Recently emerged from a cupboard at the new Dashwood building is this photograph of William Catlin Woods. He took over from Arthur Boulton, Dashwood’s first headmaster, and led the boys’ department from 1919 to 1933 when he retired.

Pupil N C Humphris, who attended Dashwood from 1911-1920, recalled later that Woods was ‘a marvellous teacher, years agead of his time. Said of my writing: “Humphris, it looks like a spider fell in the ink and crawled on your paper”.’

Walter Adler’s memory was that Mr Woods told the class of the great potential in ‘Electricity’.