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and Alan’s participation must have been due not only to his father’s comfortable financial status as a senior manager at Rolls Royce, but also because of his father’s experience of sea travel.
Back at school, Alan gained his School Certificate and passed “Cert A” in the OTC and became a lance corporal the following year. In 1933 he attended Oxney Camp with the small Derby School contingent and can be seen as a newly promoted sergeant at the left of the front row.
Oxney Camp 1933 (Alan to left of bugler)
His interest in the Corps was obviously an important part of his school life, but he also performed in the school play as Bolingbroke in Shakespeare’s “Richard 11” and acted in other roles at a time when the Derby School play was held in much local esteem. Love of theatre was a characteristic of his later life, but though he travelled to see and enjoy many productions and though possessing considerable talent – according to the reviews – he no longer continued to act after leaving school.
He became a praeposter in 1934 and vice-captain of Tanner’s House. In this his final year he passed the Higher Certificate and was promoted from Sergeant to Company Sergeant Major in the Corps, thus becoming in effect the senior cadet in charge of the OTC and fulfilling an ambition dating back to 1929. Only the two officers (and masters) Capt. Gillard and Lt. Atkinson, were of higher rank.
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