Chief Fire Officer L. E. Johnson at his retirement party, 1978

For many years portrait photographs of retired Chief Fire Officers decorated the walls of the old dining room, a tradition that was temporarily interrupted when Leslie E. Johnson (1972-78) politely declined the honour on the grounds that it might bring about his premature death; two successive Chief Fire Officers, Mr. W. H. Barrett (1951?-59) and Mr. A. L. Bullion (1960-72), had died within a year of having their portraits hung and Mr. Nigel Musselwhite (1978-89) later expired under similar circumstances.