field activities.

The corps aimed to provide military training for all teenage boys in the Upper School deemed fit to undertake the duties of the local contingent.

Marching drill and moving on and off parade was accompanied by the corps band composed of around fifteen drummers and trumpeters who showed varying degrees of competence both in marching and playing. Ill fitting khaki uniforms were issued as and when they became available. Much time was spent in learning the skills of aiming and firing a lethal weapon. This was theoretically achieved by one individual lying on the ground and peering through a hole in a metal disc at another individual, also lying on the ground but pointing a rifle at the other's face. The corps' wireless section often created mayhem on demonstration field exercises in the surrounding countryside by failing to establish necessary communications. Occasionally a member of the section managed (unwittingly) to tune into the frequency used by the audience's public address system so that all and sundry, including the visiting 'top brass', became increasingly aware of the wireless section's frantic but futile attempts to rectify the situation.
On one such occasion two high ranking officers of the Royal Air Force were present to review the contingent, Sir Patrick Playfair and Sir Leslie Gossage.

SIR PATRICK PLAYFAIR was born 22 Nov 1889. He became an officer in the Royal Field Artillery in 1910 after training at Woolwich. Having learned to fly and gaining his flying certificate in 1912 he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. During the First World War he commanded several squadrons on the Western Front and was awarded the Military Cross and the US Distinguished Service Medal. He served in India, Transjordan and Palestine during the interwar years and gained the CB in 1931 and CVO in 1935.

Playfair became Air Officer Commanding No. 1 Group in 1938. In September 1939 he took command of the Advanced Air Striking Force which established a number of flying stations in Western Europe. He was awarded the KBE in 1940. AASF aircraft were caught on the ground by surprise German attacks during the May 1940 offensive on airfields in Holland, Belgium and France. Air Vice-Marshal Playfair, the Commander of the AASF gambled everything with all available aircraft being ordered into the air to bomb the Germans at Sedan to attempt to halt a German breakthrough. It was a massacre with most of the RAF squadrons losing a high percentage of their aircraft. Following the retreat from Dunkirk, Playfair became AOC in Chief of the Air Forces in India. He retired in 1942. He died in 1974

AIR MARSHALL SIR LESLIE GOSSAGE was born on 3 Feb 1891. He became an officer in the Royal Field Artillery in 1912 and after flying training transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in 1915. He served on the Western Front and was awarded the Military Cross in 1916 and the DSO in 1919. He became a Wing Commander at the early age of 26 in 1917.

Between the wars Gossage was Air Attaché in Berlin in 1930/31 and later served in Iraq and Aden. ‘In 1939 he suggested that the operations rooms of Sector stations should be duplicated to provide continuity in the event of enemy attacks. The proposal was accepted and proved of great benefit when attacks on RAF fighter airfields began during the Battle of Britain.’

In April 1940 he became Inspector General of the RAF and in December 1940 AOC in Chief, Balloon Command. He was awarded the CVO in 1937 and the KCB in 1941. He retired from active service in 1944 and became Chief Commandant and Director-General of the Air Training Corps, a position which he held until 1946. He died in 1949.