Canadian Trench Warfare School / London School of Cookery Info Sought

[Daveyboy]

Hello, I am in the process of writing a biography on my Great Uncle, Pte Alfred Smith Loose, who served in 24th Battalion, Canadian Infantry during WW1.  I have also posted this to the CEF Study Forum but thought that the British locations may be also be pertinent to British study areas.

I am trying to find out more about a 20-month period that he spent in England, specifically at the Canadian Trench Warfare School (CTWS) and the School of Cookery in London.

His Service Record shows that, having been injured at Courcelette in 1916, he spent a number of months convalescing prior to being posted to the CTWS at Crowborough in February 1917; he was appointed A/Cpl and 'employed as instructor', being promoted to A/Sgt in the July. He remained there until he was taken on strength at the General Depot, Shorncliffe, in the November; whilst being there he spent a month at the School of Cookery. After this he returned to his Battalion and remained with them until killed in the August during the Battle of Arras.

I am curious to know more about the CTWS. I have a photograph of Alf from this time, which shows him with shoulder-mounted Lewis Gunner badges (both sides), which I have been advised probably denote him as a LG Instructor, supported by his Service Record. However, having just found a blog by John Hart on his Gt Gt Uncle which describes the school’s purpose as to being there to train instructors not recruits so, although I am fairly sure that he he went as an Instructor of Instructors, there's a chance it may actually have been as an Instructee Instructor (if you get my drift)!  I cannot find out much about CTWS (Luke Flanagan’s ‘Canadians in Bexhill’ blog has proved informative), even though it sounds like it must have served quite an important role – any information about the school would be gratefully accepted!

I am also curious to know why Alf was sent to the School of Cookery (apart from for the obvious!). If he was in a LG team after returning to the front, as his trade badges suggest, surely he wouldn’t be a Cook too (unless his injuries meant that, although he could teach about the weapon he could no longer lug it around the field)? Or would all frontline soldiers be instructed in basic cooking skills, in case they became cut-off from supplies and needed to be able to fend for themselves?

Many thanks.