Sue Ellis found the following note written by her late father,
R.W. Buchanan (G 44-48), who passed away on the 26th August 2013:

“I was at St Bees School from 1944-1948 and was on Grindal House, a building separate from the main buildings of the school.
At that time there were certain rules applicable to going sea bathing. You had to have passed a test of your swimming ability and have been awarded a sea bathing certificate (from memory a piece of yellow card with the certificate printed on it and signed by the PE and housemaster) Any boys wishing to go sea bathing had to be accompanied by a member of staff who had to go in the sea with them.

On such an occasion I was with a party of fellow students under the supervision of Mr Ludvig Eherenberg, a physics master - he later changed his name to Elton, for obvious reasons (The father of the comedian Ben Elton, I think - Ed), I believe this was during the summer of 1945. The party had just come out of the sea and was about to get dry when a disturbance in the water caused some alarm, as a submarine surfaced. The master ordered us to run for the shelter of the land behind the beach. However the conning tower opened and a voice enquired as to the exact whereabouts of Whitehaven. They had come up the wrong side of St Bees Head! They thanked us and turned and headed back out to sea. Apparently this sub had been adopted by Whitehaven and they were supposed to be visiting.

For we boys to go to Whitehaven was always difficult, but I think we used the excuse of mother’s birthday. A small group of us were among those who were ferried across to the submarine and given a tour, it was very impressive with vast machinery yet very little space for the crew. St Bees was an amazing environment for a young man and in such difficult times we had our share of adventure!”

 

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The St Beghian Society,    St Bees School,    St Bees,    Cumbria,    CA27 0DS.
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