Yesteryear showed the picture to members of the Dunstable School Old Boys Association in the hope that someone could identify the lecturer and perhaps provide a date for the event.
There was a rapid response, with answers coming in particular from Denis O’Donoghue, Mel Mason, Stuart Weatherley and Keith Rogers.
The photo would have been taken in late 1962 or early 1963 and the boys giving the speaker their full, undivided attention (apart from one or two at the back!) appear to be members of the so-called Shell classes for younger pupils at the school.
But no-one has been able to name the speaker who, apparently, was not a member of the teaching staff. He is holding a photo which might be an image of a lung, so perhaps he was talking about the dangers of smoking. A cine-film projectionist is at the rear of the hall.
The boys in the photo include (from left) Back row 2 Christopher Soper, 4 Barry Farbon (son of Dunstable Mayor Bill Farbon), 6 Ken Davey.
Second row 1 John Green, 5 Mel Mason, 7 Mick Eames, 8 Steve Blackborne, 10 Nigel French (who went on to play rugby League in the 1980s for Barrow, Wakefield Trinity, Blackpool, Barrow, Cardiff and Kent Invicta), 11 Stuart Weatherley.
Third row 2 Mick Pullen, 6 Bob Clague. Fourth row 2 Keith Rogers, 3 Brian Mead. Front row 1 Andrew Day, 3 Richard Jeyes.
Ashton Middle School opened in the old grammar school buildings in 1971 and apartments have now been created on the site.
Yesteryear is compiled by John Buckledee, chairman of Dunstable and District Local History Society.