Dirk gives us a double dip into Shrewsbury's past

And Mr Richards was right on the spot to witness the Army send somebody in a diving suit into the River Severn.

"It was taken by the Welsh Bridge, and I am the boy kneeling on one leg at the front," said Mr Richards.

"If you look in the background, that's the old brewery, Southam's. We're just off the cricket pitch.

"I was born around there and knew every inch of that place. The Army were checking the footings on the Welsh Bridge. I was there having a look, just like anyone else.

"You can see how big the crowd was. We hadn't seen a diver like that before. I just happened to be there. I went to school with the lad on the left, but I can't remember his name.

"It was summer and we spent all our time in the fields down around the river."

Mr Richards can remember the incident and says that after doing the inspection the diver gave a report to his officer, the Lieutenant.

Why the Army was doing the inspection, he has no idea.

Mr Richards was born Derek Richards in July 1935 - everybody calls him Dirk - and on the basis of his apparent age in the picture the incident may have been around 1945 or a little later.

And in a double dip into Shrewsbury's past, he has loaned us a picture showing Frankwell Prize Jazz Band in about 1944 or 1945. Dirk is the dwarf front left, and his brother and father are also on the picture.

"We used to go Whitchurch, Wolverhampton, and all over the country in old buses, in competition doing a tableau. Our tableau was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. We had another one called In A Monastery Garden.

"We used to go around all the shows and would win most of the time. We had big drums, side drums and kazoos, which you blew like a little trumpet, and you didn't need any musical training.

"The man in charge was Vic Speake. He played the big drum.

"We used to practise in St George's Parish Church at Frankwell. I went to St George's Infants School. It's now apartments.

"My father is on the picture. He was Albert Percy Richards, but everybody called him Dick. He was a side drummer. We lived then at 8 Haughmond View at Mountfields. I live now in Gains Park. My father was a pest control officer for the council and worked for the War Ag during the war.

"I can't remember where the picture was taken, but I think it was probably outside St George's Parish Hall."

Mr Richards can name many on the photo. They are: back from left - Edith Jones, Joan Tisdale, unknown, Joyce Tisdale, three unknowns, Winnie Bowers, and then Sadie Thomas.

Second row: Two unknowns, Cynthia Buckley, Mary Horton, two unknowns, Muriel Kenny, unknown, Dorothy Thomas, three unknowns, Percy (Dick) Richards, Dirk's father.

Third row: unknown, Beryl Davies, Billy (Corny) Rogers, Pat Buckley, two unknowns, ? Roberts, Dorothy Missis, unknown, Edith Evans, unknown, Ronnie Manders, unknown, Bernard Moody, Freddie Davies.

"Row of girls," all seven unknown. Dwarfs - Dirk Richards, unknown, Don Richards (Dirk's brother), unknown, Brian Dale who was the Doc, the leader of the Dwarfs, then two unknowns.