High Wycombe has another reason to be proud, having been chosen as the location for the third new home to be built by The Royal Star & Garter Homes Charity.

This is in Hughenden Avenue and will be receiving its first residents during the week beginning April 8.

The origins of The Royal Star & Garter Homes go back to 1915 when war was raging in Europe. Britain’s military hospitals were becoming overwhelmed with wounded troops, many of whom would be disabled for life.

Queen Mary expressed concern for the future of these disabled servicemen and charged the British Red Cross Society with the task of finding a “permanent haven” for them.

The Star & Garter Hotel in Richmond was purchased with the intention of converting it into a home to care for these young men as they returned from the battlegrounds of the First World War.

The Star & Garter Home opened its doors on 14 January 1916, the men being accommodated in an annex to the hotel. Within days of opening it had reached capacity. The average of the residents was 22.

It soon became apparent that the hotel was unsuitable for use as a hospital, and it was more cost-effective to demolish it and build a purpose-built Home.

Sir Edwin Cooper R.A. was appointed architect and charged with creating a “beautiful building” to accommodate 200 men.

In July 1919, Enbrook House, near Sandgate, Kent, was bought as a respite home for the veterans. It became known as “The Seaside Branch” and the residents from Richmond, now numbering 70, were moved there while the new Home was being built.

The Sandgate Home was closed in 1940 due to the threat of invasion.

King George V and Queen Mary paid their inaugural visit to the Home in summer 1924, and as Patron of the Home Queen Mary formally received the deeds.

The new Richmond Home welcomed residents back from Sandgate in October 1924. It was now officially known as the “Star & Garter Home for Disabled Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen”.

During World War II, the Home took in a new generation of injured servicemen. Facing a life of disability, these young men looked to staff and their older peers for guidance. In addition to nursing and therapeutic care, the Charity offered training in skills such as crafts and finance to promote independence and meaningful occupation.

In the late 1940s, a special paraplegic ward was established at the Home under the direction of Dr Ludwig Guttmann, consultant at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

He used pioneering techniques to promote residents’ mobility, recommending sports which could be played from a wheelchair, such as archery. In 1948, Guttmann launched the Stoke Mandeville Games with an archery competition between Stoke Mandeville and the Star & Garter team.

This was the first recorded competition between disabled athletes and was the forerunner to the Paralympic Games.

Her Majesty the Queen became the Home’s new Patron in July 1953, following the death of Queen Mary. Over the next 50 years the Home was modernised and refurbished.

The residents grew older meaning that the level and type of care required changed, with 24-hour nursing, respite and specialist dementia care becoming necessary.

The Star and Garter Home received its royal charter in 1979, and since the opening of a second home at Solihull in 2008 the charity has used a plural form of the name, as “The Royal Star & Garter Homes”.

The Richmond Home was becoming difficult to adapt to modern standards and in April 2013 was sold so that a new generation of modern Homes could be developed to provide care appropriate for today’s veterans.

The remaining residents there were moved to a new 63-room home built in Surbiton. A third home was planned and High Wycombe was selected as the location.

The first residents will be arriving next week. As is the Trust’s practice the names of local military heroes are to be immortalised in the new home.

After a competition they have been chosen to be pioneering female pilot Lettice Curtis, RAF ace Anthony ‘Bugs’ Bendell OBE, Victoria Cross recipient Edward Brooks, and sporting legend Frank Adams.

Floors in the new home at High Wycombe are named in honour of these four heroes.

A framed citation for each person will be placed in each floor, providing information as well as a photo. Frank Adams is commemorated on the ground floor.

Readers may not be aware that in addition to his legendary status at Wycombe Wanderers Football Club, Frank Adams has a unique military record. He served his country in both World Wars.

In the First World War he enlisted in the Army, then transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, and after the war was appointed a Captain of the Army of Occupation in Germany.

Despite being deemed too old for active service at the outbreak of the Second World War, Frank served in the RAF.

He was granted a commission “for the duration of hostilities” as a Pilot Officer in the Administrative and Special Duties Branch, and attained the rank of Wing Commander.

He was responsible for maintaining the fitness and morale of the men as they advanced across France into Germany after D-Day in June 1944.

It was after reading a copy of the Bucks Free Press in his HQ somewhere in France that Frank opened negotiations with Lord Carrington’s Agent to purchase Loakes Park football ground, then the home of Wycombe Wanderers.

The purchase was eventually agreed and Frank handed over the deeds to the club in 1947.

I am grateful to The Royal Star & Garter Homes for their assistance in preparing this article and for permission to show the pictures of the veterans in wheelchairs.