built in the grounds to land damaged or obsolete planes. Specially constructed hangars were used to house these planes and care was taken to camouflage the strip and the hangars. At the end of the war the house first became a girls' school, which eventually closed in 1961 due to lack of funds. A new preparatory school was opened in 1964 which continues to this day. Beechwood Park School Beechwood Park School, also familiarly referred to as "Beechwood", is a co-educational independent day and flexi boarding school in Hertfordshire in England, UK for children from nursery age to year 8. It is set on the site of an old mansion house with extensions put in over the last 50 years including the junior school, middle school, sports hall and performance hall. Most recent developments include the new onsite Woodlands Nursery, which opened in September 2015 and also the covered swimming pool complex, officially opened by the swimmer Karen Pickering in July 2015. School history Beechwood Park School was formed in 1964 by the amalgamation of two much older prep schools, Shirley House (in Watford) and Heath Brow School (in Hemel Hempstead). By 1961 the buildings and estate of Beechwood Park were in a terrible state of neglect and disrepair. It was apparently close to demolition when it went on the market in 1961. The Stewart family who owned Shirley House put in a successful bid and decided to restore it. Shortly afterwards Group Captain Peter Stewart (the brother of a former Head of Shirley House) became Estates Manager of Beechwood, and he is regarded as the present school's true founder. The school's first headmaster was Alan Mould. The school roll has since increased to about 530 pupils. Pupils at the school are divided into four houses, named Tudor, Saunders, Sebright and Stewart in homage to the history of the school and its buildings. From its opening in 1964 the school enrolled only boys and was known as "Beechwood Park Preparatory School for Boys". In September 1993 the school enrolled girls for the first time and became coeducational. Popular culture The school was used as a location for the film The Dirty Dozen in 1967. The school was the subject of the 1967 song "Beechwood Park" by St. Albans band the Zombies on their Odessey and Oracle album. The song's writer and Zombies' guitarist, Chris White lived at nearby Markyate. Alumni