47
OMNIA
Issue 05 Spring/Summer 2019
IN THE ARCHIVES Grahame has also donated some OC photos after 65 years in his care and remembers in particular two of his OC peers featured in the Prefects 1953 photo (see opposite).
Thank you to GRAHAME PENN (OC 1945 – 1953) for his donation of an original Sir William Crookes X-Ray tube of the early 1900s to the School’s Physics department where it will be displayed for the interest of today’s students as an example of the development of the cathode ray tube and the subsequent discovery of X-Rays by Whilhelm Rontgen. After finishing his university degree, in 1960, Grahame worked for Crookes Laboratories Ltd at Park Royal in North West London in their pharmacology department and was given this as it was of particular interest to his wife who was a radiographer.
“John Browne was a good friend of mine. In 1953, knowing that we would be required to do National Service when we left at the end of the summer term, we decided we would like to do it in the Royal Navy. To this end, we jointed the RNVR and used to drive to London once per week, after school, to carry out our initial training on HMS President, moored on the Thames Embankment. In the August of that year, we did four weeks further training on the aircraft carrier HMS Indefatigable based at Portland. In October we were called up to do our National Service and did more training at Victoria Barracks at Portsmouth before returning to HMS Indefatigable. After completion of all our training, we were drafted to join the RN Fishery Protection Fleet. This consisted of a flotilla of five WWII Algerine Class minesweepers based at various ports around the UK. I served on HMS Welcome based at Invergordon, in Scotland and John served on HMS Coquette, based at Devonport in Devon. We spent the next 18 months patrolling the coastal water of the British Isles. It was the time coming up to the ‘Cod War’ with Iceland, over fishing rights, so we were kept busy.”
