KATH Mulligan’s memory flashed back to her school days when she read about the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

Sitting in a classroom at St Joseph’s School in St Clement’s, Oxford, she was often more interested in a picture on the wall than the lesson.

It was a very large copy of the famous painting, Dog Fight over the North Weald, and she wonders what became of it and where it is now.

She writes: “The classroom was on the left hand side of the front school yard, which was reached by a set of steps.

“It had a high ceiling and tall windows and because of the windows, was always light and airy.

“The desks faced the back wall and the picture hung above the teacher’s desk. I have seen the original since.

“On sunny days, the painting was illuminated and I can remember day dreaming at my desk, absorbing every detail instead of working.

“It caught my imagination and who knows, perhaps that’s why 10 years later, I joined the RAF.”

St Joseph’s School’s roots can be traced back to 1869 when St Ignatius’s School opened for girls and infants in the Roman Catholic chapel in St Clement’s, next to the Port Mahon pub.

In 1909, a new school for 200 girls and infants was completed in front of the old chapel, which continued to be used as a schoolroom.

It was renamed St Joseph’s School in 1932.

By the 1960s, however, the buildings had become rundown, there were still outside toilets, the playground was so small that children had to take turns to play, and increasing traffic through St Clement’s caused problems.

The school switched to its present home in Headley Way, Headington, in 1968.

Mrs Mulligan, of Leiden Road, Headington, Oxford, writes: “I wonder what happened to the picture when the school moved.”

Can anyone tell us?