Hi Anne
Thanks for your reply. I hope that I didn’t mislead you! Unfortunately my dad passed away some years ago and I fear many of his generation have too – and he only came to Malvern in the 1950s – so there’s not much I can offer directly.
I’m happy to try and help point you in the right direction to get some of the feedback that you’d appreciate. Have you contacted Malvern College at all? I think they may have some records from the War. The Malvern Civic Society may also be able to come up with useful information.
I think that your interest is timely. The old North Site was redeveloped for housing a few years ago and if you were to visit the South Site today you would see that most of that site is now a building site too! I don’t think that Malvern is great at promoting its heritage. It feels as if its got the Hills and Elgar and concluded that’s enough. It has strong links with literature – George Bernard Shaw, Evelyn Waugh, CS Lewis, Auden, Tolkein, Radclyffe Hall all have Malvern connections, but you’d never know. I think that the radar story falls into the same shadows which is a great pity.
I will try and remember my old neighbours name. It would have been around 1980 he died but I just can’t bring their name to mind. His address would have been St James Drive. If I have a flash of inspiration I’ll let you know!
Other innovations I know associated with Malvern are the thermal imaging camera and the cavity magnetron (which apparently is the bit that makes a microwave oven work – who knew!?).
Kind regards
Mike
`Radar Families' 