SOME sad light has been shed on the story of the mysterious Battle of Britain pilot whose last resting place is in Parkstone Cemetery.

Last year Snapshots of the Past asked readers if they knew why Pilot Officer Aberconway John Sefton Pattinson was buried in Poole, given that he was shot down over Kent and his family home was in Fordingbridge.

That riddle remains but you have filled in a lot of interesting detail.

It turns out P/O Pattinson's mother was bereaved twice because her husband, a soldier in the Australian army, was killed in the First World War - by my calculation before his only son was born.

Daphne St George Sefton Pattinson was quite an aristocratic, though eccentric, figure who was presented at court as a girl, being the daughter of the "grand" Mrs Sefton Toms.

Our trail begins with Grace Thorne, of Addison Square, Ringwood, who wrote to ask if the Mrs Pattinson she knew as Miss Pat in the early 1960s could have been P/O Pattinson's mother. Her hunch proved correct.

She recalled: "My future husband and I belonged to an amateur dramatic group called Miss Pat's Players. They used to put on song and dance shows in Fordingbridge. Miss Pat herself was a middle-aged lady of a rather dramatic nature and, according to the grown-ups - I was 13 - she was not from Fordingbridge and had 'a past'."

Mrs Thorne went on: "Miss Pat lived in a big grey house in Fordingbridge Church Square The Leys filled with memorabilia. We used to meet in her lounge and on a table was a large silver-framed photo of a young, handsome air force officer. We girls always hoped that this chap would visit while we were there."

But, of course, the Chelsea-born Spitfire pilot had been killed more than 20 years earlier.

Mrs Thorne put us in touch with John Shering, of the Fordingbridge funeral directors family, who actually conducted Mrs Pattinson's funeral many years ago, though he could not remember exactly when or where it was.

He did, however, recall taking part in Miss Pat's productions, including the musical comedy Tulip Time in which he played an air force officer.

"She let me wear her son's uniform," said Mr Shering. "I am 6ft 2ins and we had to turn the trouser legs up about four inches so he must have been about 6ft 6ins. It was said he used to pick his mother up and hold her above his head."

Mrs Pattinson had studied under Ivor Novello's mother years before and, despite her age, still wore her "wonderful" pleated practice dress when she had to teach ballet to her cast.

"She was an exceptional person," said Mr Shering, of Church Farm who, at 72, still does guided local history walks.

"She did so much for the children of Fordingbridge. Half the kids in the town belonged and she could fill the town hall for a week. She turned her stables into a little stage and we used to do variety shows."

He remembered going to dinner parties at The Leys where the talk was of Mrs Pattinson's celebrity friends including Novello and land speed record holder Sir Malcolm Campbell.

"It was a bit above our heads. It was almost faded aristocracy," said Mr Shering.

* Do any other readers have memories - or a photograph - of P/O Pattinson and his family? Write to Ed Perkins, Deputy Editor, Daily Echo, Richmond Hill. Bournemouth BH2 6HH.