School born out of Second World War evacuation

The history of Dulwich Prep School in Cranbrook dates from the Second World War.

John Leakey, a forward-thinking headmaster of Dulwich College Prep in London began preparing for an emergency evacuation of the school in the autumn of 1938 - a year before war was actually declared.

He selected orchards at Coursehorn in Cranbrook, then owned by his father-in-law, as a safe site away from possible bombing and arranged for the construction of six wooden huts, supplemented by a bell tent and marquee.

A year later, a train with 135 pupils from the London school set off from West Dulwich Station for Cranbrook.

One of those, Terry Sweeny, remembers one of the first meals after the evacuation. He said: “I was served a savoury gravy on a suet crust. There must have been meat of some sort but what I don’t recall. That was followed by boiled rice with golden syrup on the top. It was served onto the same plate as our first course – no washing up in between.”

The intention had been that the school would return to London when it was safe to do so, but before that, with the Battle of Britain raging overhead, the school was evacuated again to Betws-y-Coed in north Wales. This was to be the school’s base for the next five years while the Cranbrook camp was taken over by the Army.

In the spring of 1945 preparations were made for the school’s return to Dulwich, but the old boarding house there had been lost in the bombing.

Eventually, after the Army left, the whole prep school was re-located permanently in Cranbrook, re-opening in September 1945.

Since then thousands of youngsters have received their early education there, among them an Olympic gold medal winner - the rower Tom Ransley, the arts editor for the BBC, Will Gompertz, and Sophie, the Countess of Wessex. The school’s archivist Karen Brock has been busy sorting through the school’s exten- sive collection of old photographs and documents for an online catalogue. They included the opening of Nash House, the school’s early years building, in 1965, and the release of a Christmas record by the school choir in the 1970s.

The archive can be accessed at archive.dulwichprepcranbrook.org and former pupils can get in touch via the new website or by emailing alumni@dulwichprepcranbrook.org Leeds Castle Concert will be rather special this year - it is exactly four decades since the annual event was established.

The very first one took place on July 8, 1978.

The organisers are hoping to supplement this year’s show on July 14 with an exhibition of photos and memorabilia from the early days.

The earliest image we can contribute comes from 1982, when it appears to have been a rather serious affair. Certainly not a place for rubber chickens.

Our photo from 1991, above, suggests that by then the emphasis had changed to music, food and fun!

If you have any old pictures or memories you can loan for use in the anniversary exhibition, please contact Penny Williams by email on penny.williams@ bigplangroup.com