From November 3, 2004

Ten years ago, the Surrey Comet helped end a five-year search of a former Surbiton resident for his school that was bombed by the Luftwaffe in World War II.

Working with the North Kingston centre, they discovered that Edenmore Preparatory School, which Terence Gordon Stelling was trying to locate, used to stand at 66 King Charles Road in Surbiton.

Mr Stelling, 68, said: “I’m absolutely over the moon. This means so much to me.”

Mr Stelling, who, in 2004, lived in Wokingham, Berkshire, was only four years old when the school suffered a night-time raid in 1940 and his life was heroically saved by a policeman.

Although his memories of being at the boarding school in which he was the youngest pupil were hazy, the former RAF elite squadron man recalled the events of that night clearly.

He said: “I remember seeing machine-gun bullets from the planes or shrapnel caused by the explosions destroying bicycles in a next door room. Everyone was absolutely petrified.”

Mr Stelling recollected crouching down in the schoolroom on the ground floor below the windows when the police and wardens instructed the schoolchildren to evacuate.

He said: “I was running outside when a bomb went off and a policeman dived on top of me. I found out later that he had his legs blown off.”

The Comet and the North Kingston Centre found out that Edenmore Preparatory School existed near the junction with Berrylands from 1936 to 1958 and the building was demolished in 1971 to make way for flats.

After the bombing, Mr Stelling was evacuated to East Grinstead and then lived at various locations around the UK, including Wales and Scotland.

Mr Stelling had been keen to retrace his school, but having no contemporaries left alive, he relied on his memories.

50 YEARS AGO

 November 3, 1964

An Olympic champion returned from competition to take up her old job as a school teacher. Ann Packer, Olympic women’s 800m champion and 400m silver medallist in Tokyo, was once again Miss Packer as she returned as games mistress at Coombe Secondary Girls’ School, in Clarence Avenue, Malden.

25 YEARS AGO

 November 4, 1989

Young offenders on community service orders in the Kingston area had been working harder than ever, judging by Home Office figures. Seventy-five per cent of all placements were on practical group projects, 12 per cent were involved in individual work and 13 per cent were working with the elderly, disabled or young people.

10 YEARS AGO

 November 3, 2004

A man described himself as “horrified” when he arrived at Kingston cemetery to find hundreds of headstones laid flat by council workers 10 years ago. The council said it laid the stones down for health and safety reasons, and owners of the memorials would be charged £100 to have them put back up again securely.