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Barnes Wallis Memorial Article
Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 9:14 am
by Zoe Mitchell
Hello, my name is Zoe Mitchell and I have just started as the new Christ's Hospital Association Manager.
I was wondering if anyone could help me with a query that I received yesterday from an Old Blue, Ian Lee. He was looking for an article that he had seen in a past edition of the magazine about the Barnes Wallis memorial. It included a photograph of his son, Chris Wallis, who has sadly passed away recently.
Ian was hoping to look out the article and send it on to his widow, and now can't find which edition it is in! I've had a look through some old issues, but so far no joy. Can anyone help Ian and myself in this search?!
Thanks for your help.
Zoë
Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 1:55 pm
by J.R.
This sounds like a question for John Hopgood.
(If you can drag him form the bar !)
Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 4:36 pm
by englishangel
I remember Jude saying that she sang at the memorial so she may have something but as she is out on the briny deep with DBTS it may be a while before she can check.
Photo of Chris Wallis
Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 9:14 pm
by Rex
Zoe,
Welcome, and best of luck.
There's been more than one event that could be described as the 'Barnes Wallis memorial', notably his memorial service at St Paul's Cathedral in 1980 (which is what Jude sang at) and the big commemoration on Old Blues' Day 2003. I think the one you're looking for may be a smaller gathering that took place at the end of the Eighties when a lectern was dedicated in Sir Barnes's memory, reported in The Blue for Summer Term 1989. Can't find an article about it, merely a paragraph on page 147, but there's a photo on page 149 showing Chris Wallis, his brother and sister, the Headmaster, a Dambusters pilot, the lectern and the sculptor who designed it. This is the only photo of Chris Wallis I can remember seeing in the magazine, so I hope it's the one Ian is looking for.
Cheers,
Rex
Thank You
Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 12:01 pm
by Zoe Mitchell
Thank you so much for all your help. I have now passed all these details on to Ian Lee, who was delighted to be able to track down the piece he was looking for, as well as jogging his memory a little more.
I am very impressed how fast the response is to the forum. Thanks again for all your help.
Zoe
Re: Photo of Chris Wallis
Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 1:34 pm
by jtaylor
Rex wrote:Zoe,
Welcome, and best of luck.
There's been more than one event that could be described as the 'Barnes Wallis memorial', notably his memorial service at St Paul's Cathedral in 1980 (which is what Jude sang at) and the big commemoration on Old Blues' Day 2003. I think the one you're looking for may be a smaller gathering that took place at the end of the Eighties when a lectern was dedicated in Sir Barnes's memory, reported in <I>The Blue</I> for Summer Term 1989. Can't find an article about it, merely a paragraph on page 147, but there's a photo on page 149 showing Chris Wallis, his brother and sister, the Headmaster, a Dambusters pilot, the lectern and the sculptor who designed it. This is the only photo of Chris Wallis I can remember seeing in the magazine, so I hope it's the one Ian is looking for.
Cheers,
Rex
Rex - you never cease to amaze me with your mine of information!
J
Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 1:59 pm
by huntertitus
I remember meeting Barnes Wallis when he visited CH about 1969-70
I collected autographs and was thrilled when the white haired softly spoken gentleman wrote it out for me
I have searched high and low for it in recent years but sadly, unlike the great collection of international cricketers I got in the 1960's his is missing presumed lost for ever
Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 7:38 pm
by Tim_MaA_MidB
As a friend of my grandfather's he (Barnes Wallis) "put in a good word for me" and expedited my acceptance to CH.
Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 9:38 pm
by huntertitus
He was an excellent fellow and a genius at what he did in WW2
Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 8:08 am
by J.R.
I met him a couple of times at CH.
Here's an interesting question.
If the result of WW11 had gone the other way, would he have been tried as a war criminal ?
Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 8:17 am
by Tim_MaA_MidB
I don't think there would have been anything as democratic as a trial.
Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 8:18 am
by Euterpe13
As I've said on another thread, Sir Barnes Wallis was my Gov., and I remember plucking up the courage to go and thank him when he came to Speech Day ( I was still a junior then) - only to have him turn pink and scuttle away as if I was going to bite him !
Not only a genius , but a gentle and self-effacing man. I knew that he received copies of all my reports, and that he wrote to my mother, but I did wish that I could have got to know him better. As I was not an RAF presentee, I did not go to the yearly shindigs, so never had the opportunity.
Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 8:34 am
by J.R.
I still think of him every time I drive past his house in Effingham !
(That's a village between Leatherhead and Guildford on the A.246, NOT a swear-word !)
Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2006 12:26 am
by englishangel
His memory lives on among the young.
Last year's local carnival had a WWll theme and the Scouts did a dambuster float with a bouncing bomb, it was very cleverly done.
Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2006 10:33 pm
by Vonny
My dad can recall seeing the bouncing bomb being tested along the Fleet in Dorset when he was a child. There used to be two of the things sat on the shoreline in Langton Herring which my brother & I used to play on as kids! They were moved to museums some years ago now. There is one at the Swannery in Abbotsbury although I'm not sure if it was one of the two or is another one.